As you might know we had a movie night planned at Urban Grind for this Wednesday night. The bad news is that the organiser has decided not to go ahead. The good news is that you can still watch this amazing documentary online for free. Watch HOME online for free.

Home is a 2009 documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The film is almost entirely composed of aerial shots of various places on Earth. It shows the diversity of life on Earth and how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. Source: Wikipedia

So we opened on Tuesday and the response over the first two days has been amazing. A really lovely experience. So many of our wonderful customers from the last Paddington shop have been in to visit us that it’s as though we only shut last week and simply re-opened this week in a new spot. When in fact it will be 3 years in April since we left Paddington.

Having to shut up shop and leave 3 years ago was really hard on us. Urban Grind was surrounded by a wonderful community of people, and it was a really crap thing to have to take Urban Grind away from them. But for us that community was a really big part of our lives too and we were so lost for months without it. We knew in our hearts that eventually we would return and it feels so good to have come full circle now.

So what’s new? In many ways, it’s the same old Urban Grind. We have tried to preserve all the things we think people loved about Urban Grind but we were ready to evolve too. Firstly, we think we have great landlords and we look forward to a wonderful and long relationship with them. They have been great and most helpful in bringing us back to Paddington. My wonderful partner Rachel helped a lot with the design of this shop which is why it looks just a little bit fancy. It would not have happened without her hard work. We are opening a little earlier. 6:30am Monday – Saturday (Sunday’s from 8am). We are doing more food… everyone seems very excited about the Avocado on Toast which does taste great. We also have some alternative brewing methods on offer like the Cold Drip and the Coffee Syphon.

The photos of the shop are by our great friend Adam Sebastian West. He is also responsible for the framed photos hanging on the walls. They look so good in their own right but they also just really finish off the space. Adz was a big help and we are honoured to have him as our first artist to hang in the new shop.

Big thanks to Carl, Jac, Ben, Rhys, Oscar, Di Bella Coffee, Mekalie and everyone else involved. And most of all thank you to the beautiful Rachel, we make a great team and Urban Grind wouldn’t be as good as it is without you. I love you.

A lot of love went into this space. I hope you love it too.

So we have been working on a little side project Rach and I, as we nurture our hopes and dreams of reopening Urban Grind one day.

It all started when we realised that we had a virtual cafe under the house and we could just plug the coffee machine in, put stools down the driveway and invite our family, friends and the old Urban Grinders that we knew how to get in contact with. Due to a great suggestion by a friend of ours Yen, we invited the neighbours in our street too. It was also Yen that suggested we take it on the road. Suburban Grind seemed like a perfect name. Called some friends and managed to get support from my Di Bella Coffee, Barambah Organics, Total Generators and map magazine and in no time we were serving free cafe style coffee in another good friends sisters garage.

Want to know more? Want to have Suburban Grind come to your house? Check out the website generously designed by this young fellow.

A big thanks to everyone that has helped us get it this far.

So TEDx Brisbane is almost here and they have just released the Speaker List and it is a cracker. This is going to be a great TED event and right in our back yard. Very sad if you are a TED fan that missed out. I can sympathize with you as Urban Grind in partnership with Di Bella Coffee is sponsoring the event with free coffees for attendees which means that I will be lucky to see any of the talks on the day. I am honoured to be able to support such an event as this but have you seen that speaker list? It is going to be an inspiring day. And we have Carl Lindgren & Paul Fairweather to thank. They have done an amazing job putting it all together.

If you do have a ticket. Be sure to get there early and register first. Once registered you can head down to the Ideas Worth Spreading Tent and get a free coffee. Coffee will also be offered free for both morning tea and lunch time breaks.

To get in the mood for TEDx you could check out this amazing talk by Aimee Mullins. Such an amazing women.

“Adversity is just change that we have not adapted to yet.”

Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity

Surprise! by Improv Everywhere. Well worth the read.

So as you might be aware by now Urban Grind New Farm closed it’s doors at the end of 2009 and will not be re-opening at the beggining of 2010. It’s time for a break and a regrouping. In simple terms this is not the end of Urban Grind. It is going to take us a little while to regroup but we are working on our return and will be back better than ever.

I have learnt a lot from my mistakes over the years and along the way I have discovered other directions in which I want to take Urban Grind. I can’t wait to re-open Urban Grind and show you what I am talking about. In the meantime I will keep this website/blog going. I will also be working at the Di Bella Factory which is going to be great. Obviously I love Di Bella coffee as I have been serving it for about 8 years now. I also have a good friendship and a great respect for Philip Di Bella so I look forward to working more closely with him.

For me Urban Grind is more than just trying to make great coffee. Of course that is really important as anything less would be just embarrassing, but for me Urban Grind is a way of life and an experience that I want to keep having. Only one thing has made this experience as wonderful as it has been and that is people, and the amazing relationships we were able to have with them. From the single moments with a stranger that have taught me life lessons, to the life long friends we made, Urban Grind has been about the interaction of people – community. To all in this community I am most grateful for your help, your willingness to interact, your bravery to be yourselves and to challenge yourselves. There would not be enough pixels on this computer to properly thank everyone that has meant something to me over these years. But to Rachel my loving partner, Urban Grind would have never been without you. To Adz, Brendan, Carl, my brother Dan & Sophie, in particular – Thank you. To so many more – Thank you.

Now in looking forward, lets keep in touch.
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