So, the whole coffee thing. If you know me, or if you've read my old blog, you will know I am a bit of a coffee snob. I have only been drinking coffee since I was about 21, I never drank coffee in my native Netherlands, where I lived until I was 19 (Well, 18 years and 51 weeks), I drank tea. Dutch people are quite inclined to black tea drinking, and more recently the Dutch go for a fresh mint tea with honey. Just FYI, you know, in case you were interested in the tea-drinking habits of the Dutch. But then, a lot of you are Dutch and know this already.
Sorry, I digress. I do that quite often, so you might want to get used to it.
Anyway, back to coffee. So, at 21 my then-boyfriend convinced me I should drink coffee, because he said coffee is awesome. He turned out to be right, especially in Melbourne. I cannot blame myself for not liking coffee before I moved to Melbourne because most home-made coffee (which would have been what I would have be drinking) in the Netherlands is drip-filter coffee made by gurgling machines, which I still don't like. It's weak and yuck.
My first Melbourne coffee was made in a stove-top percolator. To be honest, it is not that far from drip-filter coffee, as it is quite weak. But because my BF made it strong with lots of milk and sugar (I generally like things that are creamy and sweet) so I quite liked it and started ordering 'weak lattes with two sugars' in cafes. And that's when it happened. I became a coffee drinker.
Now, I'm a 'skinny cap with one sugar' (cappuccino with skim-milk) kind of girl, because coffee and chocolate are a match made in heaven (in Australia cappuccinos traditionally have chocolate in them, though that is not how they are served elsewhere around the world) and the skinny milk thing is just to make me feel like I am at least compensating my sugar intake with less fat. It's silly, I know.
I am the kind of person that when I learn something new, or get into something new, I want to learn all about it and preferably become very good at it. That's how I was with driving, that's how I was at school, that's how I am with Yoga. If I cannot do the firefly (which I can't quite yet) I will want to perfect it one day. Anyway, so when I started making coffee at home, I realised that percolator coffee will never match cafe-made coffee because cafe-made coffee is made by espresso machines. And when I started working as a waitress in a cafe, I became intrigued and obsessed with espresso machines and this magical creature called a 'barista'. I wanted to be one. The joy I felt when drinking a good coffee was something I wanted to be able to produce myself, and give to others.
So I did a coffee making course at the William Angliss Institute, and started working in a cafe that roasted its own beans (a heavenly scent) called Icoco in South Melbourne (now closed, unfortunately) and then at a small espresso bar in the city called Alley Oop (unfortunately also closed). Let me just point out that both of these places did not close due to my coffee making skills, ok! It was more than 6 years ago I worked there and the hospitality industry is tough for small places like these. Anyway, while working at these places I soon learned the difference between good coffee and BAAAAAAD coffee. Coffee is a science, and it takes a lot to get it right. There are entire blogs dedicated to that.
So, coffee became equal to pleasure for me. And at first I would get take away coffees, but I haven't done that for years. "Going for Coffee" is a moment to enjoy. Going out for coffee has become a ritual to me, a sacred ritual that must not be tarnished by doing anything else, especially things one would do when you are consuming a 'take away' like walking or driving which requires your attention.
Coffee needs to be consumed from a ceramic cup, and stirred by a metal spoon. It doesn't taste as good in a plastic/paper cup stirred with a plastic spoon or worse, a little wooden stick. ERGH! Those little sticks are horrible - rough on the tongue when you lick the coffee off it, and with way too much stick flavour. In my take-away days I would carry a metal teaspoon in my handbag just to stir my coffee with because I was so repulsed by the stick-stirrer.
But now, going for coffee is a moment or joy, a moment of self-rewarding, a moment to think and take stock of my day, my life, my handbag, my friends, my apps, and peruse a good magazine or read a good book, or even just let my eyes wander around and witness other people. Also, the added joy of a friend to chat with is also quite nice. Coffee with friends is one of my favourite things in life. It's like the marriage of taste-bud pleasure and heart-soothing comfort. And the ambiance of a cafe makes coffee tastes better too. If it's a nice cafe, with nice food and nice staff, the coffee is immediately tastier. Fact.
A lot of people are not so fussy with coffee. That's cool. I find it hard to grasp that most people cannot tell when coffee is bad, or just don't mind it. I have been known to simply leave a cup of coffee because it was bad. That's how I got the title 'coffee snob' or the less friendly 'coffee Nazi'. Coffee is not particularly good for you, especially not in large quantities, so I decided that if I'm going to consume something that is not so very healthy, I will not waste it on poor quality stuff. Go the good stuff or just leave it. So now when friends want to 'do coffee' with me, I always suggest specific cafes that I know serves good coffee. Luckily there are smartphone apps for finding good cafes. (Also this one and this one.) And there's also the trusty interwebs for finding good coffee in other parts of the world.
I will dedicate an entire post to cafes I know to drink good (in my opinion) coffee at. I shall specify which ones are child-friendly cafes and which ones are good for escaping from the little peoples.
But for now, you have been informed on why I talk a lot about coffee. Well, I talk in a lot in general and I am quite opinionated so it's not unusual for me to talk a lot about anything.
Sorry, I digress. I do that quite often, so you might want to get used to it.
Anyway, back to coffee. So, at 21 my then-boyfriend convinced me I should drink coffee, because he said coffee is awesome. He turned out to be right, especially in Melbourne. I cannot blame myself for not liking coffee before I moved to Melbourne because most home-made coffee (which would have been what I would have be drinking) in the Netherlands is drip-filter coffee made by gurgling machines, which I still don't like. It's weak and yuck.
My first Melbourne coffee was made in a stove-top percolator. To be honest, it is not that far from drip-filter coffee, as it is quite weak. But because my BF made it strong with lots of milk and sugar (I generally like things that are creamy and sweet) so I quite liked it and started ordering 'weak lattes with two sugars' in cafes. And that's when it happened. I became a coffee drinker.
Now, I'm a 'skinny cap with one sugar' (cappuccino with skim-milk) kind of girl, because coffee and chocolate are a match made in heaven (in Australia cappuccinos traditionally have chocolate in them, though that is not how they are served elsewhere around the world) and the skinny milk thing is just to make me feel like I am at least compensating my sugar intake with less fat. It's silly, I know.
I am the kind of person that when I learn something new, or get into something new, I want to learn all about it and preferably become very good at it. That's how I was with driving, that's how I was at school, that's how I am with Yoga. If I cannot do the firefly (which I can't quite yet) I will want to perfect it one day. Anyway, so when I started making coffee at home, I realised that percolator coffee will never match cafe-made coffee because cafe-made coffee is made by espresso machines. And when I started working as a waitress in a cafe, I became intrigued and obsessed with espresso machines and this magical creature called a 'barista'. I wanted to be one. The joy I felt when drinking a good coffee was something I wanted to be able to produce myself, and give to others.
So I did a coffee making course at the William Angliss Institute, and started working in a cafe that roasted its own beans (a heavenly scent) called Icoco in South Melbourne (now closed, unfortunately) and then at a small espresso bar in the city called Alley Oop (unfortunately also closed). Let me just point out that both of these places did not close due to my coffee making skills, ok! It was more than 6 years ago I worked there and the hospitality industry is tough for small places like these. Anyway, while working at these places I soon learned the difference between good coffee and BAAAAAAD coffee. Coffee is a science, and it takes a lot to get it right. There are entire blogs dedicated to that.
So, coffee became equal to pleasure for me. And at first I would get take away coffees, but I haven't done that for years. "Going for Coffee" is a moment to enjoy. Going out for coffee has become a ritual to me, a sacred ritual that must not be tarnished by doing anything else, especially things one would do when you are consuming a 'take away' like walking or driving which requires your attention.
Coffee needs to be consumed from a ceramic cup, and stirred by a metal spoon. It doesn't taste as good in a plastic/paper cup stirred with a plastic spoon or worse, a little wooden stick. ERGH! Those little sticks are horrible - rough on the tongue when you lick the coffee off it, and with way too much stick flavour. In my take-away days I would carry a metal teaspoon in my handbag just to stir my coffee with because I was so repulsed by the stick-stirrer.
But now, going for coffee is a moment or joy, a moment of self-rewarding, a moment to think and take stock of my day, my life, my handbag, my friends, my apps, and peruse a good magazine or read a good book, or even just let my eyes wander around and witness other people. Also, the added joy of a friend to chat with is also quite nice. Coffee with friends is one of my favourite things in life. It's like the marriage of taste-bud pleasure and heart-soothing comfort. And the ambiance of a cafe makes coffee tastes better too. If it's a nice cafe, with nice food and nice staff, the coffee is immediately tastier. Fact.
A lot of people are not so fussy with coffee. That's cool. I find it hard to grasp that most people cannot tell when coffee is bad, or just don't mind it. I have been known to simply leave a cup of coffee because it was bad. That's how I got the title 'coffee snob' or the less friendly 'coffee Nazi'. Coffee is not particularly good for you, especially not in large quantities, so I decided that if I'm going to consume something that is not so very healthy, I will not waste it on poor quality stuff. Go the good stuff or just leave it. So now when friends want to 'do coffee' with me, I always suggest specific cafes that I know serves good coffee. Luckily there are smartphone apps for finding good cafes. (Also this one and this one.) And there's also the trusty interwebs for finding good coffee in other parts of the world.
I will dedicate an entire post to cafes I know to drink good (in my opinion) coffee at. I shall specify which ones are child-friendly cafes and which ones are good for escaping from the little peoples.
But for now, you have been informed on why I talk a lot about coffee. Well, I talk in a lot in general and I am quite opinionated so it's not unusual for me to talk a lot about anything.
Amazing cappuccino made by two times Dutch Barista champion Sander Schat.
Ohhh, how I miss having good coffee with you after reading this post... Hug!
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