Coffee Trails – Sydney (Central Station)

Was umming and ahhing over whether or not to include these guys, but at the end of the day the line ball decision was assisted by the passion an care of the barista who served me.  While neither coffee I had here was exceptional, the combination of factors suggests that this cafe wants to make delicious coffee (and that is the first major element any cafe needs to focus on).

I started off with the single origin of the day, a Brazilian COE#6 from Siti Di Serra as an espresso and was underwhelmed by the coffee served. By the time the espresso reached me the crema was well on the way to being totally burnt. As such, I can’t really tell you about the characteristics of the coffee which is disappointing.

Thinking about calling it a day, and leaving it at that, the barista came to my table and offered to remake the coffee (note… great customer service is always the right answer), and so instead I asked for a mac using their house blend. When it arrived it looked great.  Not too much milk, and the crema still a light brown.  That it had a paddle pop stick instead of a teaspoon cheapend the experience, but I was willing to put that aside.

As for the coffee, the only thing I can really say is that it was quite sour. Sure the acidity makes the coffee distinctive, but I am not sure how the average coffee drinker feels about this kind of coffee. They obviously get a fair amount of trade from the walk by traffic around central station, but for my money the coffee could be much nicer.

So why the 4 stars? Great customer service ticks a lot of boxes, they source their coffee from a roaster passionate about good coffee, they offer a single origin alternative and in terms of location, their are one of the better alternatives in this area. While I won’t be making this cafe a regular, I think that they certainly tick enough boxes to be included on my BitterBliss Sydney Coffee map.