Mr Bean’s Coffee

This small shop is notable for having cheap combos of a toasted waffle and a drink. One brisk morning, I thought the hot chocolate was worth a try and it was. The waffle was quite basic and was premade and toasted up briefly to order, but for the money you can’t complain. I enjoyed the hot chocolate. The difference between a small and medium hot chocolate was $.20, making me wonder why anyone would get a small.
They had some costlier but nice looking breakfast bowls that I might give a shot, but for their main attraction it seemed fine, but nothing to write home about.

Mr Beans doesn’t have the best coffee in the world, but I like it because:
— It has a wider range than other coffee shops on campus. Think dirty chai, matcha tea and cinnabun hot chocolate.
— They have a rotating bean of the month, and when you ask what it tastes like or why you should get it the staff actually know what’s going on.
— It has acai bowls. Yay! There is a distinct lack of healthy, yummy food on campus, so this is my go to when I forget my lunch (or I’m just feeling plain lazy.)
— It also has waffles. I haven’t tried these but I’m told they are fantastic.
— It’s convenient (located next to Boost) and quick. Shorter lines than other places on campus, and don’t let the small amount of staff fool you… They pump out the orders quickly.

I enjoy the coffee here. There’s always a line, especially in the ten minutes between classes near lunch time. One time I had a frappé, but that wasn’t as thick as I would have liked it to have been. The texture was more similar to that of chocolate milk than a blended drink. After that, I decided to try the cinnamon bun hot chocolate. This is MY drink. I get it once a week and that feels like it’s barely frequent enough. It’s the powder that they put into it that makes it so delicious. The actual drink is great, but once you get to the bottom, don’t throw it out. Get a spoon and scoop out the powder. It’s my favorite part of the drink. The bummer of that is I wish it was stirred more into the actual LIQUID to make the hot chocolate better flavored, but I guess that’s asking too much. Price wise all the coffee prices are quite understandable and location is nice outdoors on sunny days. Service is nice to me and try to get through the orders as quickly as possible.

Mr Beans definitely doesn’t have the best coffee on campus, but they do redeem themselves with their delicious range of waffles that come in vanilla, maple, cinnamon, chocolate, blueberry-​filled, custard-​filled or Mars Bar-​filled ($ 2.30−3.00). On a cool, rainy day at UQ, there’s nothing better than a waffle and coffee from Mr Beans (or a waffle from Mr Beans and a coffee from Merlos, depending on how fussy you are about your coffee). I am fussy and would probably walk the 50 metres to get a better brew, but you never know, you may catch the baristas there having a good coffee-​making day.

There’s a reason the queues are much longer at BarMerlo, one of UQs other coffee shops, than at Mr Bean. The coffee there is actually good! I made the mistake of getting my caffeine fix here all of twice, the second time thinking that a shorter wait would make the coffee worthwhile. It didn’t and I haven’t made the mistake a third time. The coffee is terrible, bitter and burnt and their iced coffees taste as though they are artificially flavoured, no mean feat when they put ‘real’ coffee in them. If you want to enjoy your study aid, get it elsewhere.

While Mr Bean’s Coffee isn’t the smoothest in the world, I got to love these guys simply because of the convenience and the awesome staff. Mr Bean’s has a number of coffee carts hidden in and around campus, great for that quick caffeine hit between lectures. They also do a mean waffle. Seriously, try their waffles. The staff are pretty awesome, especially the tall skinny guy, Andrew I think his name is, who knows his stuff and can recommend good flavours to add to spice up your next iced coffee or latte.
You can find Mr Bean’s espresso bar near the main refectory next to Boost Juice or at one of the three mobile coffee carts in and around the uni. They definitely are the place to go for a quick caffeine hit.