Venue revels in dark art
THE dark art of Cairns coffee alchemists The Chamber Room will torture the caffeine dependent when they feature in an upcoming national food magazine.
The Lake Street espresso and brew bar was given the secret diner treatment when an anonymous food writer did the rounds for Gourmet Traveller magazine.
It is understood a number of Cairns businesses including The Conservatory Bar and The Chamber Room in the CBD, Palm Cove’s Nu Nu, and Smithfield’s Macalister Brewing Company were put under the microscope and will star in an upcoming feature on the Far North.
The Chamber Room’s Kristy Greenardi said the guided brew bar experience might have won over the undercover coffee tourists.
“We gave them the brew bar experience,” Ms Greenardi said.
“The photographer turned up last week and took some beautiful shots. The brew bar boasts a bank of filter “pour over” coffee brewed to serve and strictly black at that.
“You get these beautiful delicate tealike, fruity flavours,” Ms Greenardi said.
“You don’t want it to taste like coffee, you want to taste the fruit.”
Don’t be fooled – this is most certainly not your average drip coffee.
A cursory glance at the bar will reveal scales under each pot and a list of minute recipe changes depending on a bewildering criteria – this is coffee alchemy.
A successful pour over, Ms Greenardi said, depended on the rate of pour, the water temperature, the grind and the beans.
Then there are the adjustments to take into account the ambient temperatures and humidity.
“We tweak it,” Ms Greenardi said.
“This takes time – it’s not wham-bam like an espresso.
“The coffee tastes differently as the beans age and the recipe needs to be adjusted.”
The visit comes as Gourmet Traveller veterans Nu Nu sit at number 45 of the magazine’s top 100 Australian restaurants list.
“Like Nu Nu’s magical backdrop, all idyllic palm-filtered beach views and tranquil Traveller Gourmet in its 2008 Restaurant Guide, awarded for “a genuinely superior dining experience in all respects and worth a detour”.
Nu Nu has been a regular in the magazine’s top 100 list ever since.