Tap Espresso, Sydney

I'm so stoked to see more specialty coffee places opening in Sydney CBD. There's more to coffee than just flat whites and cappuccinos. It's good to mix it up a bit with different single origin espressos and filters every now and then. According to American author, Bryant McGill: "Life wants you to touch, taste and see the grandeur of the world's unfathomable variety". It seems like Joe Musumeci tapped into that quote and opened Tap Espresso.

Chocolate filled cartocci

Nutella muffins $4

Yoghurt parfait

Joe (former head barista at Bond Cafe) is the owner and head barista of the new Tap Espresso. It is conveniently located inside the same building as Channel 7 and right above the Martin Place train station. Coffee is his passion, which means that the process from beans to cup is executed with precision. He even got Toufik (formerly from Circa Espresso) on board as barista and right hand man to ensure that customers get the best possible coffee everytime. Tap has a very chilled vibe, a contemporary cafe look with industrial fittings and a badass street art mural. Sliders, toasts, and yoghurt parfaits are available for breakfast. They also have sweets and pastries available. For lunch, there's a DIY salad bar and pita wraps.

Besides the house blend, which is custom roasted for them by Toby's Estate, they also have guest blends and single origin beans from other roasters. Blends and single origin beans from Mecca, Ona Coffee, Circa and Reuben hills have made appearances in the last few weeks.

Piccolo latte

The Tap espresso house blend in a piccolo latte ($3.50) came out sweet and nutty with notes of milk chocolate and hazelnut. The milk was textured nicely and had a perfect temperature.

Toufik on pour over

Filter pour over - Panama Finca Santa Teresa Gesha by Toby's Estate

For filter, I had a Panama Finca Santa Teresa Gesha ($6.5) from Toby's Estate. I loved the delicate sweet flavour and notes of jasmine of this coffee. I gotta give props to Toufik for his mad pour over skills. The flavours came through with nice vibrance.

Filter pour over - Ethiopia Lelisa Hara by Reuben Hills

I also had a Ethiopia Lelisa Hara roasted by Reuben Hills on Filter ($4.5). It was fruity with notes of cocoa.

Breakfast slider

Their breakfast slider ($8) was totally awesome. It's bigger than a slider and more like a roll. The creaminess from the avocado and piquant Swiss cheese was so nice on the palate. The crispy prosciutto was buttery and sweet with a hint of salty flavour at the end. The tomato relish gave it a nice sweet and sour balance. The sunny egg with runny yolk added extra richness to the slider. A soft sweet buns is used for the slider.

Lamb pita wrap

The lamb pita wrap ($11) was like a Greek burrito. It had glorious tender slow roast shish lamb, Aegean salad, caramelised onion and tzatziki. The tangy and garlic flavours of the tzatziki as most of us know compliments lamb perfectly. The sweetness from the caramelised onion, the texture (the rice component in particular) and citrus/sour flavours from the Aegean salad completes the pita wrap.

The variety that Tap Espresso has brought made work days more exciting in the area. The service is superb, food is delicious, and the coffee is spot on.

Tap Espresso

52 Martin Place

Sydney NSW 2000

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tapcafe

Trading hours:

Monday-Friday 7:00 am to 4:00pm