Castle Cove Convenience Store – Castle Cove

This cafe will not blow you away as frankly, it is not a cafe, and yet they prove a point that I have been trying to make for a while. Starting with the bean, adding passion with a bit of skill equals great coffee. This is in stark comparison to bling plus modern cafe, plus skilled passionate barista with bad coffee beans = sub par coffee.

To be honest, driving up here I was searching for another cafe, one that turned out to use Grinders Coffee, and was interested in why the locals were all hanging out the front of a convenience store getting coffee. So after trying the Grinders at Castle Cove Cafe (yes I did this for you), I had to see why the locals had made such a clear choice.

Frankly it is simple. The coffee at the convenience store tasted better and the barista was extremely personable and friendly. I had never tried Tazzina coffee before and while it is certainly a much darker roast than I prefer, it was pretty sensational. No char, a little sweet, and very robust.

So if you missed the point again, if you are going to open a cafe, ignore the windbreakers, ignore the free fridges, ignore the free coffee machine that you’ll likely get with someone wanting to push shit coffee through your store. Sydney tastes have moved beyond burnt rubber (thank god) and if you don’t ensure your cafe serves tasty fresh beans, you will join the long line of empty cafes looking for new owners.