Proud Mary

kinda like a bunch of other cafes, but nice coffee

maybe a little overly friendly

10/10

The best cafe macchiato I've been lucky to find since my 5 month trip around Italy - can't remember anything else about the place, was too overcome with joy over the coffee.

Nice nice nice. Even with the the six group Synesso and dozen or so Mazzers, Proud Mary somehow bucks the current trend of excessively opulent fittouts. Still a very nice, well designed fittout, it seems more practical than extravagant. The genuine service and solid coffees re-enforce it. There is a focus of discovery with the dozens of micro-batch roasts. If I was a local... this would be my local.

Oh. My. God. That Synesso machine is amazing. If I was ever to make love to an inanimate object, it would be that machine. Six groups of shiny chrome, steel and wonderment.
Nolan (owner of Proud Mary) is obviously a coffee geek, not only does he have a $40k custom Synesso, but he has syphons & grinders aplenty, a 1kg roaster even though his coffee is sourced from 5 Senses (just in case some nice green beans come in, presumably) and what's most interesting, one Clover for coffee and another Clover soon to be in for tea. This is pretty crazy since Clovers have been taken off the market (after the company was bought by Starbucks) and sourcing them right now is bloody hard.
Their breakfast options (served all day) are interesting and, from what I tried, very good. And they always have a great array of single estates running on the Synesso, syphon and clover. As well as their house blend which is great. This place is undeniably special and an absolute must.

After seeing pictures of the beast of a coffee machine on show here, I just had to visit Proud Mary! The queue to get a table signified that others felt the same!

While waiting for my table, I was amazed to see all the machinery around the place! A custom made head head espresso machine, a Clover, three siphons, a small roaster, too many grinders to count! Most amazing was the care the baristas took with making each coffee.

I ordered a ristretto, which was amazingly rich in flavour without being bitter, and surprisingly sweet. I also ordered a siphon, which was accompanied by tasting notes and background information about the beans. An amazingly nutty flavour predominated, with subtleties a plenty.

Sadly, I was extremely disappointed with the time I waited for a table, and the time between ordering each coffee and receiving it. Furthermore, we waited over an hour for our breakfast. There is no table service, which means not only do you wait to be seated, you then go up to the regiser and wait to be served.

Fingers crossed these problems are merely teething problems, as Proud Mary has only been open for a few weeks. If things don't change, the timing could well be the downfall of what has the potential to be one of the best cafes in Melbourne.

They say that size doesn’t matter but when you walk into Proud Mary’s you soon realise that this is just rubbish. Man this machine is huge and beautiful with six shiny groups each on individual boilers, two huge boilers for the 3 steam wands (the middle one operated by a foot pedal!) and six pumps that control this beastly customised Synesso to perfection. Even the levers for this machine were crafted from 150-200 year old Red Gum pulled from an old wool shed in Aubury Wodonga. It’s hard to put into words how big this machine is but it really does make a statement. The rest of the gear here is top notch too being two Mazzer Robur custom grinders, a Clover Machine, drip coffee, syphons & a 1kg black Roaster that will be roasting small batches of specialty coffee daily. It’s a coffee geek’s paradise.

I really like the way the owner Nolan has designed this place. Its set in the old industrial rag trade area of Collingwood on the corner of Oxford & Stanley Streets & the inside has kept that old warehouse feeling but the finishes are outstanding. Even the knock box has been cut out of the granite bench top. Nice! There are wooden benches running around the windows, a communal table & a few more intimate tables dotted around this large space.

So the place is mint but what about the coffee? Well this place does not let you down & trust me when you walk in you are expecting big things in the coffee. I started with a flat white that was served with a beautiful rosetta in silky glossy milk & the flavour was rich, nutty and very smooth, an outstanding coffee! Next up was a Ristretto that was full bodied and had a really nice strong earthy flavour without being bitter at all. Nolan and his team really know how to get the best of the Five Senses coffee they are serving. The bean they were running today was a blend of Bali & Columbian and was running really well.

If you are in Melbourne this is a must visit coffee destination. Enjoy!