TL;DR: I'll only say this about Mr. CappuGino - it is a welcome addition that is so far doing well, and the man behind it has a lot of experience. This is what I am talking about when a great cup of coffee is wanted.
Let us welcome to Albert Lane, the newest addition for dining, and one that gets the idea touted between the established locales - having a good time, and socialising. Before this place feathered its nest, the preceding coffee place lacked a bit of something to stand out. Now that MrCappuGino is right here, they have gotten off to the right foot. A location that is used well to its advantage, good coffee, and a structure of service that gets things moving as it should ... we are going to see this place here for quite a while.
During the right hours, it is not like clients are bereft of places to get a coffee. Even a half decent one that does the job, but for the idea of getting asked "where in town can you recommend the coffee?" not that many stand out for their coffee alone. The game is getting changed up a bit with the sudden and swift introduction that we got right here.
It was the last day of work for the year! Woo hoo! Where I am, that meant that it was only really half a day with the majority of it being clearing out the desk space, and attending a morning tea to see the staff off until the new year came. After the clock struck the wonderful hour, it was all time for us to go on our merry way.
A combination of aligning one place for a specific number review, and merely liking to find new places for coffee this one fell right into my lap. The initial plan involved heading to another part of town for a bite to eat, but first.... coffee. Searching, searching, and perusing all the usual resources for somewhere close, maybe new, and that could be suited for getting a cup of coffee firsthand. I had heard about this, and it took a little bit further investigating in locating where it was.
When it comes to the design and layout of this location, the points in its favour will be less about how it presents itself and more about the location, and how it uses it. You just have to find Albert Lane first of all, and take a turn down it which soon you will see the coffee-serving window. You could hardly fit three people abreast in the entire area, and there are plenty of gadgets there. Where the real points lie is across the hallway from Mr. CappuGino. You got plenty of small tables there, which are perfect for relaxing you feet after walking around the street mall outside. It also suits meetings, and daytime dates very well since it has the combination of being centrally located from it all, and being a hidey-hole down an alley. Plus, it is a bonus for all the businesses in the skyscraper above, since they have such a charming, cute little coffee joint right on their doorstep.
They got all the usual coffees here, and a big range of sweets to go with them. Cookies, pastries, cakes, and a few healthy snacks can be alongside all the general coffee varieties. Some juices and waters are also present for on the go.
When it comes to the beans for their coffee, they have gone with LaVazza. If this is one that has popped up frequently for me in my coffee travels, it has not been one that has stuck with me too much about whether it is one of the best or one of the worst. More often than not, it does just fine depending on who is behind the coffee machine. When it gets roasted, for once you can taste it in the coffee when it is done right. Mostly it comes out at a moderate strength, which does do fairly well on a single shot, and a double one really brings out the coffee flavour that finds itself home in the motherland.
However, again with comparisons that I do with places serving coffee it is like-to-like. The reason being is often it would be the case getting the general doppio, but it was a hot one out and cold coffee in that kind of weather has an allure to it. Hence it was a cold brew coffee for me, no frills involved. After so many years of drinking chilled coffee, there is something different about the way it tastes. A little hard to pinpoint and describe what, though it does it best with the more fruity blends. A huge plus it has over an espresso is that it somehow becomes stronger, without the acquired flavour being present. Also, for cold drinks, sometimes they go to quickly when you're parched in the summer-time; they have found a way with natural iced coffee to have it last a little longer, ice or not ice. If this is how good their cold coffee is, I can't wait to try their hot coffee.
For complimenting the coffee, or moreso getting some stuff for later for festivities, a couple sweets it was. The first one was getting a Butterbing. A couple of flavours were left, with one of the flavours being the Christmas style flavour. When hearing that only one was left, I quickly opted in for that one. And to further the cheer in the holidays, one more sweet. Danishes are always a good choice regardless of occasion, and the one that I eyed off was a blueberry one.
The Christmas-styled Butterbing took the normal structure of the cookie sandwich, and the butter-cream filling was brown butter flavoured. Mixed into the chocolate biscuits were some glache cherries, pecans and almonds, plus several spices you would find in Grandma's fruit cake. It was a moreish bite, and the aforementioned little goodies mixed throughout it gave it a sharp bite. Anyone who has tried another flavour of Butterbing here, the Christmas one is (was?) an acquired flavour that will get you by surprise. With the blueberry danish, it was possibly the better of the two. A rich, buttery pastry is always needed even the fruit takes center stage. They were generous with the amount of blueberries - fresh ones at that - which they crammed into the middle. And it was a big danish to begin with.
Where has the best coffee in town, whatever city in the world you are in, if there are enough places around that specialise in the brew, then that will be a continuous debate among coffee aficionados. But what really can make the coffee place something else is the management behind the scenes. This is one coffee place which is run by a guy who knows what he is doing. Already he is putting himself out there on social media, and if that were him at the cafe that I went, he comes across as one friendly fella. Not just that, but it has that charm of Italy throughout it that will do it quite well. They went off to a good start in their rookie year, and here's hoping for the next lot they do just as well.
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