206 Canterbury Rd, Canterbury VIC 3126
(03) 9836 9889
Google map link
Coffee Brand In-House Roasters
The Maling Room is a shining light in the otherwise quality coffee starved, private-school concentrated zone of Melbourne. Installation of a roaster less than a year ago has taken this place from an above average place for coffee to a pretty bloody decent one. While our coffee scores show a bit of a decline over the three visits there is plenty to like about The Maling Room. Once some consistency issues are overcome this place could very well be considered among the elite in Melbourne. The house blend is one of the nicest we have come across and it is currently SimonL’s choice for home.
The Maling Room is a large space inside with many outdoor tables. It has two Synesso machines, a 3 group and 2 group, and is very busy, especially on the weekends with a huge amount of coffees being pumped out.
We have observed commitment behind the machine and good knowledge from the baristas (there seem to be many), however that doesn’t appear to translate through to the majority of the wait staff. Apart from the house blend there are two to three origins and/or a specialty blend all available as espresso. There are no filter options.
Score Summary.
Macchiato: 12.5, 12.5, 15.5
Espresso: 18, 16, 15
Ristretto: 15.5, 15, 16.5
Overall Mean Score: 15.33. Recommended
I noticed a drop of scores on latte & espresso from 18 (1st review) to 16/15-ish (2nd & 3rd reviews). Do you know of a particular reason? The blend for espresso did change from Nicaraguan to house blend then to Guatemala, but the latte was all brewed under the house blend. Was it more of consistency issues? Or was the house blend somehow different from time to time?
I believe there are some consistency issues here, and I don’t know if there have been any changes to the house blend. They don’t advertise what is in it and to our detriment we didn’t find out. However that is mainly to do with us trying to remain anonymous through the review cycle. The cafe lattes seemed a little under-strength in the second two reviews and the other coffees varied in presentation and style. I can only put that down to inconsistency in preparation, probably due to different baristas making the coffee each time who differ slightly in the way they make coffee. Also we like to try different origin coffees each time to experience different styles and how they come across in espresso coffee. The overall experience at The Maling Room was very good and we didn’t dislike any of the coffees. I should mention also that I am a semi-regular here and the coffees have been always enjoyable. SimonL.
I’ve been to Mailing Room since its opening way back in… 2007. Let’s not forget that this is a venue along with BBB and St Ali (under its founder Mark Dundan who has since moved on to 7Seeds) spearheaded what we refer to as Specialty Coffee in Melbourne. In this sense Mailing Room is monumental.
In regards to coffee I have always found Mailing Room to provide excellent coffee on a consistent basis.
Negatives, well none.
My only tip with Mailing Room, as with many places, is ask the barista; “what’s good” or “what to expect” on a given visit.
Even the best coffees that are cared for in storage dance around a bit and differ day to day. Rely on the barista for this up to the minute info more so than a chalk board or printed listing.