Monk Bodhi Darma
A very Melbourne experience – a café hidden down a lane way! Just like many great Melbourne restaurants and cafes, unless you are told by a friend and prepared to do a bit of hunting, you wouldn’t stumble across it!
I’m so glad I was told to check it out by two mates who I work with at my Sydney café. When we arrived, we were greeted warmly by some of the staff who rearranged a table to accommodate for us. It had a great atmosphere and real warmth about it with its timber tables (including a communal table) and distressed brick walls.
The first coffee I had was a Kenyan AA – served as a pour over filter coffee. It had some grapefruit and tomato flavours. The tomato flavour was only semi-sweet. It also had a pleasant acidity.
Once I began to chat to the barista some more, and our mutual passion for quality coffee, they suggested that I try the Costa Rican Las Lajas “Black Pearl” Micro lot. Wow… definitely one my best coffees of the trip, and one of my favourites for the year! These coffee cherries are hand picked – and only the ones that are the required size are selected. This coffee is a natural processed coffee. This means once the coffee cherries are picked off the trees, they are sun-dried with the skins still on. They are rotated regularly so that they don’t ferment. This process goes for two weeks!
I had this Costa Rican as a double ristretto. As I said, wow! It was really clean and vibrant with a lively acidity. It had some great flavours of dark fruit and chocolate. A coffee of high quality – well picked, processed and roasted.
On a side note, Monk Bodhi Dharma serves vegan food, including an amazing range of cupcakes. Excellent coffee and food, together with fantastic staff and a really cool fit out = a Melbourne stand out. Can’t wait to go back!
