Café de Lacey
This
Girl caught glimpse of their sign as I was driving down Fleet Street in Moonah
recently.
I had
previously noticed their window with its beautiful Taste of Paradise logo and
had wondered what lay behind the door.
Wonder
no more, Taste of Paradise have been importing coffee for 20 years as coffee
wholesalers and for the past 7 have been roasting their own under the Café de
Lacey brand in little old Moonah, selling to the café industry.
Owner
Darren De Lacey’s story is on the back of their beans and tells of his early
love of coffee cake, the start of his passion for coffee. Coffee is a passion
also shared by his wife Sonya, who was born in the Eastern Highlands of Papua
New Guinea, an area renowned for growing some of the world’s finest coffee. Sonya’s
great-grandfather was a tea and coffee merchant in the 19th century – it is no
wonder that coffee became their life!
They
opened their doors to the public as TOP Cafe Bar in December 2013. TOP Café Bar is not your traditional
café, while they do have some casual seating in the front window they are
mostly for grab and go.
In
addition to their take-away coffee, they offer freshly baked muffins and some
of the specialties they wholesale such as almond crescents and Australian and imported
confectionery. Of course if you want to have their coffee at home you can
purchase their Café De Lacey beans directly from them at the café too.
I
chose their Premium Estate beans to take home, which they happily grind for
free. These beans have won five awards including; Silver Medal Winner 2013
Golden Bean – Single Origin and Bronze Medal Winner – 2013 Sydney Royal. Also Bronze and Silver in Tasmania’s
own Fine Food Awards for 2011 and 2012.
They’ve just won Gold, Silver and Bronze Champion Coffee at the Royal
Hobart Fine Food Awards 2014.
This
Girl has been back a few times now, most recently purchasing their Café Quattro
blend and a dreamy box of European Thick Chilli Chocolate
powder.
We try
to buy coffee from Tasmanian roasters where we can and Café de Lacey beans are a
winner in our house with Devote ranking it high on his list of favourite Tassie
roasters.
Taste of
Paradise, incorporating TOP Café
Bar is at 6 Fleet Street, Moonah and are
open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Around
Hobart you can enjoy their coffee at Boutique Espresso at 162 Macquarie Street,
Kornet Salt, Sugar, Coffee in Centrepoint, Realm Café in Mather’s Lane and
Elizabeth Street Food + Wine in North Hobart. You can also buy their beans from
Hill Street Grocer South Hobart.
You can order coffee and other products on line here. Note as wholesalers, they do supply a lot in bulk, but then again, a 42 pack of
Biggles the Bear in milk chocolate doesn’t seem unreasonable.
If you like coffee you might also like our other posts on coffee:
