Much has been written (and doubtless, will continue to be written) about Brewtown Newtown, a great addition to the mostly uninspired caffeine scene in the formerly (and now once again?) cutting edge, albeit somewhat crunchy suburb of Newtown. Taking over the ground floor of the lovingly restored barn-like space on O’Connel Street (formerly Berkelouw books), Simon Triggs of Gnome and Charles Cameron of Single Origin Roasters have put together a cracking cafe.

Just off the main drag seems to be the way to play it these days. Brewtown sits on O’Connell Street, which comes off King street. Having visited a handful of times now, I find the service to be very professional; staff seat you, are attentive, and are eager to tell you all about their offerings, especially when it comes to coffee. This is admirable when you consider the place has been an instant hit and is usually packed out; take a sip of your coffee at 9:59, look up at the doorway at 10:00am and it’s as if a switch has been flicked to signal that brunch has begun.

The menu at Brewtown is well crafted enough to make choosing your meal a kind of delicious annoyance, from fruit salad littered with cronut crumbs to beetroot-cured trout on toast to baked (although I’m sure in a decent dousing of fat) polenta wedges served with portobellos and poached eggs to the delicious-looking duck ravioli, and of course, the famous cronuts, it’s a tough call.

These kids sure know their way around an espresso machine. Each coffee I’ve had, be it macch or espresso (my go-tos) have been singular and impressive in flavour and I haven’t had to wait too long. With their specialty coffee pedigree, Brewtown are currently serving a custom roasted blend from Single Origin Roasters (along with selected Single Origins) but will eventually be roasting themselves.

They’re also doing the third wave thing as well but I have to say, their filters don’t really float my boat. From cold drip to their ‘only-one-in-australia steampunk mod filter brewer’, my chums and I have been pretty unimpressed. I think I’m going to need to go back and find out more about their methods, maybe take some industry peeps along for the ride. Something may be lost in translation; it just doesn’t feel like the filters I’ve had there are showing the coffee in its best light. I’m looking forward to being proved wrong.

Having said that, this is hands down my fave Sydney cafe to open up in 2013. Somewhere with space, somewhere with style, somewhere professional (neither cooler-than-thou nor slacksadasical), somewhere with a substantial, imaginative yet casual menu, and somewhere with excellent coffee. The cherry on the sundae is that my fave gelato place, Cow & Moon, will be pal-ing up with Brewtown for some upstairs-affogato-project-madness. So stay tuned.



Brewtown Newtown
6-8 O’Connell Street
Newtown NSW 2042
02 9519 2920

Brewtown Newtown on Urbanspoon

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8 Responses to Brewtown Newtown

  1. Ramen Raff says:

    lol delicious annoyance, good one. Yeah, my fave cafe of 2013 too.

  2. Well looks like it ticks all the boxes, runny egg, hipster barister and in Newtown. Interesting that you haven’t gone all gooey over their coffee. Good to know!
    thang@noodlies recently posted…Kimmy’s Vietnamese Cuisine, Cabramatta

  3. Alana says:

    Awwww yeahhhh I’m about to move real close to this place. The first time I had a coffee here I mumbled something about it being one of the best I’ve ever had. Looking forward to getting super fat on their cronuts (which I’m yet to try).

  4. vegeTARAian says:

    Polenta and portobellos? Yes please

  5. milkteaxx says:

    this i one of my favs from 2013 too! am still writin up post!

  6. I was on a major caffeine hit when I left Brewtown on my visit. The espresso was just so easy to drink. Yep, I’m one of those yet to write about it, hehe.
    Sara | Belly Rubmbles recently posted…Rose’s Peach Ice Blocks

  7. Gaby says:

    Sounds like the coffees are definitely worth trying. Will do as soon as I come back from holidays.
    Gaby recently posted…My experiment with the Bulletproof® protein fasting

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