Is Melbourne espresso crap?

lars

i'm surprised you guys don't put your money where your mouth is - isn't there a request to vote for your top 5 cafes? -L

mimmo124

Do you people believe that it is big concern when the main barista or EMO goes on a break that an equally qualified or more importantly experienced coffee maker jumps behind the machine. The S*%t that is served up by some waitstaff that they believe is good is not acceptable. The main people with an interest in the running of their businesses should make a not of this when rostering staff. I find it unacceptable that at certain times of the day the coffee is good and at many times it is shocking. It cant be that hard to teach a few main staff members the basics behind a good coffee can it. Well i guess it can if there is no one around to teach them in the first place 🙁 Thats my three cents mimmo

Spjarli_Coffee

What a load of tripe! Geez, some of you can waffle on. Answer the bloody question. In my opinion, and that's all it can be, the answer is No. Is every espresso in Melbourne great. No. Ditto for other cities. The way some of you crap on - "I'm a barista, you're a super barista, I have this qualification, my dad's bigger than your dad, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah." Grow up! It's almost as though using the magical word 'barista' is a licence to have your hand on it in public and think it's cool. It's not, it's such a wank. Barista? Bah humbug. And that's my 2 cents worth. Now, can we talk about COFFEE?

admin

Hi Spjarli - great to have someone new from Melbourne on the forum. Actually, the thread on Melbourne coffee started as the result of a local coffee drinker who was commenting on a well-known Melbourne cafe: "I purchase my espresso there every day, only because it is the only drinkable espresso in the street, but i must say, that i am able to produce an espresso from my domestic machine that would be much better that 98% of all Melbourne caffes. They under extract the coffee"... He goes on to say:

Spjarli_Coffee

Hi Admin and thanks for your response, I

admin

Hi Spjarli - no problem...FYI we have members from Qld, SA, WA as well as Vic & NSW; while one of the most prolific forum members is from Canberra. You have a point about the title of the post 'Australian' vs 'Melbourne' coffee, but in fact, it was partly to get more input from VIC coffee lovers that phrased the post as we did. The consensus seemed to be (in as much that you can generalise) that milk-based coffes in Melbourne were fine - it was with short blacks that there seemed to be a question. FYI, the Melbourne writer whose e-mail started the post was referring to Wall 280, where I'd always had good coffees (but they were all milk-based). Ciao -Admin

admin

Interesting to see that the press in Melbourne has finally cottoned onto a subject we've been asking questions about for a couple of years. Epicure section of The Age in Melbourne has interviews with several senior Melb. coffee people in questioning the 'accepted wisdom' that Melb. is the Coffee Capital of Australia. The article talks about Melbourne being 'old school' and goes on to say: 'We have had 50 years of Italian coffee-mafia here, and some of Melbourne's "new school" roasters don't think that is all it's cracked up to be'. According to Justin Metcalfe [director of [i]Cafe Learning[/i], a coffee and cafe consultancy business & chairman of the World Barista Championship] 'we've got a coffee culture, but it is one influenced by the big commercial players'. And Wells Trenfield, a director of Jasper Coffee - and as passionate and stern a coffee advocate as you're likely to meet - puts it this way, and very measuredly: 'Melbourne: I have a strong view. We are mostly bereft of knowledge about coffee. We might be sophisticated about latte, but not coffee, particularly when compared to Sydney'. The article goes on to say: 'Heretical though it may sound to a Melburnian... Sydney, New Zealand and Seattle - which led the American boutique coffee roasting revolution - have better coffee'. Nice that what we've been saying for several years is finally being recognised! Admin. 😉

Remus

is this a trick question ? ??? i thought everything in melbourne was crap compared to sydney. 8)

admin

Hi Remus - just a quick footnote with respect to the actual title of this post - it was really just to encourage vigorous discussion [partially prompted by the difficulties a local Melbournian was having finding a decent shot - see post at the beginning of this thread]. For the record, I love Melbourne; it's just that from a coffee perspective, I've felt a certain amount of complacency for a number of years... it's almost as if the thought is: 'we are the coffee capital of Australia; we have the best coffee, therefore we really don't have to bother' Best Admin

nzroaster

Unfortunately you are all right!!! There is bad coffee in every city all over the world. You have to find the places that serve good coffee and support the (as many have mentioned). In regards to the cafe ratings I also have to agree, many who have coffee rated at 5 stars have served me undrinkable swill on more than one occassion. And going right back to the begining, almost 2 years, Espresso_Amore - get a clue! You import stale coffee! Italians may have started the espresso culture but to say that there coffee is soo much better than ours is as ridiculas as generalising sydney Vs melbourne coffee. I have some undrinkable robusta samples you might enjoy.

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