Day 35: Bean There, Done That - MMC Wraps Up

Ahem, ahem. This is a teaspoon-to-coffee-cup tribute. It’s time for the good-cafe toast, and the bad-cafe roast. Before we put ears to the grounds, MMC would like to thank those who drank. First, to Friend of MMC, Robin to the coffee drinker's Batman. Vibes, you're tank. Next, to T-Love and the Advertiser food liftout who recommended this write-up. Last, to Radelaide.net, the little website that could, and did, remind MMC to finish the damn blog. Which blog? Oh yeah. My Morning Coffee. The Order: 35 cups of coffee, 35 nights blogging and 35 bleary-eyed days of legal clerking.

Day 34: Cibo Marathon

In icon-happy Adelaide, local business is the ultimate in consumer chic. Does Adelaide plus coffee equal Cibo? With a chain-a-week modus operandi, the CBD Cibology caused MMC some head scratching. Which store, and when? Days of deliberation led to a diabolical solution - the final morning Cibo Marathon. Gouger, Frome, King William/Grenfell and Pirie were duly visited. The Order: one caffè (sized) cafe latte, takeaway. The Price: a consistent $3.20.

Phase one: North Adelaide ristorante. Phase two: Rundle St espresso bar. Phase three: world domination. Cibo Espresso is one of those small-town success stories that we love to love. It's a household name, and its takeaway cups are household recycling.

Day 33: Bistro Dom, 24 Waymouth St

On 33 Thursday, MMC goes bistro troppo. Waymouth street straddles work and play - it's the corporate jungle, colonised by chic. Along the Northern side, George's is too imposing for coffee alone. We agree to meet at Bistro Dom, down-the-road darling of almost three years. The Order: two skinny lattes, to go. The Price: a gasp-worthy $3.50, but for compulsory double shots.

With almost negative street presence, there's a good chance you've walked past BD blink free. The Shopspace: on the net as 'a long narrow lap pool', it's introverted in a way that conventional marketing avoids.

Day 32: Ciao, 14 Adelaide Arcade

Back from the Oz Day weekend that wasn't, MMC and friend meet a very significant other for coffee in Adelaide Arcade. A News Limited food writer we'd Love to name, we had hoped to talk blog over brilliant coffee. Ciao looked the wood-panelled part, an arcade island at the Grenfell-ian end. We talked, we were snapped, and we got the coffee. The Orders: one skinny cappucino, one medium flat white, one small latte. The Prices: smalls at $3.20.

Adelaide Arcade sure is pretty. Large and leadlit, it's chockas with old-school servicepeople - cobblers, tailors, milliners and chocolatiers. Built in 1885, it was the first mall in Australia to boast electric lights. With irony, or just bad luck, its 1887 caretaker died from a fall into the generator; he was investigating a flickering light. Ciao looks to be capitalising on trad cultcha a la Italiano cafe. The Shopspace: we've wrought-iron signage, and a gracious counter top for talkative takeaways and on-the-run have heres. At a glance, it's humming, happy and high-quality.

Day 31: Cikolatte, 133 Melbourne St

Australia Day on a Tuesday. Who woulda thunk it. To overcome the headfunk of the whole affair, MMC and friend decided to meet for coffee as if it were a workday. The differences? A luxurious 10.30am meeting, and North Adelaide instead of the scabby Sundayish CBD. The Orders: a small skinny latte and a medium cappuccino, have here. The prices: $3.30 and $3.80, respectably.

Melbourne Street almost has a vibe going on. Big guns like The Lion, Cibo and The Store are pulling posses weekdays and weekends. Further down the road, the boutiques - of clothing, cuisine and coffee - are thirsty for traffic. With some weekend buzz, Cikolatte has scattered bums on seats. We score a streetside setting between cyclists, and appropriate generous armfuls of news.

Day 30: Baretto Corte Caffe, 302A King William St

On our last manic Monday, all the cool kids have cashed their AL for an Australia Day weekender. To ease the pain, a leisurely have-here is planned for Vic Square. It's MMC's second attempt to visit Dragonfly's neighbour Brunch on the Square. Will there be brunch on the square today? Not so much. We make the disgruntled diagonal to Baretto Corte Caffe on King William. The Orders: to have here, a small skim flat white, and to take away, medium skim and medium soy lattes. The Prices: $3.20, $4.50, $5.30. (!)

In its former unglory as the Court Cafe, BCC was known for purveying Adelaide's worst cafe coffee. Now Italian both in name and reputation, rumour has it that the spouse of an Adelaide legal eagle took over in 2009. Cashing in on ridiculous proximity to the SA Courts, it is reasonably foreseeable that barista meets barrister on a regular and profitable basis.

Day 29: 227 Espresso Cafe, 227 North Tce

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.

Day 28: Town Hall Garden Cafe, Prince Alfred Lane

Dreaming of inner-city deck-chair courtyard coffee? Dream no longer, desk rats. For at least a decade, Town Hall Garden Cafe has been serving food 'n' bev in its garden beds. Did people know about this? MMC was certainly surprised, and a thirsty Thursday was set aside for the big Taste Test. The Order: one skinny flat white, have here, and one skinny latte, takeaway. The Prices: a nice, round $3 each.

THGC seems to have it all. Location, location and location. Or as the uniniated would text message frantically, location? location?? um, location??? It's borderline buried in the square between Flinders, King William and Pirie streets, accessible via all three but visible via none.

Day 27: Phat Coffee, 207 Hindley St

On a warmly Wednesday, in breach of all commuter coffee proximity guidelines, Phat Coffee's shiny reputation magpies us Way Out West. At first, it seems like a manageable sidestep between train station and office. At second, an 'are we there yet' distress text from friend of MMC strongly suggests otherwise. Will it be the elusive 'worth it walk', or the wasted one? The Order: one regular skinny cappucino, and one medium flat white, takeaway. The Prices: $3.00 regular and $4.00 (ouch) medium.

Phat, adj: 1) Cool. 2) Pretty Hot and Tempting. As in "Dude! That shit is phat!'" What would we do without the Urban Dictionary? With a name so ghetto superstar we don't know what they are, Phat Coffee / Kitchen are pretty sure of themselves.

Day 26: Double Shot Espresso Bar, 16-20 Wyatt St

After riding the coffee train to 25 different cafes, MMC starts to crave consistency. We've been to good cafes and bad cafes, but our cafe eludes us. Hearing that Double Shot Espresso on Wyatt make coffee 'as you like it', the whiff of a personalised experience has us noses to ground. Screeching in after Tour Down Under traffic, MMC finds second and third opinions waiting. The Order: one small and two regular skim lattes, takeaway. The Price: small at a reasonable $3.00, and regulars at $3.80.

Day 25: Nano Ready 2 Go, 23 Ebenezer Place

On the hamster wheel of full-time work, morning motivation is something of an oxymoron. Out of necessity, the morning caffeine hit has to be On The Way. Off the public transport track, we'd decided Rundle street was more playspace than workplace, but all work and no play makes MMC a dull blog. Voting with the vox populi, we step across to Nano Ready to Go on Ebenezer Place. The Order: a small skinny flat white, have here, and a medium latte, takeaway. The prices: $3.30 and $3.80.

Ebenezer Place, for the uninitiated, is the one-way horseshoe shape that nuzzles Rundle street to the South. Ebenezer Place in Wick, Scotland holds the Guinness Book of Records title for the world's shortest street (2.06 m). Ebenezer Place in Adelaide, Australia is a front-runner for the SA title for the most cool per city square metre.

Day 24: Big Table, Adelaide Central Market and Zuma Caffe, 56 Gouger St

Aside from Friday morning sleep-ins, Friday morning breakfasts are the ultimate luxury. Foregoing the former to indulge in the latter, MMC meets an acquaintance at Adelaide Central Market's Big Table. The big plan at Big Table was to resist coffee, eat breakfast, and meet friend of MMC at Zuma's for blog fodder. What went wrong? Picture perfect pouring, that's what. The (unintended) Order: one skinny cappuccino and one flat white, have here. The Prices: $3.30.

Day 23: Rigoni's Bistro, 27 Leigh St

 If Leigh Street is little Europe, Rigoni's Bistro is little Italy. Down the lane, the Corner Bistrot has le petit francais covered, and freshman Casablabla is doing the Spanish-fusion thang nighttimes. Early Thursday, MMC trips across town to test whether Rigoni's coffee credentials out-rep their ripper breakfasts. The Order: two takeaway lattes, skim. The Price: $3.20 per cup.

The tiled toothpick between Hindley and Currie, there's something otherwordly about Leigh Street. 

Day 22: Funk Coffee + Food, 45 Grenfell St & Saldechin, 21 King William St

It's a sad day when work gets in the way of blogging. MMC and friend had agreed to meet at King William Street's Saldechin, but MMC's eleventh hour deadline left friend of MMC in the lurch. MMC needed somewhere quick, somewhere close to the office, somewhere to dash in-and-out-of without the superiors noticing. With Pirie all blogged out, it was coffee franchises to the rescue. Enter Funk Coffee, newbie on Grenfell. The Order: one lonely latte, hit and run. The price: $3.20.

Funk Coffee + Food are so well set up it's almost scary. A stone's throw from legal eagledom at 'the black stump', the newest Funk sibling is the essence of clean, white-collar marketing.

Day 21: The Perfect Cup, 77 Grenfell St

By law of averages, somewhere on Grenfell must make a killer coffee. In ramshackle red, The Perfect Cup, by name, can talk the talk. Hushed in peak-hour, we've the choice of leather-look seating. We set up near the beans-for-sale, and wait for the walk. The Order: One large latte, one small flat white, and one ristretto have here. The Price: small for a finicky $3.15, ristretto at $3.00.

Day 20: Glow Cafe, 98 Gawler Place (now closed)

Melbourne's a litany of laneways. Canberra's one big roundabout. Sydney has harbour drama, and Brisbane's a one way street. Adelaide has a rep for straight streets and no-nonsense navigability. How, on a melting Monday, did  friend of MMC lose the way to Wyatt? Street-corner stranded and lateish for work, we're clutching at stirring straws. A standing street sign promises Cafe Espresso Cucina, and Gawler Place's Glow is our beacon. The Order: two takeaway lattes with extra shots. The Price: tres reasonable at $3.50 - single shots at $3.00 flat.

Day 19: Buskers Cafe, Rundle Mall (now closed)

<Coffee al fresco - the height of luxury? With time for breakfast, MMC and two friends waltz into Buskers Cafe, the mall's answer to outdoor dining. Sandwiched between King William St, Haigh's and Darrell Lea, Buskers has a sweet location. A cafe that you don't even have to walk into; the crazy convenience compensates for loss of shopper shuffle-space. The Order: two skinny lattes and one flat white, have here. The Price: $3.20 p/p, and no separate accounts.

Day 18: Sylvia's Cafe, Hindmarsh Square

Sylvia's Cafe, Hindmarsh Square. Dangerously close to the Citi Centre (McDonalds) arcade, it's a homey, hot-dogging hideaway. There are plastic tablecloths. There are plastic-looking donuts in a display case. There is a ridiculous amount of Lavazza signage, and somehow, Lavazza's apparent faith gives MMC faith. The Order: one small skinny latte, have here, and one medium latte, takeaway. The Prices: a rounded $3.00 for small, $3.50 for medium, and you guessed it, large'd be $4.00.

The poster-cafe for all things old-school, trad hospitality and a wi-fi hotspot are a deliciously incongruous combination. Thanks to easy-peasy Internode, baby boomer cafe owners are putting wi-fi in the e-trolley right after facebook profiles.

Day 17: Caffe Amore, 162-170 Pulteney St

Is this Adelaide's biggest cafe? It's almost eerie to perch in an empty Caffe Amore early Wednesday. Patrons or no patrons, the coffee machine/s must go on. The Order: an earlybird large cappuccino for friend of MMC, and a later-comer's small flat white for MMC. The Price: at $3.20 for a small, we're approaching boutique pricing.

With a 300+ liquor licence, Amore is a powerhouse on Pulteney (or Pulteny, according to its website). They're impressively equipped for coffee, with multiple machines glinting behind slipper-red benchtops.

Day 16: Energize Cafe, 53 Central Market Plaza

On the twelfth day of Christmas, true love sent to MMC, twelve closed cafes and a juice bar that makes good coffee. On January 5th, twelve whole days after Christmas Day, the city’s hospitality honeymoon continues. With Hindmarsh Square still snoring, we ducked between the Hilton and the Courts building into Market Plaza, joining a decent queue at cafe island ‘Energize’. The Order: one small cappuccino and one medium latte, take away. The Price: small for a cheapish $3.00, medium at $4.00.

With three staff crammed into their bamboo-framed space, Energize offer ‘coffee, juice and snacks’ in a family-business kinda way.

Day 15: Stax, 88 Flinders St

It’s the first Monday in 2010, and we're back in the game. For the first time in 15 blogs, friend and MMC arrive simultaneously at Destination Coffee. For the first time in 15 blogs, Destination Coffee is clam-shut. We skip back into the CBD, and gasp! All around, hospitality is on holidays. We need somewhere standard, somewhere steady - somewhere like Stax. The Order: one medium flat white for friend of MMC, and MMC accidentally goes medium on skinny latte. The Price: $4.00 ($3.20 for regular).

Stax is a strictly CBD phenomenon. Two on Flinders and one on Waymouth, their byline is 'subs and coffee'.

Day 14: Lucia's, Adelaide Central Market

That little town of Bethlehem, how still we saw it lie! The first Christmas Eve was a silent night, a holy night. On a Christmas Eve morning at the Adelaide Central Market, nothing is calm, and everyone's bright. It's a carol of Christmas chaos, and MMC can't stay away. The Destination: Lucia's. The Order: one latte and one flat white. The Prices: $3.20 each way.

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Where were they all? At the Central Market, silly.

Day 13: Short Black Espresso, 87 Hindley St (now closed)

Poor ol' Hindley Street - the baby boomers give it a bad rap. By day, Hindles is just a sleepy hive of commuters, creative types and tourists. Short Black Espresso, Hindley's contempo cafe-in-a-shoebox, seems to straddle these disparate markets. Its street setting is usually swinging, but can it dance the takeaway tango? Voila l'Order: Small skinny cappuccino, and long black, take-away. The Price: an up-there $3.30 per cup.

Day 12: Un Caffe Bar, 61 Grenfell St

Stream of consciousness, noun: a freestylin' literary technique employed by holiday-mode bloggers behind on their copy. Par exemple: Tuesday-before-Christmas, early o'clock, Un Caffe Bar, Grenfell Street North. Red machines are new-car slick. Boy barista in driver's seat, talldarkveryyoung, sports-car confident. Mothery type takes orders, his mother? Hmm. The Order: One latte and one medium flat white to take away. The Prices: steepish, from memory. tbc.

Day 11: Manna Caffe, 12 Waymouth St & Latte 'n' Lunch (now closed), 8 Waymouth St

School holidays are gifts of the public transport gods. Monday morning sees MMC five minutes early, and hovering at the corner of indecisive and Waymouth. With the spankin' new Advertiser lining its Southern flank, Waymouth Street seems to have coffee carte blanche. Not up for white tablecloths at George's, it's a coinflip between Manna Cafe and the newly funkified Latte 'n' Lunch. The cosier choice for a have-here, MMC opts to go incognito inside Manna. The Order: one skinny flat white. The Price: $3.00.

Manna Cafe so almost has character. A ridiculously skinny slice of big-city building, the street-corner entrance strikes MMC as uniquely unAdelaidean.

Day 10: Caffe L'Incontro, Gays Arcade

Deck the halls with boughs et cetera! Adelaide Arcade is looking grand as MMC and friend sweep in for fingers-crossed fabulous coffee. At 8.45am on an otherwise frantic Friday, we're the first of only two tables filled at Caffe L'Incontro, the sprawling central cafe in Eastern offshoot Gays Arcade. If Christmas carols are playing, they're the classy ones. The ceilings are high, and our expectations are higher. The (first) Order: one regular skinny cappuccino, and one large flat white. The Prices: $3.50 (despite menu listing $3.00) and $4.50.

Caffe L'Incontro = Italian for 'coffee meeting'. Perfectamundo.

Day 9: Fix Coffee, Station Arcade (now closed?)

In on-the-run Europe, cafes are to train stations as presents are to Christmas trees. At shiny trackside patisseries, the croissant and coffee combo invites you to start your day the French way. Keen to embrace Adelaide’s own commuter culture, MMC and friend descend upon Station Arcade’s newest face – the Rainforest Alliance Certified ‘Fix Coffee’. The Order: standard skinny flat white and smaller latte, to go. The Prices: $3.70 and $3.20.

Day 8: Kappy's Cafe, 53 Flinders St

Presenting Bill Murray symptoms after the eighth-day alarm clock, MMC diagnoses midweek melancholy. As we sigh on the Flinders street snack bar strip, the hopeful wink of evergreen tiling inspires a cross-street shufti. A taste for the vaguely vintage lures MMC into Kappy's Cafe, date-stamped 1932, and certainly not a chain store. Does curiosity kill these cats? Nope, it takes their money and serves them coffee. The Order: standard sizes - one skim latte, one flat white. The Price: $4.30 and $4.00. Meow.

Tiptoeing into a deserted Kappy's, we're greeted with a smile and a sceptical sideways glance.

Day 7: Hudsons Coffee, 33 King William St

It's official. The season is getting sort of silly. First there is the working, the lunches and the working lunches. Next there are the shopping lunches, where scoffed sushi and commando gift grabs have even the mall rats scurrying. It’s beginning to feel like a lot like, you know, Quick-mas. With an 8.47am pitstop at Hudsons Coffee on Hindley (KW corner), Tuesday's children demand that quickie coffee experience. Can Hudsons Coffee put the express into espresso? The Order: two standard lattes, skim, takeaway. The Price: $3.80 pp.

It's been a long time since MMC ventured into a Hudsons Coffee. Until the shame of upsized cupwear, we could not remember why.

Day 6: BTS Cafe, 33a Pirie St

On a sunny Monday morning, a blog called My Morning Coffee turned one week old. And on the same Adelaide morning, a blogger called MMC turned one year older. As the light filtered through the world’s straightest streets, we blew out the candles at the CBD’s cupcake capital, BTS Cafe. The Order: two standard flat whites, and one cupcake. Price: a slender $3.00 per cup.

The Brits have tea and biscuits. The Germans have kaffee und kuchen. The Americans like coffee and cupcakes, and the Australians like Americana.

Day 5: Viva Espresso, 70 Pirie St

Fridays are for drinkin’ and celebratin’, especially in this the silliest of seasons. MMC saw no reason why the drinkin’ couldn’t begin at 8.45 am, especially if quality coffee were involved. Once on Pirie, the tricky part was separating the West-of-Gawler-Place La Vida coffee from the East-of-GP Viva Espresso. The Order: standard cappuccino and a medium latte, takeaway. The prices: $3.20, $4.20, respectably.

So what is the dealio - is orange the marketing soul mate of bean-brown?

Day 4: Chris Jarmer @ Air, 210 North Tce

Ahem, ahem. Attention, if you please. Today, ladies and gentlemen, one MMC and one friend of MMC may just have located the ‘laide’s best priced coffee. Today, my friends, one MMC may even have stooped to scraping dregs with an unwashed spoon. Order 1: skinny latte to take away, please. Your regular is a two-shotter? Nice. The Price: $2.50. Nicer. Order 2: ditto plus a third shot. Price: $3.30. A dollarish per shot? It’s a Christmas miracle!

Day 3: Adelaide Coffee Bar, 73 Grenfell St

As far as workplace ailments go, the only thing worse than Mondayitis is Wednesdayitis. MMC and friend agree that a damn good coffee is required to get through ‘Hump Day’, as named by the innuendo-autistic. The Adelaide Coffee Bar on Grenfell came highly recommended, not least by the pal we saw taking away this very morning. It’s about time, said pal greets us, because the last two MMC visits were a little lowbrow. Remedy: standard flat white, large latte (in the absence of medium). Price: $3.20 = smile, $4.00 = so-so hand motions.

Hark, what is that pleasant aroma? It’s coffee, and it’s character.

Day 2: Taste on Pirie, 50 Pirie St

One day in, and December rain has Friend of MMC texting an order from the safety of the office. Ultra-close Taste on Pirie appears the logical choice. Proximity to office: ideal. Signage: Bean Bar orange, with Old School fonts. Staff: singular (this proves a prob-lame-o). Order: small skinny cappuccino, medium latte, takeaway. Price: Small is listed as $3.20; it’s $6.90 for both. Possible takeaway surchargery, but not bad.

Day 1: Bean Bar, 1/117 King William

First day of summer job, and a nervous-slash-sleepy MMC starts basic at a friendly franchise. The Bean Bar on King William, 8.30am. Proximity to bus stop: good. Bright orange signage: welcoming. Staff: smiling. Order: small skim latte, takeaway. Price: $4.00.

$4? F-O-U-R dollars! Have I been living in a parallel universe?