Expect primo pastries and bang-on batch brew at forthcoming Albion bakery Time & Temp
A pair of young guns will be reinvigorating a storied Sandgate Road space in August, transforming the old Brewbakers site into artisanal bakery Time & Temp. This pint-sized pastry spot will serve a rotating selection of handcrafted baked goods, while also splashing out cups of batch brew coffee from a roster of top-notch roasters. Here’s what you need to know …
In baking and coffee roasting, time and temperature are key. Bake or roast something for too long (or too little) at the wrong temperature, and you risk missing the mark in both flavour and consistency.
This can also apply to opening a business. For Manning Young and Palita Cai, the decision to open their forthcoming Albion-based pastry and caffeine dispensary Time & Temp was a matter of timing and opportunities aligning.
Having recently returned to Brisbane after an extended period living and working in Melbourne – Palita at baked-goods institutions Falco Bakery and Loafer Bread, and Manning at storied coffee roaster Proud Mary – the duo decided to make good on their long-held plans to open a bakery of their own.
“We had the coffee part and the baking part already,” says Manning.
“It just made sense,” adds Palita.
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In early August, Time & Temp will open on Sandgate Road in the space previously occupied by Brewbakers. The cosy tenancy will house a kitchen geared primarily towards pastry production, with a coffee counter equipped to pump out batch brews. It’s a simple setup, but one that Manning and Palita believe covers all of the essential bases and allows for the duo to deliver a product range that suits their tastes and talents.
“It’s kind of like the logical conclusion of a lot of things for us – a small shop, cheap with limited offerings,” says Manning. “We decided it had to be something we could run by ourselves because we’re starting from scratch. What do we know how to do? That’s it.”
Palita, who is currently working at Riser Bread in Toowong, will be applying her considerable carb-crafting skills towards making a concise menu of pastries made using seasonal ingredients. Roughly ten options will be available, but flavours and fillings will be fluid.
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“What I want to offer is basically what we like to see and what we like to eat,” says Palita. “More elevated pastries – a very small menu so that I can afford to focus on it and be creative about what I do.
“We’ll always have a croissant and I will be doing cardamom buns – that will be the stuff we’ll always have. There will be rotating fruit danishes, savoury danishes, cakes and, if I have time, tarts.”
Meanwhile, Manning will be overseeing Time & Temp’s coffee offering, which will be exclusively dedicated to batch-brew pours (that means no flat whites, sorry milk fans). Expect coffee from Proud Mary to feature alongside a rotating cast of other roasters – including some Brisbane-based brands. There’s a chance Manning will run two batch coffees, with one being a more complex premium option.
“I’m just going to put on a batch brew, press the button and let it go,” Manning tells us. “I can serve people quickly and I’m not sitting behind a machine all day.
“I just want to get people excited, so if I have one that’s reasonably priced and then one that’s kind of crazy, maybe I can convince you to try it.”
Though Manning and Palita have no intentions of becoming Brewbakers 2.0, the duo are eager to fill the void left by the storied bakehouse. Due to the scale of the operation, the couple expect to quickly foster a connection with locals looking to get their artisanal pastry fix.
“There’s just a natural community already here,” says Manning. “During construction, we’ve had people walking up and asking when we open. It’s going to be us here every day, so you’ll talk to us about what we’re doing and what’s been happening.”
Time & Temp is slated to open in early August – keep your eyes peeled for more information in the coming weeks.