Coffee

I would never profess to be a connoisseur of coffee. I was admittedly a latecomer to the brown stuff growing up in the US. I think most people learn to drink it as a kid or, at the latest, in college where they use it as an aid for all-nighter cram sessions.

I do have fond coffee-related memories from childhood, though. I remember waking up on Saturday mornings on the frequent weekends at the Grandparents house. The first thing I would smell was the scent of coffee wafting from the kitchen…and then I would hear the lovely sound of the coffee maker percolating, especially at the very end. To this day it’s still one of my favorite sounds ever.

But the adults around me always drank coffee black, and I couldn’t stand the actual taste. It wasn’t until I got my first real job after college that I gave in. I was desperately trying to adjust to the new schedule of being up early every morning. Even though I was getting enough sleep, my body clock was resisting the change. Everyone in my small office drank coffee every morning, cup after cup. I was desperate to stay awake, so I discovered that if I drowned out the taste with sugar and creamer, it was suddenly drinkable.

Just a couple of years later, I starting bringing my own coffee mug to work. And it wasn’t long before I insisted on having my own liquid creamer there, too. I was hooked.

When we moved to Australia, I realized that I took American coffee for granted. As we were purchasing items for the new apartment, as you do whenever furnishing a new place, I planned to buy a coffee pot. I thought I would buy a cheap Mr. Coffee – type pot for $10, maybe $15. I was shocked to see there are no cheap coffee pots here. Why? Because most buy instant coffee for the home. Instant coffee? Who drinks instant coffee?? I don’t. Never have.

Being a commonwealth of England, tea is the caffeinated beverage of choice in Australia, of course. I suppose if it weren’t for the Boston Tea Party, it would be ours, too. Since everyone here has an electric tea kettle for making tea, I guess it makes sense to use the same pot for the occasional coffee drinker, using instant.

The cafe scene is another story. I still get caught off guard when ordering coffee here.

"What would you like to drink?"... "Coffee, please.".... "What kind?"... in my brain: "What do they mean, what kind?" Panicky feeling ensues....

The reason? Because they don't serve "regular coffee" at cafes and restaurants here. It's all espresso drinks, which I don't normally consider "coffee," in the American sense. Like I said, I am no coffee expert. I know that in most other countries, espresso is the norm and I have thoroughly enjoyed drinking it while visiting Italy and France. I've also been admittedly a Starbucks regular the past few years, with my addiction of choice being Mochas. So my cafe experience in Australia usually ends with me defaulting to my fallback choice of, "Mocha, please." It wouldn't be so difficult if I had actually understood this before confronted with the dizzying, foreign coffee names in Aussie cafes, like Flat White, Short Black...and on and on.

I thought... "One of these HAS to be regular coffee..." Was I ever wrong. I finally found a cafe menu at Zarraffa's (Australia's Starbucks) that listed the drink ingredients. There are at least a couple dozen drinks in the list. I read through them. Amazingly, not even the "Americano" is regular coffee.. they are ALL espresso drinks.

So I've just given in. Theo and I were at the grocery store one day, dizzied by the different choices of instant coffee. A store employee followed by an older couple walked up next to us. The couple was getting impatient trying to find regular coffee. So I listened in on the conversation to see if we get some help as well. The couple had a french press and just wanted some basic ground coffee. The employee had no idea what they were looking for and pointed at us and said, "Maybe they can help you," which was hilarious since we had no idea either. We found out that the couple was visiting from Canada. We exchanged our feelings of frustration and wished each other luck. I feel your pain, Canadians.

We finally decided on Nescafe "short black," which is an instant espresso. We made a good decision, because it actually tastes awesome. So all is well that ends well, I guess. I now have a new addiction.