Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cafes & Coffee Culture
Cafes are an integral part of daily Victorian life. Many city-dwellers are up early so they
can catch up with colleagues or just the newspaper over a latte and a slice of sourdough be-
fore the workday begins, and weekends see cafes across the state fill (queues are not un-
common) with those looking for a long, leisurely, blow-out breakfast. Cafes also fill mid-
morning with those out for a 'morning tea' coffee run, or freelancers conducting meetings
or working quietly in a corner. This will then be repeated mid-afternoon, with a roaring
lunch trade in between.
While socialising is a big part of this ritual, the coffee itself is definitely not an after-
thought. Melbourne's coffee is far superior to what you'll get in London or Los Angeles,
and often tops what you'll find in Italy. Bigger towns throughout the state are also not far
behind. Neighbourhood cafes have begun to attract the kind of tribal devotion reserved for
AFL teams. Soy milk is polarising; some purist cafes refuse to offer it, along with 'skinny'
(skim) milk, while it forms a large part of many others' trade. Flavoured coffee? Forget
about it. Yes, big chains such as Starbucks have sprung up, but an attempt to settle in the
cafe heartland of Lygon St didn't last long - why would you need a cookie-cutter multina-
tional to tell you how it's done when Melbourne's been getting the
crema
correct for well
over 20 years?
The cafe tradition goes back to the early years of last century, with the arrival of Victor-
ia's first wave of Italian and Greek migrants, but really took off post-WWII when large
numbers of Italians settled in the inner city and the first Gaggia and La Cimbali espresso
machines were imported under licence in 1953. Bourke Street's Pellegrini's is an ever-en-
chanting survivor of this generation. The brew in their signature Duralex glasses may be
unremarkable by today's standards, but the Italian brio, urban bonhomie and original decor
are as authentic as it gets. Melbourne
torrefazione
(Italian coffee roasters) such as Genov-
ese and Grinders also date back to this era, and their bean blends now fuel cafes all over the
country. Other local roasters include Atomic, Jasper and Gravity, and Castlemaine's Coffee
Basics.
While these original family-run roasters have prospered and become household names,
Melbourne is now firmly in the grip of coffee's third wave. Coffee talk now runs to terroir,
and single-origin beans, premium small-batch roasts and alternative brewing methods such
as siphon, pour-over, filter and cold-drip have taken coffee appreciation to a new level. Part
of a global network that includes Chicago's Intelligentsia and Oslo's Tim Wendelboe, Mel-
bourne is in an era of extreme coffee excellence.
