Hello Naomi

Walking into Hello Naomi, a self-​proclaimed ‘cake, cookie and cupcakes’ café, I hand on my heart expected coffee to be the after thought. The thing they thought they better serve for people to drink while eating cakes. I half expected a stock standard coffee roast to line the walls. How wrong was I?!
My eyes lit up upon noticing the bag of coffee in the window was from Melbourne’s Small Batch. A treat was indeed in store and I asked if they still had the beans running in the grinder. Our barista pointed to the almost gone beans in the grinder and said this was the last of it before they switch to some locally roasted blends. Okay. Sign us up. Two flat whites please. To be fair, I should have ordered a long black to get the best of these bean’s flavour.
But what makes this cup of coffee stand out against the cafes stark white walls, Scandinavian furniture and peach wash accents, is the man behind the machine. As he delivered our coffees he explained that they weren’t the taste he’d prefer to serve. The water here, you see, is apparently «too clean» and this alters the flavour profile of the beans. Thankfully, he says, the milk somewhat masks the tartness present in the brew. This initial warning turns into a 20 minute conversation about coffee, his adventures in finding the right water for their coffee and his time living in Brisbane.
Turns out that this is a surprisingly great spot for coffee– and you can have your cake and eat it too (but on this occasion I didn’t although by the speed with which my partner devoured his salted caramel cupcake I’m guessing the same level of love, passion and care is put into their baking as is their coffee).

Just before closing, I managed to nab a orange-​and-​pomegranate cupcake. A little pricier than other Newcastle cupcake shops, but they looked much nicer — still absolutely professional and utterly gorgeous, but more ‘homemade’ and less commercial.
The vanilla and fresh pomegranate seeds with the vanilla cake was amazing and delicious and introduced me to pomegranate. I didn’t think the orange marmalade centre really fit with the pomegranate.
By 4pm, there wasn’t much left (always a good sign!), so I definitely recommend checking it out earlier in the day.
Overall, the cake ran rings around the other cupcake offerings in Newcastle, has introduced me to pomegranate seeds (yum. Just yum) on cupcakes, and has one of the loveliest website designs I’ve seen. Definitely be returning to try some other flavours — and some of the amazing looking cookes!

I emptied my purse and had enough money ($ 3.50) to purchase a cookie. Peanut butter and chocolate was the recommendation, and it was a bloody good choice. Bright, airy and cute. It’s a new retail venture and I predict it’s going to be a winner.