Did you know that Australia and New Zealand are world famous for their coffee? It’s true, our coffee trends are copied as far away as London and New York. London has some top cafes dedicated to the antipodean style.
Yet it wasn’t always this way. Back in the 70s and 80s, the coffee was usually instant coffee with cold milk. Hooray for the Italian migrants who came to Australia and New Zealand post WWII and introduced espresso coffee.
However, it didn’t catch on in a big way until the 90s, when the flat white, a shot of espresso with slightly frothed hot milk, started an obsession.
Although large coffee chains tried to dominate the market, it was the little corner cafes that Aussies preferred to get their caffeine fix.
Nowadays, coffee lovers have a favourite barista, that talented person who operates the espresso machine. And the coffee menu grows larger all the time; there’s latte, similar to a flat white but with more frothed milk; cappuccino, a shot of espresso (or you can double that) and hot milk topped with foamed milk and cocoa powder; a long black is a double shot of espresso with hot water; a ristretto, which is a shot of espresso with less water; a macchiato, a shot of espresso with a small amount of foamed milk; a mocha, basically a latte with cocoa powder, and a babyccino, hot frothy milk for children. All with a choice of dairy milk, almond, soy, or oat milk. So, if you’re falling asleep over your crosswords, you might need a wake-up shot of coffee!
