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The Geelong Advertiser found itself at the centre of a storm in a very hot coffee cup yesterday after Geelong-Otway tourism supremo Roger Grant came out calling for a better quality of caffeine beverages across the city. He said: “Why can’t we be known as the the cappuccino coast?”
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I’d probably have to agree with the tourism guy here… as in any given city over 90% of all cafes are serving bad coffee.
But there’s a few way off concepts referenced in that article.
How can anyone say a coffee is good or bad if they don’t understand the basics that go into making a good one ?
High quality arabica beans in a quality blend, roasted fresh, well maintained machines and grinders, and a highly trained barista who knows how to adjust pressure/temperature/grinding/dosing/tamping techniques to extract the best expression of their beans… and who can properly steam and texture milk to enhance the mouthfeel and flavours of the espresso.
Without metrics you can’t compare anything to anything, so how can anyone say the coffee is good or bad ? And when you’re talking about a latte… well it just throws everything out the window. As soon as you add milk to espresso you add about 15 other variables.
Bringing someone from Italy in won’t solve anything, it’ll just help to facilitate the myth that only Italians make good coffee, where there are plenty of great cafes in Australia doing world class work.
I’d be talking to a Melbourne representative of the Australasian Speciality Coffee Association (www.AASCA.com) for some pointers towards training and supply of quality beans.
I’d also pity anyone having to live somewhere called the cappuccino coast…
Matt,
It’s embarrassing isn’t it. Even cafes than serve good coffee depend on the person on the machine. I sit there frustrated as the star barista - and we’re talking Tiger Woods league here - is relegated to writing the chalk board while some amateur pumps out a reasonable but unattractive looking flat white.
I think that serving bad coffee should be a criminal offense akin to assault. It should be written into the constitution.
Offenders should be locked away!
Don’t we have a few empty refugee camps we could lock the coffeee offenders in?
or possibly, a few refugees in camps that we can pull out and get to make the coffee!
Perhaps, Grocer. Although sadly with the change of government the suggestion may turn out to be non-pc.