Manual Machines!

Crema Coffee Co.
Address: 53 Bloor Street East
(located inside of the Freshii)
Neighbourhood: Downtown
(website)

 It's hard to survive in cut-throat Toronto, but it's even more tactical when you are a cafe located right downtown. In heavy competition with brands like whorebuxs, and the likes, its seems that Crema's shared space with Freshii really works. On this lovely fall visit, I was initially coming to experience the 49th Parallel current edition of epic espresso - and the Manual machine of gods!!
What I also found was the clover machine, ad 3 pump manual machine and a vast array of pastries. There was typical Crema menu, plus a choice of 3 different single-origin choices for the clover. Competition as Bux has one up the street

Machine:Mirage Triplet Idrocompresso
Doser: Mazzer
Turnover: Heavy Take-out traffic
Beans: 49th Parallel - Epic Espresso
           (Honduras San Vicente, Organic Ethiopian  Yirgacheffe Koke)
Music: virgin radio
Indie Coffee Passport: YES
Disloyalty Card: YES 
Seating: There are tables on the inside and about 3 sets on the outside -- great in mild-to-hot weather.

Verdict: Balanced body, and a hit of frontal palette experience of smooth rich chocolate, and hits of fruity kick, possibly blueberry, pears.

BARISTA PROFILE: JOSH from CREMA on BLOOR

He's actually owned a cafe out in Vancouver called Bump n Grind located at 916 Commerical Drive, but decided to sell it , and travel the world. Having dabbled in bike mechanics and working in cafes in his life, he decided to move to Toronto and experience the east.  Cool guy, knows this Mirage machine well, enjoys his craft, and "surprise, surprise" enjoy Fixed and SS bikes. A nice fella to have a chat with. He does hope to infuse his knowledge of coffee into every cup he produces.
His next major step will be to buy a boat and travel the seven seas. But he actually hopes to be the first person to compete in the WBC as a nation-less competitor. How COOL would that be?
Check him out at the Crema Location!

Espresso Adventures - Crema (Bloor) Edition from Cindy Shum on Vimeo.