Bay Coffee Roasters

We will go a long way in search of a good coffee, and, having been promised freshly roasted tasty blends by an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, we duly set out one morning on a pilgrimage to Neutral Bay to track down David Rosa’s Bay Coffee Roasters.

The cafe is to the rear of a group of shops on Military Road, facing onto the car park off Grosvenor Lane. In terms of ambience it lacks much of a view but facing the smog filled busy Military Road on the other side wouldn't have been much better. We were guided to the cafe itself by the divine smell of fresh roasting coffee wafting out from the shop. David’s German Probat Roaster (nicknamed Betsy) dominates the front of the shop and was busy puffing away like a steam train and producing nicely browned coffee beans as we arrived.

David sells six blends and four single origin roasts and you can try many of them at the cafe, or buy them for home purchase. He also stocked a good supply of leaf teas. Our only real complaint is that he needs to find some tastier options to munch with his coffee than his pre-packaged biscuits and unexciting looking friands. This cafe needs lemon meringue pies and Portuguese custard tarts and a fine selection of muffins but it was not to be!

Still we enjoyed our coffee sitting next to Betsy and smelling that addictive and wonderful fresh coffee smell. I had a latte made with the "Bay Roast House Blend". It was well made - nicely textured milk but not much in the art department. I found it hard to distinguish much of the coffee's bouquet as we were sitting quite near the roaster while it was in action and the smell of the roasting beans far overpowered any scent from the coffee. Taste wise I had the same problem but could detect hints of chocolate. I think another visit will be in order when the roaster is not going...