Forth Brother - Glenhuntly Road, Caulfield. (Crompton Road blend).

The cafe: A colleague of mine recently told me about a new-ish cafe in Caulfield that apparently made decent coffee. Now, Caulfield is a great place to live but it ain't no place for good coffee... Intrigued, I made my way to Forth Brother for a quick bite with my parents the other day... This was a big step for me because I really don't like Glenhuntly Road... It separates Caulfield South and Caulfield North and in this case, I'm definitely a north of the border boy! A bit of eavesdropping enabled me to find out that three brothers and one other close friend own the cafe...hence the name. There is a picture of all four of them in the bathroom...albeit when at least two of them were a little less hipster than now... I'm not sure which two of the four were working this day but there was a little bit of Dom and Adrian from Bondi Hipsters going on... The place is tiny and has a succinct menu. Almost all of which is on display. The main meals tend to have a bit of a Mexican bias. I had the smoked salmon tortilla...pretty tastey with a nice kick of wasabi. Retro tables and chairs inside and a few tables on the footpath. Forth Brother doesn't shoot the lights out but I don't think its aim is to do that anyway... Definitely a welcome addition to the street.

The coffee: Not only do you get to see two photos of the owners when you visit the bathroom but you also get to read about the Crompton Road blend they use... 60% Brasil, 20% India and 20% Bali. I'm not sure whether they thought I said 'short black' instead of short mac (not uncommon) because I'm still not sure if there was any milk atop the crema... If there was, then it was a tiny little amount and that's fine with me! A structurally correct short mac with strong green aromas and hints of honey and chocolate mousse. A very racey, citrus palate with a good kick of acid. Quite spicy too with traces of nuts and honey. The chocolate mousse was there again on the finish. Great temperature and balance. I was wrong, they do make good coffee in Caulfield! Price: $3.50. Score 8/10.

Cheerio - Lennox Street, Richmond. (House blend)

The cafe: Gastronomically, moving my place of work from the CBD to Richmond has been nothing short of a disaster. My midday thought process has gone from 'Where should I eat today?' to 'Where can I eat today?'... And after an overseas holiday and four weeks away from Richmond lunchtime food, I dreaded the thought of it on my first day back at work... Then, for just about the first time in his life, my cousin Matt did something useful... He took me to the recently opened Cheerio! The owners, Chris and Charlotte, are well known around town and have cafe resumes as good as anyone's... The space is small, clean and minimal. It has a real 'warm' feel about it and I love the natural light...it's great for the endorphins! The crowd is mature, respectful and friendly. The menu isn't big but it's damn delicious. I keep going back for the mushroom and walnut paste toastie! And there is a new soup each day too. After going there regularly for the past six weeks, I'm not sure which of the following is less likely: seeing Charlotte in a grumpy mood or seeing Chris wearing long pants...

The coffee: Even if the coffee was bad, I'd still go there just to have my coffee served in the mint green cup and saucer...the coolest in town! The aroma is dominated by strong red berry fruits. And the palate is an avalanche of citrus with a sharp acid kick. The finish is quite long with lashings of licorice. This short mac is as much about texture as it is flavour. Viscous, concentrated, intense and thick. In fact, I'd say it's just as much a ristretto macchiato as it is a short mac... The thing I like most about it is its consistency...I get the same coffee everytime. As you should be able to work out, this is a very strong short mac...there is a lot of punch packed into a small amount of liquid. If you like that style, Chris and Charlotte are your new best friends! Price: $3.50. Score 8.5/10.

Three Bags Full - Nicholson Street, Abbotsford. (House blend)

The cafe: Despite promises of delicious coffee by several respected bean enthusiasts, it took me a bloody long time to finally get to Three Bags Full. My excuse: Abbotsford is not really an area I spend much time in... And despite going there when I visited this cafe, I still don't know exactly where Abbotsford is... Success has seen Three Bags Full expand into the space next door and it now seats around 100 people. The crowd is a bit of a mixture...local workers and a variety of punters out for lunch... But most importantly, Three Bags Full is probably the first stop on the way to Hipsterdom... Whilst it's not far enough north to include those folk with long beards and fake oversized glasses speaking their own language, you will find plenty of 'baby' hipsters here... You know, they look like hipsters but have regained a sense of normality...and they wont be wearing a tambourine as a bracelet either...so it's totes cool brah... Great service (especially for a busy lunchtime) and an interesting menu full of very tempting dishes. I had the poached eggs with peas on toast and it was damn delicious! I won't be waiting so long for my second visit...

The coffee: More often than not, when there is a bit of built up hype about something the experience tends to be a let down... This certaintly was NOT the case at Three Bags Full. Delightful nutty, roasted and honey aromas...almost too good to drink! And the palate is bursting with chocolate mousse, black forrest cake and red berries. The finish is all about fine dark chocolate and went on for what seemed like for ever... The texture was brilliant...smooth, creamy and viscous. It also gives a really interesting mouth filling sensation. Perfect temperature, liquid and crema. As it is Tour de France time, I can say this short mac is in a breakaway group that's well ahead of the peloton... An absolute must. Price: $3.70. Score 9/10.

Spout - Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea. (House blend)

The cafe: Up until recently, the tiny suburb of Ripponlea has best been known for being the home of Melbourne's Adass Israel community. An ultra orthodox Jewish sect. Then, one of its members, Benjamin Shewryberg, opened up the most successful kosher restaurant in Melbourne - Attica Bagel and Smoked Salmon. It has resulted in a boom for that little strip of shops between Hotham St and the train station...including Johnny's fish shop that claims to have a set of kosher knives out the back for the kosher fish that he sells... Anyway, now the cafe's have hit the strip and Spout has sprout upon us... I so wanted to like this place but it just didn't do it for me. Exposed bricks, hanging light bulbs, open kitchen...hasn't this been done to death already?!?!?! But the worst part was the smell. Remember when cafes and restaurants had the kitchen behind closed doors so you couldn't smell the food and didn't leave the place smelling of the food? Spout smells like a take away Asian restaurant...and so do the customers when they leave... The place has got some good write-ups and it is quite busy so maybe it's just me? I will come back to try the food...but I'll be sitting outside...

The coffee: OK, we're in a bit of trouble here too... Have a look at the pic. It's not a short mac... What's with all that froth??? After I eventually got through it and reached the coffee it had a very charcoal smell and taste about it. It was also quite bitter. There was no after taste and it was quite weak too. On a positive side, the temperature was good! Maybe it's a good latte cafe...there were quite a few take aways by locals in ugg boots when I was there... But the short mac was wrong. I hope we can still be friends... Price: $3.50. Score 5/10.

Brother Baba Budan - Little Bourke Street, CBD. (House blend)

The cafe: BBB, as many like to call it, is probably just as well known for the chairs hanging from its ceiling as it is for being one of the pioneers of new wave, inner city Melbourne coffee. The place is absolutely tiny with one small communal table and about half a dozen seats at the back and gets very cramped and somewhat uncomfortable during busy times. Food is kept to a minimum and is basically the same fare you'll get at many other cafe's around town. The crowd is a constant battle between CBD office workers ordering their takeaway white coffee's and the Melbourne hipster elite sitting in for their black coffees. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon to cop a bit of attitude from the staff members and I have noticed the place is much less full than it used to be. The numbers seemed to drop off a bit after BBB hiked it's prices mid 2011 and a few new places opened in very close proximity. Having said that, the coffee is still top notch and you can get lucky sometimes with smiley, happy service too!

The coffee: This is the short mac that made me full in love with coffee. As autumn turned to winter last year, I would make the 10 minute trek from my warm office at the top of Collins Street, thru the CBD's cold and windy streets, to BBB almost every week day. This place was instrumental in enabling me to put the pieces together in the puzzle that is coffee. Beautiful aromas of honey, chocolate mousse and roasted wallnuts that transcend into a palate of the exact same flavours. A rich, long, creamy after taste of medium dark chocolate with just a hint of licorice. Perfect temperature, balance and crema to liquid. A really beautiful short mac for those who like it on the rich, decadent side. Price $3.80. Score 8.5-9/10.

St Edmonds - St Edmonds Road, Prahran. (House blend)

The cafe: This is well and truly a long overdue review... Anybody who knows my short mac story knows that Adam from St Eddies popped my short mac cherry on his last day at his former cafe, Small World. Located aroud the corner from Greville Street, this cafe/restaurant has all the right ingredients to be one of Melbourne's more pretentious hang outs. It has the right postcode, the right people and the right presentation... But it's not. In fact, it's anything but pretentious. Adam's ridiculously relaxed attitude and his super friendly staff make going to St Edmond's a fun gastronomic experience. It has a great menu of classics with some extra special tweaks, plus a blackboard with some daily specials. The layout is good too. Lot's of natural light, plenty of tables for two's and four's, a counter/bar that extends to a cummunal table (that's where I like to sit) and a courtyard area if you want to have a drag with your coffee... Open daily for brekkie and lunch and two nights a week for dinner. Plonk is available and there are two beers and a cider on tap too...

The coffee: With a Melbourne cafe resume as good as anyone's, there was no doubt Wilko would serve up a good coffee. The house blend is made up of beans from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, India and Columbia. (There is a single origin available too). As can be seen by the colour, this is a strong, dark coffee. The nose is dominated with roasted, smokey aromas. And the palate is all about rich, dark chocolate with intense dark honey and more than a hint of maltesers. The length of this coffee is extremely long. Very weighty, viscous and mouth filling. Not dissimilar to melting a piece of high quality chocolate in your mouth. Great structure, perfect temperature and the right amount of liquid and crema. Interestingly, I don't hear people mention St Edmonds when they talk about Melbourne's better coffee places... I obviously think it's right up there. Price $3.80. Score 8.5+/10.