Coffee

Confessions from a Coffee Addict - Factors that influence where I get my coffee

Do you ever stop to think about the factors involved in something you do everyday? I’m a self-diagnosed coffee addict and it’s taken me far too long to come up with a list.

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When Sean posed the question "what do you look for in a new local coffee establishment" I started brewing my thoughts on this.

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As fate would have it, I have recently moved and had to search for my new local.

The factors that play into my deciding where I get my coffee are (in order of most important to least):

Great Coffee

This is most oblivious and most important element - Is the coffee good? Nothing will redeem an average or poor coffee. I don't care about the rest of the items on this list, if you can't pass the basic hurdle of a coffee that makes me smile - it's not likely I'll be back. What goes into a good/great coffee? Beans, Machine, Barista. These are what I think are the core elements that make a great coffee.

Speed of making Coffee

The second element that will often make me decide if I'll go to a cafe or not is how long the baristas take to make a coffee. I'm going to sound like a wanker for this, but if your cafe makes coffees one at a time, and/or gets overwhelmed when 3 people have ordered - then I'm usually going to think twice about going there. Good baristas know how to efficiently churn our coffees, and good cafes know that during rush times it'll pay to have one staff working the beans/coffee and another doing milk & completing orders. I've noticed that the best cafes in Sydney have two staff making coffees when it's peak hour.

Almond Milk brand

This seems trivial at first, but my wife will only have Milk Lab almond milk. Almond Breeze is too sweet for her. This plays a deciding factor because I'm never going to make two trips to different cafes if I'm grabbing both of us coffee.

Perhaps it's a little jaded to say - but I find that cafes that take their coffee seriously stock Milk Lab.

Ability to order via App?

This'll be a bit of contentious view, but I LOVE when a cafe has online ordering via HEY YOU or some other mechanism. There are days where I don't have the time to hang around waiting for a possible delay in my coffee coming out - and in those mornings, when minutes matter, I desperately need a coffee to start my day. Ordering ahead means I can swoop in, grab my coffee, and race off. I'll preference an APP cafe over a non-app cafe often.

Great Service

Friendly and attentive staff are always a draw. It doesn't have to be complex, a simple smile and polite manners (basic customer service) are easy wins. Cafes that stand out to me often have staff that know my name, & usual order.

How busy they are

Whenever you are looking in a new area I gravitate to where the queues and patrons are. Granted, this might be a symptom of a slow barista, but often busy/popular cafes are packed for a good reason (it’s good).

Appearance/Tidiness of cafe

Not as overly important, but plays a factor. If the coffee area is a disaster, looks chaotic, then I'm going to question what’s going on.

Reviews/Ratings

If I'm completely out of my element or in a brand new place, I'll resort to checking online reviews (google review, bean hunter, yelp/zomato maybe).

Remote Work Friendly (Powerpoints/Wifi).

As a remote worker/someone who works from the road a lot, I really appreciate when a cafe has power outlets, enough space to allow for people to work. I'm always aware of amount of seating and how busy the cafe is, you never sit at a spot for too long if it's packed or there are customers that will likely order a larger meal. I always ask the staff when I'm ordering a coffee if it's ok to work. Free Wifi is a bonus.

I’d be curious to see if any of these resonated with other people.


Also, flattery via Coffee Art was a heart warming surprise!

Also, flattery via Coffee Art was a heart warming surprise!

SML Cafe - North Willoughby

Picking the first restaurant or Cafe to review for my site was actually a no brainer for me. SML Cafe has fast become my favourite cafe in the North Shore. 

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Tucked away near the fringe of Chatswood is the home to what I'm easy to describe as the best Bacon & Egg roll in Sydney. Some may call it more of a burger than a roll, but whatever you do - please sample it and get back to me (either as a comment, or a tweet @benjamin_lewis)


The Bacon & Egg roll (w/ Italian Sausage) - $12.00 (+$4.00 w/ sausage)

Bacon, egg, jack cheese, aioli, smoky bbq sauce, and hash brown - with the option to add in an italian sausage patty. 

As I said, I think this is the best variant of a Bacon & Egg roll that Sydney currently has to offer. You'll have to forgive me making big claims like this - but in my opinion, it ticks all the boxes. Bacon, Egg, Cheese, Hash Brown, all on bun that you can actually hold and enjoy without it falling to pieces.

All I can say is that I think everyone needs to experience this - if it wasn't for my diet, I would eat this far too often.


The Nourish Bowl - $20.00

Brown rice, wakame, edamame, kim chi, wasabi sesame crusted avocado, soft boiled egg, miso baked cauliflower.

The nourish bowl is my wife's go to food item at SML. It's a great mix of delicious ingredients. I don't think she's ever ordered anything different when we go.


Exceptional Coffee

One of the other things that is fantastic about SML is their coffee.  

Passing judgement on coffee in Sydney is a divisive issue. All I can say, and it'll be a metric I'll stick to, is how much I enjoyed the coffee.

SML's coffee-focused baristas pour what I can say is one of my top coffees. I have been known to drive out. 

 

 

 


Menu

Cira Sept 2017 (note: that 'Pork Katsu Sandwich' has been replaced by 'Chicken Kaarage Burger' in Dec 2017).

Drinks menu - Cira Sept 2017


PROS:

  • Outstanding Bacon & Egg Roll.
  • Some of the best coffee in Sydney.
  • Very friendly staff.

CONS:

  • Limited seating
  • Muffins may have sold out before you get there.
  • Bacon & Egg Roll is not technically on my diet.

OVERALL:

There is a reason I picked SML Cafe as my launching review on this blog - it's my #1 pick and recommendation. I'm extremely happy to visit any time, and welcome any opportunity to introduce it to people. 


Details

Address: 36 Macmahon St, North Willoughby NSW 2068

Hours: 6am-3pm, every day.

Phone: n/a

Site: https://www.instagram.com/smlcups/

 

If you visit SML, let me know what you thought of it!