New Brisbane

Urban Grind
33 Latrobe Terrace
Paddington

0408 10 11 40

7am - 4pm Monday to Friday
7am - 3pm Saturday
8am - 1pm Sunday

It’s about 11am, the caffeine-crash has hit and you’re in dire straights if you don’t get a hot little shot in your hot little hands straight away. No time for massive line ups or long waits. You need somewhere quiet, where you can pull out a paper or look into space while you experience an instant espresso-induced restoration.

Urban Grind is neatly tucked in behind Endo’s and snuggled rather unassumingly next to the book/gift shop Cherry Blossom on Latrobe Terrace in Paddington. Those looking for breakfast or lunch had better keep walking down to Sassafras or Sol Breads, but if you need a sweet little snack and a recuperating coffee then this place has the lot.

It’s a rather refreshing little café after the glitz and glamour of Park Road and Rosalie Village. The décor is nice with a dose of no-fuss. Wooden stools are supplied to seat tushes, and small intimate tables provide enough room for papers, computers and confidante-style conversations.

The beauty of this small space is the counter and coffee machine, which are right in there with the customers. Still, there’s enough room to sit on the sidewalk and enjoy the circus from beneath a big shady umbrella, room to escape the sidewalk show and sit inside where the counter action is, and even space to sit out the back- if you’re in for an intimate setting.

Customers can walk past the counter and through to the rear and, if in luck, grab a cushy sofa and wooden coffee table. If already occupied, you can head out to the veranda and pull up a wooden stool. My personal favourite is the veranda area which is a quiet little escape with easy access to the toilet (an important factor), the back entry to Cherry Blossom (another important factor), and views of the garden/landscape shop below. A bit of late morning sun broken by the shadowy branches of surrounding trees, overlooking a backyard of fountains and pot planty things while clocking up coffee time- now that’s serenity.

Seeing as coffee is their main game, Urban Grind tend to do it rather well, with temperate flat whites, latte’s sporting nice thick foam coats and even cringe-less soy cappuccinos, all for moderate prices (ie. around the $3.00 mark). For real coffee-conscious fanatics Urban Grind use DiBella coffee and even have a BYO breakfast and lunch policy- as long as you drink their coffee with it.

As for the snacks, you can set yourself up with biscuits, slices and other small nibbly things and equip yourself with the free mags and daily newspapers to assist with digestion. Fellow Urban Grind-goers may have noticed their café in West End on Boundary Street as well.

A final word of warning, as stated on their website www.urbangrind.com.au, `please do not ask for decaffeinated as refusal may offend’!

By Alice B.