A JavaJane coffee tour..... all aboard!!

 

It seems as though I have been  stalled at 62 cafes for a couple of weeks now.. so its time I get myself back out there and tasting new coffee and also crossing places off my Melbourne coffee review 100  list... With the recent release of the Age Good cafe guide , my eyes have been opened to a whole other spectrum of new places to visit (and drink from), whilst this is fantastic and the book is now constantly in my bad and already looking  well loved), it is also distracting me from my goal.... so I'm getting back on the horse ... so to speak and will start by getting around the suburbs!  I have to pick up the pace and get my momentum back . This is when my car (and a full tank of petrol) will prove very handy! I have exhausted all but one of the city cafes, so its out to the burbs I go (in burbs I really don't mean much further than Brunswick, Balaclava, or Fairfield!!)

I don't know whether it is just my new interest in everything coffee, but it seems to me there are alot of new "coffee houses" opening this year??!?!? I'm guessing they will need to make the Melbourne Coffee Review the top 150 to accommodate the talent and awesomeness of all these places!! (it wouldn't be fair to make a 'nearly made it' list)

Anyway.. back to coffee: Last weekend I took Uncle Paul on a Java Jane coffee adventure..... but I chose to stay close to home to showcase the joys of the little village that is  Yarraville (and proud home to Darby and I)! We wandered up and down the street, pointing out all the key landmarks.. the Butcher, the pub, the newsagent, the bookshops and the Sun Theatre and then I took him  to another favorite the Corner Shop (we were lucky enough to snag a table in prime time)... Luck was on our side for the day! We ordered some more frothy ones (cappuccinos) ... this time our coffee came with a different designs from our coffees the week before... Paul was very impressed with the coffee art and I think he now understands the pleasure that is my ritual daily coffee drinking! Our coffee as always was perfect.. I have a soft spot in my heart for the coffee here.. its always on song!

We had a spot of brunch there  and then descended on Footscray Kmart and Cole's to a) pick up a copy of Kung Fu Panda for Darby and b) pick up the ingredients for caramel slice for me!

I attempted to cook a caramel slice (in a pie tin!).... although it turned out well and tasted pretty darn good, it certainly wasn't without its dramas.. Although this is not a blog about food, sometimes the digression is worth it.. In this extreme case, I completely smoked out my apartment and suffocated everyone with  a burnt butter smell, it was streaming out  from my oven ....not a good look for someone trying to show  dessert making prowess ... and the smoke alarms didn't go off so that's even more to worry about.. anyway .. the end result was a delicious slice with not even a trace of smoke tainting it! Phew!!



My Smoke free Caramel Slice/tart



And on Sunday an unprecedented thing happened.... I had no coffee...OMG I cant remember the last time this has occurred (which scared me even more) ...  OK so the moral of this blog is "I'm back" on the coffee tasting bandwagon from now on.. no excuses!!!

Until next time, Life is too short to drink crappy coffee!

PS... check out some pictures from our "shoot" with Ochi-Innocente Photography. They are pretty cute if I do say so myself!!