Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best coffee near me?

Well, it’s Omar & the Marvellous Coffee Bird of course. If you’re not close-by, come closer.

What is the best coffee recipe?

For any non-pressurised brewing method, like plunger, or pour-over filter, we recommend a 50-60g per litre of water. For espresso, it really depends on the type of coffee, its roast level and your desired outcome, but the brew ratio (coffee grounds : coffee extracted) will be somewhere between 1:2 and 1:2.5.

How to make coffee?

A seemingly simple question… just add water! Coffee making is very easy once you know how. To learn a bit more about what’s involved, why not sign up to one of our coffee training classes?

Does coffee have health benefits?

There is much conjecture regarding the health benefits of coffee. In short, when consumed in moderation and without the addition of too much milk or sugar, there are some measurable health benefits. Check out this article at Johns Hopkins for more info.

What are the different types of coffee?

Well, that’s a loaded question… This question could relate to the coffee plant, the coffee menu, the roast level of coffee, and myriad other questions.

Let’s start with the coffee plant. There are many species of coffee plant, but the most commonly consumed are Arabica and Robusta. Each species of coffee has many varieties within it. Check out the World Coffee Research website for more info.

The Melbourne cafe or coffee menu is world renowned and includes espresso-based beverages such as: short black, long black, short macchiato, long macchiato, cafe latte, flat white and cappuccino. Most cafes in Melbourne also offer filter coffee either done in a batch brewer like a Moccamaster, or manually with a pour-over, or immersion brew system like a Clever Coffee Dripper.

The different types of Roast Level or Roast Degree are described as Light Roast, Medium Roast and Dark Roast. Each of these Roast Levels cook the coffee beans to a differing degree, which alters the colour and flavour of the coffee beans. In short, the Lighter or less a coffee is roasted, the more acidity and fragrance it will have, the Darker or more a coffee is roasted, the more body and bitterness a coffee will have. For more info on this, why not read our blog “Understanding roast levels and their flavour impact“.

Where is the best coffee shop?

Again, it’s here at Omar & the Marvellous Coffee Bird, but we have lots of great cafes in Melbourne in terms of quality of coffee and food, as well as interior design and ambience. The BBC travel blog thinks we’re one of the best around as well.

What are the best coffee brands?

You guessed it, Omar & the Marvellous Coffee Bird. The word brand is an important one to us. Not every coffee roaster is a coffee brand. We feel very proud to work with a graphic designer, Creative Order who helped us bring our coffee brand to life with our logo, website and packaging designs. We were even shortlisted for the AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) packaging design awards.

What is the best coffee subscription?

Omar & the Marvellous Coffee Bird. Coffee subscriptions are a great way to ensure that you never run out of freshly roasted coffee. There are some companies who will send you a different coffee every time, but we prefer to make sure we’re getting the roasting perfect before we send anything out. To do this, we restrict the number of coffees we have on hand, so we can focus on getting each and every one tasting as good as it can. This means that if you sign up to our Coffee Subscription, you’ll get to enjoy some of the same coffees for a couple of months before we change it up. Find out more on our Coffee Subscription page.

What is the best coffee grinder?

For home coffee making we think there are a few great options.

For espresso, we recommend the Niche Zero for it’s ease of use, low retention, and quiet grinding.

For filter, or plunger, we recommend the Saint Anthony Industries hand grinder. It’s such a lovely piece of equipment to use. If hand grinding isn’t your thing, then the Niche will make easy work of grinding your beans. If budget is a concern, we also stock the Baratza Encore ESP for a solid entry level coffee grinder.

What is the best coffee machine?

We’ve used La Marzocco espresso equipment since we opened our doors. These days, they make a great range of home espresso machines that produce cafe-quality coffee. We use the La Marzocco Linea Mini in all of our espresso coffee training classes and highly recommend them. We also sell them if you’re keen.