After more than a decade in hospitality, two-time Western Region Latte Art and Adelaide Breezey Masters Champion Josh Rivers thought he could offer something new to the Brighton community with his café Coffee Rules Everything Around Me (CREAM).
Taking its name from a Wu-Tang Clan song, CREAM combines Josh’s love of hip-hop music with coffee, which has helped the café make an impression since opening four years ago.
“It’s like fine-dining food with a laid-back vibe, and it’s pumping all the time with loud music,” Josh says.
“Jetty Road in Brighton had nothing going on at the time, but I could see there was a good demographic there. We came in and shook things up. Now the street is bigger than ever and an absolute destination.”
CREAM serves Five Senses’ Compton Road as its house blend, prepared with two three-group Synesso Hydra espresso machines, an Ubermilk, two Puqpresses, and one of four grinders. Filter coffee is brewed using Marco SP9s.
“Because we have such a name for specialty coffee, but we’re also in quite a popular area, we get a big mix of orders coming in. People like their flat whites or lattes, but we also see a lot of magic, filter, and espresso drinkers,” Josh says.
“I’ve never worked somewhere where we get as many magic or filter orders as we do at CREAM, which I think is a testament to how many dedicated coffee drinkers are coming in. But at the same time, we go through 80 kilograms of coffee per week, so you can imagine how busy it gets.”
With such a high volume of coffee served at CREAM, it’s important the café keeps its equipment maintained. Since opening, Josh has used Cafetto Espresso Clean to keep his espresso machines in the best condition possible.
“I use Cafetto all the time. It’s my go-to espresso cleaning product and probably go through more than most other cafés,” Josh says.
Though CREAM takes its coffee seriously, Josh says it is important that this not be at the expense of its food offering.
“Adelaide had problems for a long time in the hospitality scene. You’d get good food and average coffee or vice versa. The idea was to stamp that stigma out, and combine good coffee, good food, and good service,” he says.
Mainstays on CREAM’s menu include the popular smashed avo, hotcake stack with fried chicken, and the donut breakfast sandwich. While CREAM has been hesitant to include other breakfast standards, like the Eggs Benedict, the café has recently puts its own spin on the classic dish.
“Eggs Benny can be an absolute menu killer. People will go somewhere new, get too scared to venture out, and just go with what they know. Right from the start, I said ‘no Eggs Benedict’,” Josh says.
“But with the latest menu change, I thought ‘how can we recreate it?’ So we do it as a crazy three-cheese toastie, served with poached eggs, house-made baconnaise – hollandaise sauce mixed with bacon lard – and streaky bacon on top.”
CREAM’s success has allowed the café to expand, recently taking over the neighbouring store and expanding from 60 seats to more than 100.
“We have about 200 to 300 regulars that come in and we know on a first name basis,” Josh says. “These people now know each other too and do things outside of CREAM and help each other when they need it. It’s been great to build this community.”
Coffee Rules Everything Around Me (CREAM)
4/49 Jetty Road, Brighton, South Australia, 5048
Open Monday to Friday 7am to 2:30pm, Saturday and Sunday 8am to 3:30pm
(08) 8298 3149