Baristalker - Atomica

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Today I read somewhere that Ernest Hemingway's last words to his wife were - "Goodnight, my kitten".


Given I tend to call everyone "kitten", and the fact that my drunk alter ego has been coined "Hemingway", courtesy of my wordsmith boyfriend and my due to my manic drunk texting abilities. Thought it was abstractly relevant to my life, like a horoscope. 

Anyway, back to the real stuff.

Went for a breakfast the other morning at Brunswick Street's - Atomica Coffee. I'm not entirely sure if it's ACTUALLY called that, but when you google it it definitely comes up with the Brunswick street address. Ipso facto...surely.

 They're like the only place in the Melbourne that's half nice, that sells Atomica coffee. Probably because they're the roasters, but seriously, Atomica is possibly the most delicious tasting brew this side of the hemisphere. I am almost tempted to wank on about it, I feel the pretentious wine tasting talk swelling within my chest, almost about to burst forth and dribble onto the blog, but I'll refrain because I just heard a much better way to describe the coffee.

The perfect "normal" cup of coffee. (thanks lover)

You know that cup of coffee that is just made for milk. The kind where you can't tell why it's so good, or hits all the right spots, but just is simply "fucking nice" (my eloquent rendition). So many places in this town are all about the difference in their coffee, someone's is super bitter and packs a punch, another is purely made to be drunk black - toffee and liquorice tasting. Then you've got those woody after tones, the ones that smell like toast in the morning and the list goes on and on and on. Everyone's always searching for their flavour though, coffee's like a fine wine over here. Yeah Melbourne's known for their coffee, I mean, internationally.

I was in Brooklyn in some random kick-ass coffee pitstop and the people in there automatically warmed to me because of my peppered Aussie slang and the fact I lived in the coffee capital of the world. Respect. But the fact of the matter is, because all the cafes here are living up to this reputation, there's this horrible dark cloud of grandiloquence spilling out of the steam wands of these Melbourne Synesso machines. It was nice to just be in a joint where I'm not eye-raped by the bags of Five Seeds or Sensory Lab bullshit, you know, with the "full bodied, caramel coated Arabian horse blend sourced from the deep trenches of Aladdin's genie's fanny pack" and just have a fucking great cuppa in a perfect sized cup.


Apparently Atomica is famous for the blend and it's great they don't slut their beans around. You gotta travel to get that homely buzz yo. It's been hanging out at 268 Brunswick Street since 1996. Also, it was the first café in the area to roast coffee beans on the premises, and one of the first combined café/roasteries in the world. Cool bit of trivia!

Anyway, enough about the bevy's and onto the fodder! Breakfast was generous - some of the best toasted muesli I've ever had. With vanilla scented labne (yoghurt that tastes like vanilla ice-cream (!!)) and toasted hazelnuts and dried figs and cinnamon and loveeeeeeee - I was in a whole other world. And don't you just love it when they serve it in a terracotta pot on a wooden chopping board. Rustic and aesthetic. I think next time I'll get the eggs and mushrooms though, those buttery bad boys looking frothalicious.

The vibe of the joint is great. Communal tables and little nooks in the corners. There's an outside to smoke, and a bar to people watch from. It's cozy, it's cute, the staff are typical of Fitzroy - kooky, fun and clearly happy to be there. 

All round enjoyable experience - mainly just for the fact it was the best coffee I've had in a long time.

Atomica Coffee
268 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy