Poor training responsible for Australia's immature coffee culture

Australia's embrace of Italian espresso culture over recent decades is a wondrous and delightful trend. Australia's first espresso coffee machine was imported in the early fifties and now thousands of Australians have espresso machines in their homes (I have a trusty saeco) and they are popping up in the most unlikely of locations.

Yet, this tremendous growth is not without its problems.

I'll leave alone the dreadful american idea that everything has to be franchised, upsized and leached of genuine flavour that we see in manifestations like Starbucks, Gloria Jeans and, now, McDonalds Cafes. Those big milk shake size containers and the bottles flavouring additives just make me squirm with repulsion.

The big problem I see is too many machines and not enough attention to training and quality control.

There seems to be a view that its just a matter of pushing the buttons and hey presto. Not so.

Last night I went to Kogarah for the St George - Canterbury clash (a great game pity about the result) and while I was waiting to be served a wildly over-priced beer I heard the woman at the nearby coffee stand explaining that the difference between a white coffee and a latte is that a latte is a white coffee with a thin layer of froth on top, with hand gestures she emphasised 'thin'. I felt like interjecting (there's more to it than that) but being the polite bloke I am I refrained. Outrageoously, they charge three bucks for these erroneously conceived concoctions.

A forthnight ago I was at the Charlestown Central Leagues Club in Newcastle taking my mum to lunch (she invariably has lemon sole) and after the meal I headed to the counter to order a long black (I did not dare order something with milk in it) and I swear without a word of a lie that the waitperson picked up an instruction sheet while asking aloud 'what's a long black'. Luckily, I was able to offer some advice.

Of course, these are unlikely places to find great coffee making but why buy a machine if you're not going to make the best of it. Why not do your stuff and customers a favour and invest in some training?

What's more we're creating an acceptance of second-rate coffees. A lot of people are drinking a lot of coffee without ever, or rarely, experiencing anything approaching a first-rate product. The comparison here is something like the difference between a quickly 'jiggled' teabag and high-quality leaf allowed to brew for five minutes.

We also have some absurd health nut fantasies creeping in. The other day I was in the Qantas lounge in Sydney and the sign on their self-serve espresso machine said 'this machine dispenses skim milk only'. I'm sorry but you can't make good coffee with skim milk. I won't even touch the notion of soy.

Sydney CBD is full of cafes and barista carts and some are great and reliably so. But a large number vary betwee ordinary, unpredictable and just plain excreable.

Overall, Melbourne is better (much better) than Sydney (and I say that as a Sydney-sider) but even there I had a real shocker from a barista cart near the river last Sunday. One of my favourites in Melbourne is Il Solito Posto. Another favourite used to be the Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder but it didn't meet expectations last Saturday morning.

Now good coffee is not rocket science and with the acquisition of some basic skills and the use of a few basic techniques and quality control ideas the coffee people serve from those expensive machines that are proliferating around the country could be a lot better.

For a start, use great coffee beans and ground them freshly each time. Ensure the water is fresh. Keep the machine at the right temperature. Don't scald the milk and don't re-froth it (it only works the first time). Don't put too much milk in the lattes either.

Comments

[Bob M]

Trevor, I agree with the general sense your putting here.

Thanks for the tip about Il solito posto. I'll check it out next time I'm in Melbourne - my old home town.

From memory, I don't think that all the coffee machines in the Sydney Qantas Lounge have skim milk, but the one you mention is there to cater for those misguided people who are willing to sully their coffee with milk derivatives. I think that there's about 4 different self-serve machines in the lounge. Maybe 5.

Good coffee can be found in unexpected places. My local unprepossessing cafe at Forestville, imaginatively named "Forestville Cafe" uses all the techniques you mention in your last par. It's run by Nick the Greek.