North Terrace, university heartland, has a self-conscious coffee strip of its own. It's a bit of a detour for an MMC, but with happy memories of Chris Jarmer @ Air, we duck in for takeaway before the uni crowd has awoken. 227 Espresso Cafe has picked up where Un Caffe Bar left off, or has it? The Order: one standard cappuccino, and one medium flat white. The Prices: $3.20 small and $3.70 for medium - one of the smallest and best upsize margins we've seen.
Countering the soporific lecture effect, Number 227 has for years been the closest refuge of lazy-eyed law students. As an early Un Caffe Bar, the jaywalk was always worth it to avoid well-priced, pallid in-house fare.
The Shopspace: perhaps less distinctive than its Un Caffe days, the red is replaced with Lavazza blue. The back wall's Euro street scene plays to Lavazza's 'Italian Espresso Experience' themery. Grey newspapers, silver benches, a backlit tableau... It's soothing and more consistent than the red shiny wow, but arguably less consumer-grabbing. In a splash of inconsistency, we note that the UCB red machines remain.
The Shopspace: perhaps less distinctive than its Un Caffe days, the red is replaced with Lavazza blue. The back wall's Euro street scene plays to Lavazza's 'Italian Espresso Experience' themery. Grey newspapers, silver benches, a backlit tableau... It's soothing and more consistent than the red shiny wow, but arguably less consumer-grabbing. In a splash of inconsistency, we note that the UCB red machines remain.
There's still a great have-here vibe going at Cafe 227, or whatever mumbled moniker they're going by. Pervasive signage probably has most meeting at 'Lavazza on North Terrace'. Outside, those silver chairs beckon showy intellectual D&M, and days will see their tables filled with talky talkers battling traffic noise. Inside, music is bright - the wake-up loudness masks the outdoor drone. MMC arrives on hold hostage to phone banking, and is allowed to hover unmolested in a deserted cafe space.
It's tempting to climb benchwards and start thumbing newspapers, but the walk to work looms large. The Greeting: when friend of MMC arrives, we're in the warm embrace of a one man show - a cheery, busy, prototype barista. A few orders have stacked up by this time so we wait a little, none too long. The Presentation: happy in sturdy blue Lavazza. The Cafe is medium-populated, and we shamelessly snap lidless pics in the corner.
Solidly half-chocked, the MMCappuccino looks like a winner. The Pour: both are flat with flawless foam, no fancy business. But after mesmerising minutes watching the perfect arc of the espresso shot, there's a certain sadness in the first sip. Flavour is buried deep within milk and foam - a bodyless, bland experience. To an extent, it's that smooth and unoffensive Lavazzaism, and MMC wonders whether a small -cupped have here would have been mega better.
The Lesson: as it is, we sort of agree with Adelaide Cafe Review's slight misnomer: 'the blend does seem a lot weaker than Vittoria/Rio'. With Lavazza love all across the world, however, laying blame on the blend is a Big Call. Perhaps the Italian Espresso Experience doesn't translate so well to the Australian oversized takeaway cup. Or perhaps we can stick with the safe call - human error.
The latte word: a worth-trying-twice 3 beans out of five. Strength a definite site for improvement. Next week, follow us towards the Courts- it's tres legal eagle for My Morning Coffee.
Link: Adelaide Cafe Review on the subject
Link: Adelaide Cafe Review on the subject
The quality of espresso it produces is excellent. It has been said that 'manual' espresso machines are more admin that the pod variety. delonghi esam3300 magnifica manual
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