UR Caffe’ – North Adelaide, SA

119 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide, SA, 5006

UR Caffe’ is not just another ‘brick in the wall’ of the burgeoning speciality coffee strip that is Melbourne Street.  Bobby over at Adelaide Coffee said that the barista in residence here knew their place “and that’s behind a coffee machine” – which is high praise.  Located just two doors down from First Pour, and next door to 9Bar – this UR Caffe’ is a must stop on any coffee crawl.

Sporting a very funky, unique – yet comfortable interior – including some nice abstract art on the exposed brick walls – Ur Caffe’ is a nice place, on a nice street to stop and watch the world go by.

First Pour – North Adelaide, SA

111 Melbourne Street, North Adelaide, SA, 5006

This is another one of those reviews that comes at the end of a long period of anticipation.  Having been a subscriber to BeanScene Magazine for a while now, I read with interest the development and opening of First Pour in Melbourne and then Brisbane – and hoped upon hoped – that one would come to Adelaide.  Low and behold, the announcement was made – a location was sought – and an opening date semi announced of the first week in November.  Then it was December – and then because of those damnable ‘unforeseen  circumstances’ that always crop up when developing an older building it opened to raucous acclaim in the third week of March, adding another feather into the coffee cap(ucino) of  North Adelaide’s burgeoning speciality coffee scene.

The redevelopment of their building has been done well – with a clean, crisp interior that incorporates a subtle nod to the building’s past.  A central island, featuring all the coffee wizardry is the store focal point and beneath our feet (or bottoms if you found a seat), is a subterranean cupping room – or so the legend goes.  Greeted upon arrival by polite, friendly staff – the various blends and processes were explained – then you can select, purchase and enjoy.

Buying Coffee Beans Online

Do you buy coffee beans online?

I live in rural South Australia (about 90 minutes from Adelaide) and so due to the infrequency of my trips up to the ‘big smoke’ I have, for the last three years or so, purchased the vast majority of my coffee beans from online suppliers.  I have, at one time or another, purchased beans from all those listed on the left of this post – under the heading “NEED BEANS?”

On Saturday, I went to the website of my current favourite beans supplier [who, while having beans at the upper end of the price scale, had reasonable postage charges – and the quality was consistently excellent] only to discover that their online shop was closed for renovations, and if I wanted beans to come back Monday.  So I did, and then discovered that they had changed the log in – whereas before you had a username and password, now you needed an email address and password – and the combination that I used – the one that was registered to my username – failed so many times, that I had to create a new user account.  And then, after selecting their Superior product – I went to the checkout to discover that the postage on my order would be $14.65 – and I thought “Hold the Phone” – so digging out a previous order (from last month) I discovered that as of their new shopping system, they had increased the postage charges by 49.4%.  I nearly fell off my chair.  Had I been drinking a latte, I would very nearly have spat it all over the screen – I say very nearly, because their beans are that good – I wouldn’t want to waste them – particularly now I know that the 200g or so that I have left, will be the last I see of them. I thought to myself “there must be a reason for this” so I went to Australia Post – and low and behold – they have instituted a price increase across the board from April 2nd – that had to be the reason, right?  Wrong.  I did the maths, and their price increase is only a paltry 3.79% on packages over 500g going interstate….so what gives?

I am on a fairly tight fixed income and a 49.4% hike on postage, prices these beans out of my market – which really sucks, because I really like  them.  And with prices going up on fuel, it makes the regular trips over the hill less likely – so it returns me to my original question.  Do you buy coffee beans online?  If so, where do you recommend – and are their prices and quality reasonable?