inronically…

So remember how I was having a whinge about ((whoa I just had a MASSIVE flash of deja vu. crazy. anyhoo)) health insurance and how it was like all a rip-off and that they should get their shit together to keep their customers after the budget changes?

Well.

Yesterday I opened my mail to find that my health insurance company had sent me a $50 Coles-Myer Giftcard.

Heh heh heh heh!!

But unless they send me one of those a month, I’m still bailing come 1 July.  They can’t buy me with fifty bucks. Hello.

Also, this morning I followed Grendel‘s advice and ordered a flat white to really get a feel for Ristretto‘s current roast. Mmmmmmm! I know I was on the hunt for the perfect mocha, but I had one yesterday at Velvet and it was soooo sweet I wondered if it was just me… have I grown up enough to appreciate real coffee and not need added chocolate?  Shit. Tomorrow I’ll probably wake up and realise I need to move on to Olay Regenerist.

we may have a winner, folks

It’s always handy when one’s search doesn’t last too long!

I’d been walking past this little coffee spot in the Paragon 160 arcade (between St George’s & Hay Street, the entrance on the Terrace is is next to the Central Park side of the Atrium Building. Wow, I suck at directions) on my way to lunch at Nando’s/Ruby Thai all year and I finally had a spare moment to nip across to try their brew this morning.

Beautiful! The mocha’s rich chocatelyness is the perfect level of sweetness and bitterness, it’s only $4 for a regular, the staff are looooverly, even when it was slightly busy, and they stock other goodies like Emma & Tom’s juices, Abhi’s breads (note to self: campaign for their gluten-free rolls….) and use ethical and sustainable Fiori beans. Oh! And Bannister Downs milk! Frick. YEAH!

WIN.

I couldn’t remember their name (shame) but a quick google let me know it is called Ristretto. And some fabbo Perth coffee blog reviewed it last year. Hurrah.

By the way. What the FRICK is with this cold? It’s gonna be a looooooong winter. Poo.

P.S. MK notes how interesting it is that this is the biggest problem the Opposition has with last night’s budget. Heh. Someone call Brian Fantana.

The Quest

Looks like my coffee addiction has returned. I think I picked it up while thesising last year, but after the glorious condensed-milk coffees I downed like water in Vietnam, nothing else was palatable. While it’s not fair to judge countries like Cambodia on their lack of coffee-brewing and growing prowess considering they still haven’t properly recovered from the 20th century’s other genocide, I just took that as an opportunity to be healthy and try to kick the dirty habit.

I’d been drinking various white, red and green teas for a while after I got back, but really needed something stronger and tried to be satisfied with Clipper organic Indian Chai. ‘Tis delicious and warming and soothing, but I dunno. I was still falling asleep.

So, despite knowing that coffee is bad for you, and that none of the CBD places seem to use fair trade beans, I kept sneaking into Rosso Espresso on my way up from the SCt carpark to grab a skinny mocha with two on the way to work.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. So freaking good. There is a line out the door and onto the footpath every morning at that place, even when it is raining, for a REASON.

Best. Coffee. In. Perth.

Or is it?

I decided that I should shop around to see if I could find better since they’re not fair trade (yes, I’m a hippy), kinda pricey, and yeah, the fricking line.

This survey is extremely under-researched, just saying what I happen to see in relation to everything but what the mocha tastes like.

So.

This morning’s sample was from jango in King Street. They sell fair trade chocolate and all their food packaging is recycled-looking cardboard or recyclable plastic, and they have cool juices and drinks and stuff, and they take EFTPOS, but the mocha? Bah-bow. (Think Bert’s Family Feud, here, people. Survey’s not happy.) Bitter, totally not sweet enough, and the large is way too small.

Next.