Artificer Coffee — Restaurant in Sydney

Artificer Coffee have achieved a high level of service with this cute little cafe. I’ll get to the coffee in a bit however, the whole experience should be a very pleasant one for most people. The shop is situated on a corner next to a bike track on Bourke Street, Surry Hills, and it takes 15 minutes to walk here from Central station. It creates an interesting ambiance to it with its somewhat quirky yet friendly staff, minimalistic design and layout with a very strong theme of American oak being used thoroughly throughout the cafe. Because Articifer is in Surry Hills, the staff and the other customers can seem a bit strange but I can work with that. There a various stools and couches but they may be limited due to how popular the place is, so I just got a takeaway small cappuccino with no sugar $4.

I would definitely come back later and try some of their other coffees but for now I ordered a small cappuccino. It was gorgeous. Texture wise it was very velvety, smooth and slick. The disintegration between the foam, steamed milk and espresso was on point. In terms of flavour, the cappuccino had high notes with a nice honey ring to it. The temperature was great as well. A high quality coffee.

I would highly recommend going out of your way to try out Artificer as it an amazing experience...

I don't know what's happened to Artificer. Maybe a change of management, or roaster, or something? This used to be one of my favourite places in Sydney, and I always bought beans to take to friends abroad. But the last order, just none of the beans were remarkable or exceptional in any way. Tried various grinding / dosing methods on the home setup and couldn't really get the usual brilliance out of them.

In addition, they did not send what I ordered, but substituted some other coffee, and this was mentioned only by a handwritten post-it note, which I find rather unprofessional. I wrote to them detailing my concerns both with the coffee quality and the customer service, but there was no reply. Just crickets.

Sydney's a very crowded and competitive market when it comes to coffee, so it would be a pity if this is the new normal...

The coffee itself at Artificer was solid — well-balanced and clearly crafted with care. However, the overall experience left a lot to be desired. When we asked about filter coffee options at the counter, the staff defaulted to batch brew without mentioning that they also offer pour-over. We only realised they had pour-over available after we left, which was disappointing as we would’ve preferred that if given the option.

On top of that, the service felt a bit inconsistent. As we left, we noticed staff saying goodbye to other customers — but not to us. It came off as selective and slightly unwelcoming, which unfortunately coloured the experience.

In short, great coffee but the customer service didn’t match the quality of the brew. Would love to see a bit more attentiveness and warmth to elevate the...