DETAILS
AWARDS
After winning the Australian Barista Champion title, the NSW Championship titles, the Australian Cupping Champion title, the Golden Bean Gold medal for Filter Coffee (along with more Golden Bean medals - silvers and bronzes over a few years), the Sydney Royal Fine Food 2008 bronze medals, the Sydney Royal Fine Food 2009 silver and bronze medal (both in the espresso category) and bronze (plunger category), the 3 "coffee cups" and, most recently, being awarded the "Best Coffee" award in the SMH Good Cafe Guide 2011, these awards do all the talking.
PROFILE BY BEST RESTAURANTS
This is serious coffee-drinking territory. Winning the title of "Best Coffee" in the 2011 SMH Good Cafe Guide, Coffee Alchemy has a lot to live up to. The first thing that you notice about Alchemy is that the mood is sombre. There is no music blaring overhead and there are no waitresses dizzily trotting around. The focus here is on one thing only: coffee.
A group of people twitch nervously outside, having ordered a takeaway, these caffeine addicts are in no mood for patience as they wait to get their first hit of the morning. Inside, the atmosphere is just as stiff, as those who prefer to sip their liquid gold out of porcelain eye off the limited seating as they wait to order their coffee. With only two long benches, customers sit like sardines, tightly pressed next to each other. Awkwardly, customers attempt to take tentative sips, accidently elbowing the person next to them in the process. If you happen to score a seat, don't plan a long lazy morning of newspaper reading, the unspoken rule is to drink your coffee and then get out. Once your coffee has arrived, all the sterility and hostility instantly dissolves. That first sip makes everything worthwhile. Coffee Alchemy certainly does serve one of the best coffees in town.
A small tip: there is no food – so if you're peckish, best to hit up King Street for a meal first.
Anna Lisle