Adelaide coffee

Reschsmooth

I am going to Adelaide this long weekend and am way to lazy (nah, say too busy) to use the search function on this site, so will ask if anyone can recommend good cafe's in Adelaide, primarily CBD? I have been to Cibo on Rundle Mall and enjoyed the coffee there.

Cheers

P

Anuta

I can't really recommend good places, but I can recommend some good people to visit. Gloria Jean's in Borders, right next to the Mall's Balls, ask for Mark, if he's not there don't bother. Also Double Shot, it's in one of the side streets off Grenfell St, which is parallel to Rundle Mall, Wyatt St I think. It's a tiny little place with good food and they're quite serious about their coffee, ask for Deanna there. Also if you get a chance to walk around, walk up rundle mall towards rundle st and a little past that, past the big park till you get to 43 Rundle St, the place is Simply Coffee, Peter should be there, he'll take good care of you!!!

jagerbrau

Ok the Cibo in Oconnell st the best one. or try Illy on rundle st ask for BJ.  Some of the others are not open on weekends.  Saturday a good day down rundle st as they now have a market on.

nzroaster

Gloria Jean's & Illy??? Sometimes I wonder about this site... Admin, I think we need a throwing up smiley

james84

I would highly recommend going to Rio Coffee (more for a look around, if you're keen) which is just east of the city centre. I buy my beans from there, they have a good range and always stamp the roast date so you know how old the coffee is. I sometimes go there on saturday mornings (they close at 1/1:30pm I think) and there is often a lady there making free coffees. Otherwise, I would second the option of going to Simply Coffee, there is a big range and they roast in house.

jagerbrau

I would of said gloria jeans and starbucks. affraid to taste coffee flavour in there coffee.  Dont know about illy else where but i seem to get good service and consistant coffee.  cant say that for some other so called coffee houses.

One-a-day

Gloria Jean's & Illy??? Sometimes I wonder about this site... Admin, I think we need a throwing up smiley

Come on get over it ,there are franchise stores out there that can do it just as good as " CAFES " . can we have a poor old owner/operator smiley that goes green with envy smiley  :P  

askthecoffeeguy

Come on get over it ,there are franchise stores out there that can do it just as good as " CAFES " . can we have a poor old owner/operator smiley that goes green with envy smiley

admin

Hi guys - just in relation to another post from 2-3 months ago ('best cafes' under have your say thread), can anyone name 3 places where you could go and get consistently excellent coffee in Adelaide? Not a trick question - am keen to know; from what I understand, Simply Coffee would be up there (also maybe Double Shot mentioned above); also perhaps one or two of the Cibo's, but i'm not sure how consistent they are? tx -A

Anuta

I don't at all think that franchised cafes like the GJ's and Starbucks' should be disregarded just because they're franchises, especially by people who are genuinely interested in creating and buying a good coffee. I worked for GJ's for 3 years and, granted, have seen some horrible things from store to store. However, starting out in a well established chain of cafes gave me an opportunity to learn from scratch about an industry I knew nothing about, to learn basic and simple techniques based on which I can now continue my learning. There are many more people like myself who just started out in such cafes, got inspired, went out looking for professional people who can teach them more and have become quite good. Of course to anyone who even remotely understands coffee, franchises are not the place of choice but I think there are some very good people working there who deserve a bit of credit for wanting to know more and for being better than the rest. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

nzroaster

Hey, I'm not knocking franshises. There are some good ones. But the good ones start with a good product, the rest is up to the running of the store. Gloria Jeans, Coffee Club, Starbucks and many other franchises do not start with a good product.

askthecoffeeguy

I guess what franchises do do well is introduce a wider drinking public to the coffee debate, by marketing their product exceptionally well. It has also been well documented that when starbucks opens a store in a certain area, neighbouring coffee sales also escalate dramatically. And for many, as Anuta has said, these concept stores provide a training ground, and an introduction to the mechanisms and workings of the coffee product, that might not have happened otherwise. Hells teeth, my first coffee experience was as a budding 14 yr old working in my uncles cafe in Wellington, New Zealand, in the early 80's,  when no one then had even heard of a cappuccino! It was percolated coffee all the way! So from humble beginnings big things grow. There is no doubt, that what the franchise stores do, they do well, in catering to a segment of the market place that overall seems happy with the product is provided. And although I do not wish in any way to emulate these stores, I do wish that I had access to their advertising budget, and their marketing prowess. ACG

Reschsmooth

Back to the original topic, I went to two cafe's that I had gone to last year - both on Rundle St on eastern side of the mall: 1. Large pizzaria near Mountain Design - realised they serve Lavazza. Coffee was ok. 2. Cibo across the road from Austral Hotel - great coffee and food. Plenty of 'illy concept' stores - didn't try it as I don't need more illy canisters and they don't sell cups. Walked right past GJ's and Hudsons - I won't drink coffee at a place where the only option for ceramic cup-ware is a mug otherwise papercups only! P

hazchem

I just got back from a trip to Adelaide and found a place called 'Grind' in Waymouth street that I thought was making pretty good coffee from Rio beans and was consistent over a few days. The owner is a friendly guy and the food looks tasty, but I didn't have a chance to eat. I'll be going back next trip  ;D