Coffee Review: Olivers Mooloolaba

 

Olivers Cafe Mooloolaba

Olivers Cafe Mooloolaba

For the first review I thought I would go to a coffee shop that I hadn’t tried yet. Maybe I should have waited.

Price: $4 for a large takeaway skinny cappuccino

Presentation: 3/5 – It had all the basics. Takeaway cup, chocolate on top, no mess on the sides. Didn’t rock my socks, but it was sufficient.

Atmosphere: 4/5 – Compared to the rest of the places on Mooloolaba, this one had a very low-key casual vibe about it. The music was maybe a little bit loud, as I had to repeat my order to the waitress (she didn’t hear me the first time). Bonus points for being a pet-friendly cafe; as a dog lover I definitely appreciated the gesture. Dogs are limited to sitting around the outside tables with their owners, but one of the staff members brought out a water bowl for a dog laying down, which I thought was pretty great. The seating area outside felt (and looked) a little bit chaotic though.

Service: 3/5 – Maybe a little harsh, and could be pushed up to 3.5. The waitress was nice, but she thought it was a good idea to refill the not-empty straw jar while making my coffee. Huh? But again, nothing to rock my socks off and it was sufficient service.

The taste: 1/5 – The most important part of the whole review, and what determined if I will be buying coffee there again. Put simply, I won’t. The waitress asked if I wanted any sugar (I have one teaspoon with my coffee), but when I got back to the office it was pretty clear she had forgotten to add any. The coffee was bitter, and I didn’t enjoy it. The proof was the fact that I found I had left almost half of my coffee in the cup when I looked at it an hour later in the office. There just wasn’t enough there to make me want to keep drinking it.

Overall score: 11/20

Oliver’s Cafe
Unit 116, 57 The Esplanade Esp, Mooloolaba

Coffee reviews

I have just moved offices to Mooloolaba (still haven’t blogged it – sorry! It’s coming, I promise) which has thrust me into the world of almost endless coffee shops and lunch spots. At my old office, while it was a dodgy box that felt like a jail cell, I was spoilt by being made privvy to the best coffee shop on the Sunshine Coast, Veneziano. Alas, it’s too far away for a quick visit during the working day, so I’m on the hunt again for that new “great” coffee.

I decided I would share my hunt for the best coffee with you, and will be reviewing the various places around Mooloolaba. I should emphasise that I am in no means a coffee connoisseur; my experience is limited to “did it taste good – Y/N”. I will be also rating the atmosphere of the place, the service I get, the price and the presentation of the coffee. I’m a cappuccino lover, so there’s plenty of room there for great presentation. If I get handed something with milk dripping down the side, I’ll let you know. I’ll also be gushing if I get handed a coffee with various decorative pattens on the top. Also, all of my coffees will be takeaways, since I don’t really have the time to sit down and enjoy the coffee there; I need to get back to work!

If there’s anything else you think I should be including, please let me know. Otherwise, onwards with the reviews!

2009 – A year in review

Wow, I can’t believe it’s already time to reflect on another year! Here’s the most notable posts from each month throughout 2009.

January

February

March

April

May

  • This entire month is just full of posts about the USA trip (with more to come as I finish blogging it all)

June

Completely blank – I didn’t realise I knew how to keep my mouth shut!!

July

August

September

October

  • First round of the weight lost challenge was completed

November

Another month of silence!! I guess I was too busy working on my videos and blog posts from the US trip back in May.

December

What a year! It felt like I did so much, and had a few stand out moments there. Bring on 2010!

2008 Year in Review

January

The entire month I only wrote one post – a blog about my new years resolutions for 2008.

February

Midway through the month, I wrote about receiving an ipod Classic for my birthday, and how it indicated I was becoming more of a geek. Later, after a discussion with one of my TAFE teacher I began to see how I wanted my future to progress. Excited, I wrote a post about it. Looking back now I’ve already encountered a hurdle, but it will only serve to slow me down rather than change the path entirely.

At the very end of the month I wrote about discovering I suffered from mild scoliosis, and began receiving regular chiropractic treatments to alleviate my resulting neck problems caused by the curve in my spine.

March

A quiet month – I didn’t have a single blog entry.

April

The lack of attention to my blog continued throughout April, with only two posts. Excited about our trip to America, I wrote about everything I wanted to purchase prior to heading overseas. The second post was a carry on from the shopping list, with an analysis of what kind of luggage would be suitable. I should mention that up until buying a new luggage case this year, the only thing I had was a small bag with wheels my mum had given to me.

May

Only one post. Mat, Amy, Pauline and I headed into inner Brisbane to witness the Brisbane Zombie Walk, an annual event where people dress as zombies, walk the streets then party hard. Perhaps I’ll enter in the walk in 2009 instead of being a spectator!

June

No posts

July

Around this time Mat and I decided to join the gym. He lasted for about 4 sessions, while I continued going by myself. While exercising I would listen to my ipod, and people watch. I found it fascinating, and blogged about it accordingly. I also started scouting for a mini laptop to think about purchasing, and bought some new x-trainers. Around July, I really started getting into Twitter, and the daily spamming of my blog with my twitter updates began.

August

Continuing with my research into which mini laptop/netbook would be suitable for me, I decided I would try installing Ubuntu as a secondary OS on my work laptop. What an experience!! After a few months my laptop had problems logging into Ubuntu, so I uninstalled it and never got around to reinstalling it.

A few days later I wrote about being absolutely disgusted over the treatment of a 7 year old child, and my major news for the month, getting an iphone. August must have been the month for new things, because we also bought a new couch, completely filling the main room of our tiny unit in the process.

A few weeks later I got my iphone, and after loading the wordpress app immediately posted a blog entry, as well as testing the photo posting ability. The following day we lost our netball semi final, but thankfully got a second chance at making the grand final due to being second place on the ladder.

Later in the month, Mat and I headed up to Rainbow Beach for the day. We relaxed, had a picnic lunch, I did a bit of photography and we caught up with a friend. Being 8 months into the year, I posted an update to my new years resolutions, and to round up the month, I wrote about the corporate box seats to a QLD Roar match my sister scored, using my iphone to control the tivo, and playing in the Superleague Mixed B Grand Final.

September

The beginning of my health woes. I injured my knee, and met with a completely unprofessional doctor (who didn’t accurately diagnose the issue at all). Obviously bored and desperate for something to post, I wrote about my work computer’s desktop and the program/wallpaper etc I had implemented. Funnily enough, it still pretty much looks the same today give or take a few icons.

Becoming more and more in love with my iphone by the minute, I installed a program called “igotchi” (out of boredom and curiosity I would say), and posted a review. I can only assume I saw the following site on digg or twitter, but I also posted the world statistics of where the last name of “O’Brien” is most common.

From there, my blog tended to become all about my knee injury. By then I had met with another doctor who had promptly sent me for an MRI scan, for which I wrote an overview of everything that had happened with regards to my knee up to that date. It was after that scan I learnt I would be needing a knee reconstruction.

Finally something that wasn’t knee related, I wrote of some additions to my Aunty Sue’s vocabulary list. To explain, Aunty Sue tends to say a word that sounds similar to what she’s actually trying to say, with hilarious results. E.g. too-sami (Aunty Sue’s word) instead of tsunami.

To round up the month, I vented on my blog about being a hormonal female. I’m pretty sure a lot of women can relate to that feeling!

October

To start the month off, I wrote about a pending meeting with the surgeon to organise my knee reconstruction, included some links on what kind of operation I’d be having, and the exercises I had to do in the meantime to try and get some movement back into my knee.

For a change, and something that WASN’T about my knee, I wrote about a day out in Brisbane that Mat and I had. Given I’m from the Sunshine Coast I tend not to really like cities much, although that day I had to disagree. It ended up being quite fun!

Going back to my knee, I blogged my meeting with the surgeon, and the result of the past 4 weeks with the physio. I then turned to technology, and posted about the differences between mystar and the Tivo.

November

Starting off the month, I reflected on whether we as citizens lacked interest in Australian political music. After that, I went quiet for a while and left the blog to the daily twitter update/spam (I’ve discovered I tend to write a helluva lot on twitter during the day!!), then wrote about iGala and the ability to send friends pictures of your holiday over the web direct to a digital photo frame.

In the space of a few days I included a copy of an email I received from Football Federation Australia regarding an article stating the A-League was in crisis, and a video of an interview with Dave Grohl from 2001. I found that video seriously hilarious, and still laughing watching the video now.

It then got back down to business about my knee. My surgery date was set, and I began to research into the phases of recovery after ACL reconstructions. Finally, at the end of the month I began the countdown until the actual day of the operation (can you tell I was excited).

December

The final month of the year! It started with my pre-admission appointment, and the discovery that the doctor I’d complained about back in September had fronted the medical board for unprofessional conduct. Finally, I was admitted into hospital and had my knee reconstruction, keeping a diary in the process. From there, I documented daily about the first week of my recovery, including the pains and emotional turmoil I felt from being almost totally dependent on someone else (Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

Finally, the excitement about Christmas started began. I posted about finding (what I think it may be) the perfect present for my sister Amy, tormenting her by including a cryptic picture of the item in question (I still haven’t even had a chance to get the gift to her). A Christmas video popped up of some of my friends and family doing an elf dance, and I linked to some Australian Christmas Carols that I’d found in the itunes store.

The topics then returned to my knee, and health in general. I was pointed in the direction of a site where you could rate doctors, which I promptly used to post a negative review of the doctor I’d met who’d fronted the medical board, as well as a positive review for the doctor I’d had after that. It was also time for my 2nd week recovery review, including a picture of my new scars.

Finally, to round up the year I revisited my resolutions I’d made in January, finding I’d only managed to complete 5/10. Dismal!!

New Years Resolutions review for 2007

As is becoming the tradition, I made a list of 10 things to complete during 2007 which was then extended to 12, since I was soooo eager to do so much.

This is where I eat humble pie, I didn’t get all of them done.

The last thing I wrote about the list was about how easy it was going to be. If only I could take that back. It was a combination of overdoing it combined with laziness that let me down this year. But I actually thought I would be writing this post noting that I hadn’t achieved any of them, so I’m stoked to see that I have done some!

So without further ado, here is my review of my 2007 New Years Resolutions.

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