Ora

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Ora: 156 Pakington Street, Kew, 9855 2002

My score: 4/5

I’ve long considered excellent coffee an essential element in a good life, ranked alongside proper butter and phone chargers that come when you whistle. But I haven’t leapt on the so-called coffee third wave, with its farm-to-cup journeys, multiplicitous brewing methods, and obsession with the perfect pour. There’s as much science in it as the synchrotron and its proponents are as ardent as young lovers. For someone who sees coffee as a pleasant morning medicine, it’s been a little too much. But Ora turned me on as it dosed me up. This small, simple, bright six-month-old cafe is so cheerfully, winningly passionate about coffee that I am happy to hop on the bandwagon (just so long as it’s okay to hop off for a boring old cafe latte whenever I like).

Ora does great espresso. There’s also filter, siphon, pour over, French press, aeropress and cold drip coffee. The counter is a hipster lab with grinders, thermometers, beakers and filters that burble, flame, drip and flow in an aromatic tableau. It’s good theatre with results you can taste. My latte was creamy, toasty and rich; my single-origin Brazilian aeropress (a pressurised filter coffee) was gently silky, served in a glass teacup to better appreciate its perfume and dusky tones.

There’s also classy food that pushes past cafe cliches without abandoning those who think scrambled eggs and bacon doth a fine weekend maketh. The pea and bacon hash is a nice spin on the brunchodoxy, loose, lightly egged and golden brown with deep, funky flavours from the bacon and manchego sheep’s milk cheese. Smashed broad beans with soft-boiled egg and lovely sweet milky ricotta is a gorgeous vegetarian alternative. I reckon the pert salad leaves that came with these brunches should have been dressed. The fruit salad slightly underwhelmed with its lack of glamour fruits and tooth-tingling chill, though the cinnamon yoghurt atop was creamy and delicious. Looking at lunch, soft panini stuffed with torn duck meat, cucumber, coriander and sweet mayonnaise was so juicy and swanky that I have banned boring buns from my life forever.

Service was unfailingly cheerful and efficient on a busy morning, boosting my theory that coffee geeks are particularly good at hospitality. They love it when you order a lesser-known brew and they are beyond ecstatic when you like it. It’s a joyful feedback loop that makes a caffeinated day even more rewarding.

More coffee focussed:

Auction Rooms, 103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne, 9326 774
Coffee is roasted on-site and beans are available to take home or to drink here in every which way.

Coffeehead, 8-10 Railway Parade, Camberwell, 9831 1400
One of a bunch of new business from Paul Mathis (ex-Blue Train, Chocolate Buddha), the aim is to showcase every type of bean and brew.

Patricia, corner Little Bourke & Little William Street, Melbourne, 9642 2237
Minimalist and froth-free the choices here are black, white and filter. Don’t think about settling in: coffee is slugged back at stand-up counters.

First published in The Age, April 1, 2012