Don’t worry, $5.50 flat whites, as well as bagels and other popular items, are also available at Toby’s Estate sleek new flagship venue.
14/20
Cafe$$
When you’ve ordered a beverage that costs $30 a pour, it seems fitting to
sniff, swirl and sip with reverence. So I let the aromas envelop me before I wet my lips.
I slowly roll the liquid in my mouth, reaching for the rockmelon notes my waiter mentioned. Sometimes I feel like a suggestible chump when a sommelier tells me a wine smells like, say, saddle leather. Today, my palate opens, the fruit flavours unfurling. And – because this isn’t wine, it’s coffee, and my guide isn’t a
grape guru but a barista – I’m becoming more alert with every sip.
The $30 coffee is the most expensive drop at the new, sleek Toby’s Estate Melbourne flagship. This is a temple to coffee in the way nearby Lune is a pilgrimage site for croissant acolytes. Baristas work at a central curved counter, on show like rock stars but more likely to have a friendly chat.
It’s not all rock-star pricing, though. A flat white is $5.50: choose between super-smooth house espresso or an intense, almost spicy “Brunswick” blend.
The simple food menu is built around bagels with lively toppings. Cucumber
slices overlap on cream cheese laced with gochujang, a spicy Korean ferment. Pesto-smooshed egg salad is piled with iceberg. Avocado is smashed with peas. There are pastries and granola, too, but coffee is the go.
In 1997, Sydney lawyer Toby Smith found himself so obsessed with coffee he started roasting beans in his mum’s garage. Toby’s Estate became a pioneering Australian supplier of, and advocate for, quality coffee sourced directly from growers.
Baristas work at a central curved counter, on show like rock stars but more likely to have a friendly chat.
The company is now owned by huge Japanese roaster UCC Group, which is,
apparently, pretty hands-off. About 800 cafes around the country use Toby’s Estate beans, including 100 in Victoria, but there hasn’t been a bricks-and-mortar brand presence in Melbourne since a Brunswick outlet closed in 2017. It’s brave to relaunch in Fitzroy, a suburb replete with indie cafes.
Do we need this, Melbourne? No, but I don’t begrudge it, either. The more players making next-level coffee accessible, the more consumers understand the value of this miraculous bean.
The Toby’s team is well-trained in the product but also in tone: no
one will snigger if you don’t know carbonic maceration from a cup of chino. Keen cuppers can school up at free tastings, too.
Was it worth $30 for a hit of Savage Parabolic? Absolutely. My expensive coffee
was made with prized geisha beans grown in the Panamanian rainforest by a farmer called Jamison Savage, who ferments them with a flavour-boosting technique (hello, carbonic maceration).
Toby’s Estate air-freighted just 20 kilograms to Australia and divided it into
single portions which are stored frozen. When I order, the coffee is ground, then
extracted via drip filter in a display that edges toward ceremony. A long-spouted
kettle heats water to 91 degrees. A maestro delicately pours the water over the
grounds, then decants 220ml of liquid into a beaker, which is served with a
warm, ceramic cup.
You can’t compare coffee like this to a kickalong from the 7-Eleven. I’d rank it alongside an arthouse movie ticket or a nice glass of wine, something with a story that you can analyse or simply let wash over you.
It also opens up the notion of coffee as a luxury – which it is. The coffee supply chain is complex and precarious. The occasional $30 cup reminds us how lucky we are to get our daily buzz at a fraction of the price.
The low-down
Vibe: Geeky, friendly coffee temple
Go-to dish: Gochujang cucumber bagel ($17); Brunswick-blend flat white ($5.50); Sangria Colombia filter coffee ($12); Savage Coffee Parabolic filter coffee ($30)
Cost: About $50 for two
This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine
Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.
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