Market staple, Salamanca Cream opens shopfront

Diehards of Salamanca Markets’ coffee and doughnut institution Salamanca Cream rejoice: The team has opened a sandstone shopfront a stone’s throw from the markets.

Owners and baristas at Salamanca's new coffee bar Salamanca Cream, brothers Alex, George and Nick Lazarou (from left to right). Picture: PATRICK GEE

THE brothers behind Salamanca Markets’ coffee and doughnut institution Salamanca Cream have today opened Hobart’s first European-style coffee bar.

Unlike other coffee shops, Salamanca Cream at Castray Esplanade has no seats. Instead, customers are encouraged to stand and chat at the 12-metre long bar made of salvaged Tasmanian Oak that brothers Nick, George and Alex Lazarou found at Huon Valley Timber.

“It’s really like an Italian-style espresso bar experience,” Nick said.

“Italians are very social and the idea is it gives you the chance to stand and have a chat with the people who have made your coffee.”

The new bar occupies the bottom level of the Ordnance Store building, across from the CSIRO building and IMAS. It was built by convict-labour in 1833 to hold the colony’s military supplies.

Owners and baristas at Salamanca's new coffee bar Salamanca Cream, Alex, left, George and Nick Lazarou. Picture: PATRICK GEE

The refurbishment of the space has been a two-year labour of love for the family, two of whom are engineers.

The coffee bar space is dominated by the 15-metre long exposed timber beams that hold the entire sandstone building up.

But the most striking feature is the original sandstone floor painstakingly rescued from under a century of concrete by local stonemason Mat Harris, who has also worked on St Paul’s Cathedral in England.

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“It’s a beautiful old building that needed some TLC,” Nick said. “We love old buildings and we felt like it had to be restored.”

The brothers — who roast their own coffee blends — say they believe their coffee bar concept is unique in Hobart.

They are all about creating a coffee that tastes the way it smells in the bag.

“Our goal is always to reach that sweetness in the coffee without having to add sugar,” Nick said.