Gusto is a cool little place on the cafe strip in South Perth.  Like a lot of cafe’s it’s a little on the small side but it has a warm character and friendly staff.

My first thought upon walking in was, ooh cakes!  My second thought was, ohh metal chairs?  It was a tad on the uncomfortable side but I did like the vibe of the place and, again, the staff were lovely.  But, yeah, metal chairs…okay.

Gusto has a nice selection of tasty food (and cakes) though and was recommended to me as a bit of a foodie destination.  I’m not a foodie but I do like it when anywhere puts effort into their food and service that goes beyond the norm.

When I first walked in I did my usual check to see how they store their tea and (if you can spot it in the picture) they’re storing their tea in tins.  T2 tins.

T2, if you don’t know, is a sort of boutiquey style tea store that’s owned by Unilever (owners of Liptons and Bushells).  I’ve never really been blown away by their tea, but it’s okay.

And then the tea arrived…

Do you see it?  Do you?  Are you eagle eyed enough to spot it?  No it’s not the milk I, once again, forgot to scratch off the order.  No.  Look harder.  Do you see it?  That string coming out of the pot?

TEA BAG!!!  *WHOOP* *WHOOP* *WHOOP*

So here we are.  Here we are at a cafe, a recommended “foodie” cafe where I spent, no shit, $4.30 for this thing and what do I get?  A teabag.  A TEABAG!

Look…LOOK AT IT!

This does my head in, honestly.  So, yes, if the tea is of high quality a teabag is fine.  They’re good in a pinch or in a hurry in the morning and also good if you’re traveling.  They’re a back up.  They’re not, NOT the first choice for a quality cup of tea and absolutely shouldn’t be served up in a cafe, especially when you’re charging crazy prices like $4.30.

If I’m buying a cup of tea at a cafe for $4.30 the least you can do for me is put in some effort and TRY to brew me the best cup you can offer.  If you don’t want to go for a top end tea (and you really should if you’re charging that kind of money) then at least offer a tiny shred of craft to the proceedings.  Or, at the least, put in something close to the effort you put in for every single cup of coffee you make.

No timer.  No effort.  Just open teapot, dump in teabag and pour in water.  $4.30.  And this is why I think so few tea drinkers order tea at cafes, they’re scared of experiencing this exact situation.

So how was it?

Not good.  I could taste that it was “tea” but that was about it.  I actually had to wonder if it was Earl Grey (which is what I ordered).

The pot they used was a biggie and there was way too much water in there for one teabag.  So too much water and not the best infusing situation were to blame for the weak taste.  Alternatively it could have been the tea itself or simply a combination of all three.  Either way, it wasn’t great and wasn’t remotely worth the price tag.

TEA VERDICT

SELECTION: Average.  Not bad but would love to see more tea on offer.
QUALITY: Not good.
TIMED: No.
DELIVERY: Fail.  Teabag.  Fail.
THE EXTRA MILE: There’s no extra mile when you bring me a teabag.  It’s to the point where I was tempted to give a zero all up.

TEA FRIENDLY RATING

How can Gusto improve?  First of all, ditch the teabags.  The cafe has a nice feel and friendly staff and they seem to want to raise the bar when it comes to food (and yet they’re not even meeting the very low average standard when it comes to tea).  Ditch the teabags, get in some quality loose leaf, inform the staff on how to measure their tea to water ratio and then, of course, look towards timers and freshly boiled water.

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AND HOW WERE THE SCRAMBLED EGGS?