Dormans… My Bittersweet Café
This post was sent to us Kaboro, a Kenyan who loves great coffee and even greater dining.
First up in the coffee house reviews is Dormans. Why? Dorman’s is my de-facto coffee house. Let’s start with why they win, then will move to why they are losing me… Dormans Junction.
- Internet – My love affair with Dormans is primarily because they have a good internet connection, not so much the coffee. They have a connection that is upwards of 10mbps… This makes it a perfect place to work from, have calls etc. But to be honest, I just need a place to complete my torrents
- Coffee – My usual while at Dormans? Their Americano/Espresso/Latte. They generally tend to have very mercurial house coffee, but their espresso based drinks tend to be of good quality. I have only taken Chai Masala (Ginger Tea) once.
- Cakes – There is only one cake I recommend. The white chocolate cake. Be sure to take this with an Americano (Sugar free) primarily because it’s basically made of sucrose. If you don’t mind a sugar high, this is for you.
- Service – This goes to Dorman’s Sarit and Junction in particular. They have the best staff. They actually call up the ISP to find out what’s wrong should the connection go down.
- Coffee Beans – They sell coffee beans in all their outlets which makes shopping for beans an easy affair for me. I love their blue mountain selection.
Now to the not so good on Dorman’s chain
- Food – Can best be described as terribly wanting. Firstly, the selection is poor. Pricey (comparative to Java). And not always fresh. I only partake of their breakfast selection and their fries (which are quite good, at times).
- Ambience – Dormans generally have uncomfortable furniture and poor ambience. Looks good from afar, but the tables are too cramped, seats uncomfortable etc. I prefer a rather basic look (re: Java) and better comfort.
- Locations – This is still in reference to above. They generally are located in corridors and hallways… The only Dormans well done as a proper coffee shop is in the CBD (correct me if I’m wrong). That particular location is a little too congested for my liking… I’ve only once found a seat, and that was at 8.15, a few minutes to closing time.
- Operating Hours – All Dormans with the exception of the Carnivore branch (again, correct me if I’m wrong) close business at between 8.15 and 8.30. In this day and age, this is way to early… Longer operating hours would go a long way.
- Lack of Power – Dormans management decided to seal off power plugs… For those of us who go primarily because of the link, this was a gross disappointment. At the end of the day, many techies were forced out. My current laptop battery serves me fairly well (gives me 4-5 hours regularly), so this does not always affect me, but it’s annoying.
What they should do to improve?
- Get a better menu.
- Change the staff uniforms (those ones are atrocious, and my dress sense sucks).
- Re-introduce power, and perhaps turn it off during peak hours.
- Start a coffee appreciation class.
- Start selling affordable end-user coffee machines.
Next on the line? Savannah Coffee House
Milk Crate, Memphis Belle and People’s Coffee
My goal for the next two weeks is to check out four particular coffee shops that come highly recommended to me by an acquaintance.
We just happened to chat a bit about some of the local spots here in Wellington that serve good coffee and there were three specific places she thought did an excellent job. These three are Memphis Belle on Dixon Street, Milk Crate on Ghuznee Street and People’s Coffee in Newtown. She really must like People’s Coffee because according to her, Milk Crate also serves People’s Coffee. I heard online that all of the baristas at Memphis Belle complete at the World Barista Championships… I think this is the one that I really am most excited to check out.
She also mentioned a fourth coffee shop, The Coffee Club on Chews Lane. In fact it is the Coffee Club’s to-go coffee cup that she had on her desk that started this whole conversation. Apparently, the Coffee Club is part of an Australian franchise and normally she would not go to chain (or franchise) coffee shops, but the coffee here is pretty decent and the location is much closer to her office than Memphis Belle, Milk Create or People’s Coffee.
My acquaintance used to be a barista and takes her coffee very seriously… as she said in her own words, she is an absolute coffee snob… and I believe her. My quick research online certainly indicates that at least the first three shops are worth checking out. So that’s my goal, to check out these four places and report back on what I think…
Havana Coffee Works vs. Ripe Coffee
The latte in the black ceramic coffee cup is some excellent espresso from Ripe Coffee and the coffee in the paper coffee cup is from Havana Coffee Works. I picked up the Havana Coffee Works coffee from Sir Breadwins on Lambton Quay… More on a later post on what I thought about Breadwins coffee… but this much I can say, Ripe Coffee won
Coffee City | The coffee bible’s second edition has arrived
There are a lot of good books about coffee, but none is more comprehensive and authoritative than Mark Pendergrast‘s “Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed the World.”
Design: Medieval Style Designs on Fuel Coffee Cup
OK. So for a while now I have been ordered a few lattes (or flat whites) from Fuel Espresso and have been vaguely familiar with the design on their cups. Now when I say vaguely familiar, I mean I knew that the cups were brown and a light brownish logo and branding. It is clear that Fuel has chosen a dark brownish colour as their primary brand colour as can been seen, not just on the cups, but also on the interior décor of their espresso stands and also on their overhead signs.
However it was just the other day, when I decided to pop round to one of the Fuel Espresso stands for a cup of ‘fuel’, that I actually took notice of the design on the cups. I was a little surprised and pleased to notice that embedded in the brown background was a really cool medieval (or old English) style design, in the same colour as the logo, only a little lighter. Surprised because I never really paid too much attention to the cups before so I had not noticed it, pleased because after collecting pictures of paper coffee cups, one quickly comes to realise that there are a lot of really lame paper cup designs out there…. Maybe I’ll have to do a post on lame designs.
I am not sure who the company engaged to came up with this design or even how long they have had it, I may have to talk to someone at Fuel but I doubt I will. The good folks at Fuel might not be willing to answer since they are very touchy about folks asking questions or taking pictures of their espresso bars
15th Avenue Coffee & Tea aka Starbucks
I’m not a big fan of Starbucks simply because I do not think they serve great espresso… however, I liked the direction in which they were going when they opened their ‘back to their roots’, indie inspired coffee shops.
The first to be open, with much publicity and a bit of fanfair I must say was 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea on Capital Hill’s 15th avenue up in Seattle. Shortly after this one, they opened a second, Roy Street Coffee & Tea…. located on Roy Street right at north end of Broadway up on Capital Hill. As you can guess, each store was named after the street on which it is located.
As I had mentioned in a previous post, their coffee was actually pretty decent. I would certainly go back if it were not for the fact that there are plenty of great coffee shops on Capital hill.
And now that its been over a year since they first opened, I was thinking about the 15th Ave and wondering how they were doing. And since I haven’t been in the US since last December, it’s hard to tell but Starbucks Melody, the source for all things Starbucks has a interesting post that includes some of the changes that have happened. Some of these changes include the interior decor and some include the offerings.
Frankly, I am not surprised that they decided to introduce grilled sandwiches and salads. But judging from the pictures on Melody’s post, I’m not too keen on the new interior decor… but I guess if the coffee is decent and folks got tired of the ‘hard’ seats, than why not
Seattle Espresso in Auckland City
Although coffeehouse espresso culture did not start in Seattle, Starbucks and by extension Seattle has been instrumental in spreading this culture around the glob. Even in New Zealand where folks are pretty particular about the quality of their espresso, Seattle apparently dues get its due.
Oh and I took this picture in Auckland
Coffee Supreme from Perretts Corner Cafe
Not just the coffee, but I also loved the colors and the lighting at Perretts Corner Cafe & Bar. Perretts is located on Manners Street in Wellington…
And this is actually one of my favorite coffee cup pictures…
Posted via email from minimalistic excursions
UZWCHWYWCMMC