Tell me about the coffee!

Posted: 11/12/2009 11:03:51 a.m.

Has anyone seen a half decent cafe review recently in any of the prominent publications? I'm tired of reading the usual suspects where coffee hardly rates a mention. Under coffee the usual phrases are "It was good", "Delicious" and "Strong and hot, just the way I like it", great... this tell's me very little about the qualities of the coffee. Is coffee not the cornerstone of most café operations?

In many reviews it is obvious that the reviewer does not really understand coffee, bypassing the core product to rant about peripheral matters like whether they could get a park out the front or not. Recently one reviewer delved deeply into their coffee analysis to say that the coffee was fantastic because of the jet plane that they received on their saucer… please talk about the coffee! What I would like to know is what did the coffee taste like, were the staff knowledgeable about their coffee, what was the coffee's brand and blend. Also by more clearly identifying what type of café it is will assist readers in assessing whether it will be their type of caper, e.g. coffee orientated espresso bar, food focused with table service, sweet tooth's delight etc.

It's time someone with coffee cred took up reviewing for the major publications!