Coffee Culture: West vs Down Under
Outside of writing and drawing, one of my favourite hobbies is the world and culture around coffee. I’ve been a well-trained professional barista for a while, and working in a café in one of the best tourism spots in my town. During the peak of the on-season, we get all sorts of tourists from all over the world, but our largest demographic is easily the Americans. Having served many American folks their coffee both now and some years ago when I lived in the land of E Pluribus Unum, what fascinates (and/or irritates) me is the complete cultural divide and concept of coffee between the States and other predominantly coffee-drinking countries.
Now this is not a debate on what is right or wrong, for I find there to be no right or wrong way to enjoy coffee, despite my bias towards espresso. In Europe and countries like Australia and New Zealand, espresso and espresso-based drinks are far more the norm, such is what created the popularity of the Flat White!
However, in the United States, the most common method of coffee brewing leans more toward filter-style coffee, whether it be drip-filter in glass jugs, percolation or basket filter to fill an urn.
These are two polar opposites entirely. All methods of coffee brewing root back to the process of grinding the beans down and extracting the flavour with hot water.
Espresso takes this to the extreme by using pressure and heat with a small amount of water and a great deal of coffee by comparison, to create a small but highly concentrated extraction of coffee, which can be enjoyed on its own or mixed with (most commonly) milk to mellow its flavour and be built upon.
Now, compare this to a brewing method that uses a massive amount of water against coffee resulting in a heavily diluted brew, omitting the process of steaming the milk and then with the common addition of cream and creamers and a wide array of sweeteners, and it’s easy to see why some American tourists get coffee whiplash when travelling overseas.
This most certainly resulted in the conception and existence of the Americano, Caffe Americano, or “Coffee in the American Style”, as it seems to be a response to this dilemma. The drink itself is far older of course than this problem has existed, but an Americano is good in that it still retains the complexity of espresso, simply with a lighter taste. So while it may resemble the drip-filter coffee that Americans may be accustomed to, there is more to the cup than meets the palate.
There have been many times when I must assure a customer that we don’t have creamers or Half n Half available, nor brand sweeteners like Splenda, Equal or Sweet’n’Low!
Most terribly, we work on a docket system where I must work down each ticket, and some tourists will order coffee in the midst of a rush ten minutes before their bus arrives. Try as I might, pumping out espresso drinks while still maintaining quality is not always easy. A Neverending Story unfortunately.
All in all, it’s another lesson in how one may encounter all sorts of culture switches when travelling over-seas, no matter how similar the countries may be. There are many different and evolving ways to enjoy coffee, so when next you plan your next holiday, take a look at a countrie’s coffee culture. You may be surprised at every change you see!
Thank you for reading and have a beautiful day!
Daniel
