Cafe 16 Edit

My actual rating would be about 3.8 out of 5, if it were possible.
Firstly the brickbats. These guys have about 30-40 teas, and they don’t know much about them. They’ve taught the staff to make it consistetly, but it’s somewhat by remote control. It’s the sort of place where you might be offered milk in an oolong. And incidentally, they need to get better sweetener. Saccharine-based stuff went out with the 70’s.
However, we need to look at the big context here.
In Adelaide’s Deep South, it’s not a teaphile’s mecca. There’s very few places that have loose leaf tea, and far fewer that have more than a standard 5 or 6. In a relaitively low sociao-economic area, these guys are bravely persisting in selling teas of a moderate to high standard.
The range is well thought out – sometimes a little stale in the more unusual ones – and it’s obvious that coffee keeps this place afloat. This is teabag heartland, and not even your better quality ones.
On many occasion, Cafe 16 have saved the day when I needed good tea in a hurry. Their Pai Mu Tan is very fine indeed, their Ceylon Organic is the pick of the blacks.