Coffee Down Under
A few days into my two week trip to Australia, the jet-lag is gradually starting to relent. Rio is 13 hours behind Melbourne, so my body clock has been trying to sabotage my plans by urging me to wake up and do things at 4am and then crash mid-afternoon. Luckily for me I have a not so secret weapon to beat my endogenous clock into submission.
After a 6 month stint of abstention, I recently decided to come back to the wonderful world of coffee during a trip to Lima. After chatting to a Peruvian coffee farmer and then seeing the fruits of his labour, I wondered why I had stopped drinking coffee in the first place and decided it was time to get back in the game. A couple of weeks later I am reaping the benefits of that decision.
Caffè Macchiato – strong black coffee with a drop of milk. In Brazil this would be known as Café Pingado.
Coffee is a big deal in Melbourne. If you want the coffee ordering process to go smoothly then you will quickly need to learn the meaning of terms such as ‘flat white‘ and ‘long black‘ – just asking for a coffee will result in as exasperated look from your barista (this is the voice of experience speaking…).
In Australia, making good coffee requires a proper machine. This Expobar has twin boilers meaning you’re less likely to run out of steam when making multiple cups.
These coffee making contraptions were rather intimidating at first, but after a quick lesson I was able to produce something that, to my untrained eye and palette, resembled a decent short black.
My first effort at a ‘short black’. Coffee aficionados are probably snorting with derision but it worked for me!
The espresso machine passes very hot water under high pressure through compacted coffee grounds and in the process emulsifies oils in the coffee creating a colloid, that golden layer on top known as crema.
Coffee shops such as Seven Seeds can be found all over Melbourne. As well as enjoying coffee and tasty food, you can even go on a course to learn everything about coffee from roasting the beans to foam art.
Coming from Rio, this is all a bit of a shock for me. Although Brazil produces a third of all the coffee in the world and has been the world’s largest producer for the last 150 years, there are generally far fewer choices on offer in terms of beans and modes of preparation. However, coffee is an integral party of everyday life in Brazil with ‘cafezinhos’ punctuating the days of everyone from builders to high-powered executives.
I guess the truth of it is that you need a large middle class with disposable income to pay for baristas and fancy coffee machines. With Brazil’s economic outlook still looking uncertain, it may be a while longer before I’ll be ordering a flat white with my morning pão de queijo.
Hey Tom
Enjoy my home town. I am desperate for a good coffee! Have given them up since living in RIo because coffee IS a VERY big deal in Melbourne and we do it well.
Flip
Hey Flip,
Thanks, I’m loving Melbourne! It really delivers on some of the blanks that are left unfilled by certain aspects of life in Rio, coffee being a prime example. Any recommended eating/drinking destinations? :)
Oh, and the jet lag – you need five days.
Ah, that explains it – we got in late on Saturday and I’m still suffering a bit…
Hey that is too funny, we are flying to Rio tomorrow and you are in Melbourne not far from where we live in Torquay start of the Great Ocean Road which you should definitely explore. Yes coffee is a big deal in Melb. What is the equivalent of a latte in Rio? Enjoy your stay. Marian
Ha ha! City swap! ;-) We’re hoping to head down to the Great Ocean Road after the weekend – I was down this way about 6 years ago and it’s great to be back. Have a great time in Rio – I guess a Café com leite (‘caf-eh cown laytch’) would be the equivalent of a latte.
Hi Tom,
Long time lurker and appreciator of your magnificent contributions to the greater blogosphere.
I think Brazil has got it right on the coffee front. Coffee should be cheap, strong, and untouched by anything other than water, milk and sugar. The beauty is in the simplicity, and the kick should be fast but not too powerful that you suffer withdrawals.
I worked part-time for many years in Costa (generic detestable Starbucks) while I was a student in the UK and gradually developed a loathing of people that would order the new corporate inventions involving anything from frothed milk to caramel syrup. What these people want is cake, not coffee. This, coupled with the bucket sizes that leave you frothing at the mouth and the ludicrous cost (4 quid what?!), is why i’m not too keen on those kinds of places.
Melbourne certainly has a lot of much nicer independent coffee places, but too many of them seem to wander into the pretentious side of things.
Best coffee i’ve ever had was standing up in a mall in SP and lasted about 45 seconds. An understated quicky!
Great blog dude! Ganbarre :)
Hi Will – thanks for coming out of the shadows and saying hi! ;)
I am with you on a lot of this – adding caramel, hazelnut (or any of those other weird flavours) to coffee seems just wrong to me – as Claus said, if you’re adding such strong flavours it suggests you’re actually not that in to coffee itself. I quite like a small drop of milk occasionally, but those big milky things from Costa-Nero-Starbucks really don’t do it for me. I’ve been really impressed by the coffee shops here, but I must admit, when people start talking about ‘micro-foam’ I start to wonder a little…
btw, Ganbarre sounded familiar but embarrassingly I had to look it up. You’re out in Japan?
Currently Japan but with sights firmly set on Brazil:)
At the laughable, but sadly very real, “Costa Coffee College” (a prestigious south Glasgow industrial estate) we learned the ins and outs of micro-foaming techniques. Great days.
In Brazil, coffee is coffee…and water is water.
Coffee mixed with ‘anything’ is not coffee anymore. Just like water with flavour is not water anymore.
It is a cultural thing that is changing with the time.
For us, if you mix coffee with whisky or chocolate, for example, it means that you don’t really like coffee…you like the other things that you put in your beverage.
Hi Claus – many Brazilians add plenty of sugar wouldn’t you say? But I guess you’re referring to all those weird concoctions that Starbucks and their ilk sell? Like the Mocha Frappuccino or there are all kinds of cinnamon syrups and things like that aren’t there? Personally I drink my coffee black or very occasionally with a small drop of milk – those flavourings don’t do it for me.
Interesting taste in coffee Tom. You are kinda like the girl in this clip :-)
Sure baristas in Australia are well trained, and coffee in Melbourne is great; but when ordering do you also receive weekend soccer scores along with long and detailed (the operative word here being ‘long’) accounts of the matches? Plus does your Australian barista share his fantasies regarding attractive female clients while you turn red? Would a barista in Australia tease his African vertically challenged co-worker when you ask for short black, or the shy bossomless pale cashier when a flat white is the order?
C´mon, Australia is great but certain thing you can only experience at a local padaria.
Ha ha! I’d say the average Australian can hold his/her own when it comes to banter, though I concede that in the modern, cosmopolitan metropolis of Melbourne, those exact quips would (rightly) be judged inaceitável…
Hi Tom, Ive only been to Sydney and Brisvegas. But all my relatives tell me Melbourne is very European, with cool alley way bars, a thriving indie music scene and delis to die for. Unfortunately no names but there must be Timeout or its equivalent to guide you.
Hey Chris – my Dad has been living here for 10 years and he’s almost as greedy as me ;-) so he’s given me some great recommendations already. I also found that the Chief Chowzter for Melbourne, Cara Waters, has some seriously delicious sounding recommendations: http://www.gourmet-chick.com/2012/12/top-ten-restaurants-in-melbourne.html.
That should be enough to keep me going! :D
Hahahaha maybe you can use your new found celebrity from coming 3rd in Chowitzer and get some VIP invitations.
Wonder if there’s any scope for Brazilian-Australian fusion food?
Ola! Adoro suas matérias,porém em termos de café ,me perdoe meu caro,o Brasil faz bem melhor!
Não precisamos e também não queremos essas maquinas frias,sem personalidade e que não passa, a menor intimidade e carinho que um bule artesanal passa! Late machiatto? Por favor não ? Café e simplicidade,calmaria e. Sempre deve ser feito com amor e não assim,delivery….bem coisa de gentinha impessoal!
Olá Edna :) Obrigado pela mensagem. Que bom que você gosta do jeito brasileiro de tomar café – se você se mudasse para a australia, você precisaria ensinar a eles a fazer café assim. Talvez você começasse uma revolução do café rs! :D