This was my old local. I lived directly across the road, so I started getting my coffee here every morning, but it was really not great. A bit over-extracted, a bit watery, in Campos cups but it didn’t taste like Campos to me. Gather is a prime example of a cafe that has been bought, rather than started, in the aftermath of the Sydney coffee boom. So, awkwardly, I switched to the cafe right next door, Store Espresso, where the coffee was instantly much better but I had to wait for it out on the path in full view of the Gather barista, who, by that stage, already knew my name… but the Store coffee was worth the awkwardness.
Coffee: -1 (back in 2020)
And, after moving back into Newtown proper, I probably would never have gone there again. But recently, my son lost his phone and it was handed in to Gather On The Green, so I went there to pick it up. A different barista than before (thank goodness) greeted me, the service was very welcoming, and my coffee was… actually ok. Perhaps the hundreds of bad coffees I’ve had in the making of this blog have lowered my standards, or maybe the barista was just doing a better job. I thanked them for the phone, I thanked them for the coffee, and the toddler said “tashoo” for the BB. The BB was more or less as I remembered it – a bit cakey. Crumbly consistency, a little dry, with a distinct artificial banana flavour. Pretty sure it’s a stock-standard BB from a mass supplier, but not a good one.
Coffee: 0
BB: -1