The Coffee Barun "Roastery ~ Cafe"

[Identity]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Hi Mark,

Congratulations on your S...s.. (and on the cafe)!

Does this mean therell be a cafe in Adelaide that doesnt burn my tongue when I visit? Whoo!

[coffeebert]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Hi Mark,
So, is everything on track for opening the doors in the morning? What time should I turn up to see the ribbon cutting ceremony?

[Grey]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Hope the opening went well for you Mark.
Went past the evening before and noticed all the tables etc outside.

[psaigh]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Hope it all went well for you Mark, I cant wait to come by and check it all out (Tuesday hopefully!).  Good luck with your future business dealings. Its so great to finally see some decent espresso machinery being set up in SA ;D

[coffeebert]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Howdy,
I popped into Marks new Roastery & Cafe fairly early yesterday morning and introduced myself. I was greated with lots of smiles from all the staff, a brief tour and a great coffee. You cant ask for more than that.

[Dennis]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Congratulations to you Mark. Cant wait to see the pics of the establishment surrounding that fantastic looking machine!

[gregpullman]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Well I made my maiden trip into The Coffee Barun today. After finding a park in North Park shopping centre, then realising I was in the wrong spot, crossing the road and finding a park in Sefton Plaza, and then realising it was in a complex of its own at the southern end of the block, I FINALLY got to the store which sits on the eastern side of Main North Road, facing directly onto it (so you dont have to aimlessly wander through Sefton Plaza). In keeping with most high-density retail areas, its a long shop with a relatively narrow shopfront (~5m) with the counter running down the right hand side of the store and the eating area on the other side. Outside there are tables and chairs which help to pick it out from the other shops along that strip.

First up I got a double ristretto from some Peaberry through the Major and extracted on the Synesso, which has different groups tuned to different temperatures depending on which bean is being used - a nice touch and something you cant easily do on traditional HX machines. Decent crema, bright smooth flavour and a clean finish. This was then followed by a latte from a Mexican (another single origin), graciously pulverised by Mr Robur. Its characteristics were a bit hard to pick after the ristretto but it started to come through about half way through and make a good job of cutting through the milk. No latte art, but as a famous Greek philosopher once said, "Its whats in the cup that counts" (or was that Luca?), and by the end I felt it to have discharged this duty adequately. The latte wasnt particularly exciting shall I say, but thats by no means a criticism - it was very drinkable, smooth and unoffensive, a good choice for a milk-based drink (quite similar in characteristics to our 360 though from a different region), and when youve got a range of people coming through you need something thats better than what the masses provide, but something that will be appreciated by the average drinker. You dont for example want to throw a 100% Guatemalan dark roast at Great Aunt Dot and have her breaking a hole in the roof or something, and this sort of safe bean is a luxury you can afford when youve still got a choice of beans to offer the more adventurous as Mark does.

The brewing equipment consists of the 3 group Synesso Sabre, Mazzer Robur and Major for the volume stuff, and a Mini for decaf. Theres also an outside window so you can order without actually entering the shop (though of course you then miss the whole experience!)

The rest of the store was interesting; a growing family of machines against the back wall, the blending wall where you can make your own blend from the beans in the dosed hoppers which is a novel idea - allows for repeatability so if you like the blend you made with, say, 5 clicks of Costa Rica and 12 clicks of Tiger Mountain you can easily get it again. Then the usual paraphernalia like plungers, stovetops, tampers (of course!), jugs, tea, chocolate, not to mention the food. Trying to blend into the corner of the shop but failing dismally is the roaster which is still being fine-tuned, but based on what I tasted it must be pretty close to being right. Of course being only opened for several days there are still some loose ends being tidied up, but the coffees great which is the main thing; without that it just becomes like the other 1000 mediocre shops out there.

Coincidentally psaigh timed his visit well as Mark and I were chatting about the roaster so my visit finished with a general chit chat about all things coffee, particularly how the Adelaide scene is (finally) starting to improve with the likes of TCB and a few other little ventures... :-X

Highly recommended if you can make the opportunity to drop in.

Greg

[Grey]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Thanks for the info and pictures Greg.
Havent had a chance to pop in yet but hope to soon.

[mad_coffee]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Dear All

Thank you all for your good wishes and congratulations on the opening of our shopfront.

For those of you that have already popped in to visit, thank you, and we look forward to catching up with some more of you when time permits.

Shop is progressing nicely, have picked up some regulars already which is great to see and the word seems to be spreading. Some advertising in the near future incl great specials & 2 for 1s should help to keep the customers rolling in.

Few teethimg problems re the roaster adjusting to natural gas rather than bottled but were getting close.

The Synesso is amazing - love working with it and the Robur backs it beautifully.

Only problem Im having is keeping enough aged coffee to serve. Seems as soon as I roast, the orders come in & the coffee is gone before Ive reserved some for myself. Have been serving coffee as young as 2 days after roasting which is not my preference but am catching up slowly and I guess stock quantities etc will fall in place as we progress.

Would love to organise a CS night - perhaps in the New Year - when well sit down with a few specialty coffees & put the Sabre through it paces. Good opportunity to gain some feedback from those in the know and for you guys to get a feel for what we are all about. Let us know what you think.

Will be in touch again soon.

Mark

[Grey]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Mark, it was great to meet you and Kate today.
Appreciate the time you both spent on us showing us around the shop etc.
Would love to see you use that roaster one of these days.
I drool over the equipment you have in the shop.
Look forward to calling in again soon.

[Matthew]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Thanks Mark for the grand tour this week! It is so exciting as a coffee lover to see a shop that takes coffee to that next level
Really enjoring the costa rica.... cant wait for my next visit!

[Grey]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Howdy Matthew, I assume you were the Matt I met in the Coffee Barun store on Thurs?
It is Graham here.
Glad you enjoyed the beans and welcome to Coffee Snobs.

[lucinda]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

I am trying to get there to visit, its coming up to xmas so things are a bit frantic as usual.

Hope to get there soon.

[Matthew]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Thanks for the welcome Grey ... Great to be a part of the growing community!

[donnas650]

Re: The Coffee Barun  "Roastery ~ Cafe"

Howdy Matthew, I assume you were the Matt I met in the Coffee Barun store on Thurs?
It is Graham here.
Glad you enjoyed the beans and welcome to Coffee Snobs.

Actually Graham, that would be me. I was in on Wed, Thurs and early Sat morning. I was in a rush that day as I had finished work, but wanted to grab a coffee for me and my girlfriend and she was finishing work just after 5. I got the Limu beans and Mark recommended around the 11/12, but I had to get in early as I had already run out of beans. They are delicious. Will have to grab more tomorrow I think. Nice to meet you BTW.
Matt