Coffee Trails

Pots of tea and mugs of hot chocolate are lovely. The girls working at the counter and serving are friendly, efficient and we enjoy seeing them every day

I went in to get a coffee, unfortunately my card suddenly stopped working and I didn’t have enough cash on me to pay. The staff were very generous allowing me to take the coffee and pay another time! Went back later in the day to pay. Tried giving them a tip which they refused! To top it off the coffee was absolutely delicious 😃

Coffee: Coffee Trails Blend (Roasted by Single Origin Roasters)
Passion: 7/10
Crema: 5/10

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.

N.B.
There is no #powerwhoring available
There is no public wifi available

If you take anything from this review, it's to try their cheese toasted sandwiches on brasserie bread. I had the cheese and onion toastie and it was a perfect combination with my Single O coffee. They also have Brewtown Newtown cronuts if that's your fancy, or take your pick from their other sweets and delicious looking sandwiches. I was pleasantly surprised that a cafe like this near Central / Railway Square side, and will definitely drop in again when I'm working in the area.

There is a quiet area upstairs if you want to pull out your laptop and do some work in the morning while having a good cup of coffee. Clean and good service, I like it.