CoffeeGeek – Cafe Culture Downunder
The above is a fascinating article from Coffee Geek, discussing Australian cafe culture and how (among other things) the Australian European immigration regulations following World War II contributed to the uniqueness of the Australian market.
What is unique is that, outside Italy, the Australian and New Zealand café markets are the only other 100% espresso-based
markets in the world! The US and other countries are dominated by filter style, or brewed, coffee. You cannot give filter coffee away in Australia or New Zealand. Furthermore, the Australian and New Zealand markets are unique in that the espresso based coffees are nearly always served with milk – approximately 98%, compared to 5% milk based coffees in Italy.
As an indication of the highly competitive, sophisticated and quality-driven nature of these markets, we must look at some interesting statistics.
The ratio of espresso machines to population in Australia and New Zealand is approximately 850 people to 1 machine, only bested by Italy. In comparison, in the US, there are roughly 20,000 people per espresso machine. With such a limited number of customers per machine to draw on, cafés in Australia and New Zealand must use quality as the biggest drawcard.
In addition, less than 6% of small businesses in Australia and New Zealand are franchised, as compared to over 40% in North America. The sheer number of franchised stores in North America only serve to reduce the average quality of espresso-based coffee, not improve it.
I never realised how blessed we are here in Australia to live in an espresso-based market. Even dodgy cafes and shopping mall donut stores here will have an espresso machine and most will serve a tolerable milk based coffee (“flat white”, cappucino, latte etc) – even our petrol stations now have proper espresso machines! As the quote says “you cannot give filter coffee away in Australia or New Zealand” – the only places I have seen filter coffee served are in people’s homes (where filter machines are rapidly being superseeded by home espresso machines), some businesses, and McDonalds. But even in Maccas they now have big automatic espresso machines and the filter pot now sits unwanted in the corner, although the McDonalds espressos are of variable quality – I’ve had some pretty decent cups and some that are wretched, but then again if you want coffee at 4am on the way back from the hospital you don’t have a lot of choice.
Anyway all this talk about coffee makes me want to get home and fire up my machine. I got it back from being repaired yesterday but was far too rushed last night and this morning to get it going. This evening will be rushed as well as I have a stupid meeting to go to but I’ll make it a priority to fit in a couple of cups 
Coffee in a can – Five Senses Coffee – Premium Coffee Roasters in Australia
