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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that British coffee is just as good as Australian?

149 replies

EmmaGrundyForPM · 22/12/2023 16:57

DNiece has arrived at ours, she's visiting from Australia and I haven't seen her for 5 years, since she was 15.

She's been in the UK for a few days and keeps banging on about how British coffee is horrible and not a patch on Australian coffee. Her dad, my BIL, always says this when he's in the UK but I'm not convinced it's true. I've only been to Australia once, but I wasn't blown away by their amazing coffee. I think DN is just parroting her dad and wouldn't be able to tell the difference in a blind taste test.

So, I think I'm not being unreasonable. Anyone agree?

OP posts:
JassyRadlett · 22/12/2023 18:23

mewkins · 22/12/2023 18:19

I reckon it's nothing to do with the beans and is more about either the water or the milk.

And before you even get into milk texture, baristas already can't win - the number of people you hear asking for extra hot coffee 😱.

aubergineman · 22/12/2023 18:25

The best coffee I've had in London is from an indie cafe almost exclusively staffed by Aussies.

Also had great coffee from Aussie coffee stands at festivals.

And they did invent the flat white, so I think she has a point.

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 22/12/2023 18:26

Pipistrellus · 22/12/2023 17:05

Isn't coffee normally Colombian or Indonesian or similar?

My thoughts too .

CormorantStrikesBack · 22/12/2023 18:27

I’ve never been to Australia but have read from more than one source that the coffee there is much better than the U.K. it’s not necessarily the act beans but the level of barista training.

dd used to be a deputy chief barista. The person making your coffee makes a massive difference. Then stuff like adjusting burrs and grinds. When a new head barista came to her place he changed all the burr levels and I could instantly taste the dust, the coffee was much improved and it was the same coffee and the same machines. When I go to that cafe I can tell who has made my coffee out of the different baristas, the head barista’s coffee is amazing, the rest are good. And that’s with the same settings on the machine.

JassyRadlett · 22/12/2023 18:30

And they did invent the flat white, so I think she has a point.

Oh that is a WHOLE THING between Australia and New Zealand of who invented it.

See also: pavlova.

CormorantStrikesBack · 22/12/2023 18:30

mewkins · 22/12/2023 18:19

I reckon it's nothing to do with the beans and is more about either the water or the milk.

And even about how you froth the milk. We have a home coffee machine and Dd is quite particular in the angle the jug is held at while frothing, how deep the wand goes into the milk initially, listening for “tearing paper “ sound, holding this for so many seconds, then changing the depth of the wand. None of this “wanking” the milk wand which you see lots of baristas doing 😆

ActDottie · 22/12/2023 18:31

Surely it’s all the same coffee? As far as I know no coffee is grown in the U.K. so it’s not British. Normally South American

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 22/12/2023 18:34

JassyRadlett · 22/12/2023 18:20

I'm sure you didn't, and I mean that sincerely. If it was universal, I wouldn't have stayed.

But it's been two decades, an in my experience of being an Australian living in this country, it's not rare or isolated either. It is what it is, and I'm not denying that the converse is also true.

Show quote history

I’m sorry people are unpleasant to you here. Like I said I had similar in Australia but not from Australian friends on the whole, they’re too polite! I’ve never asked my DM’s friends if they encountered unpleasant comments but like I said maybe they were more welcoming in the 60s in England.

I like lots of things including some tv series (600 bottles of wine, 5 bedrooms (is it 4?!)) about Aus, and we do share a lot in common, historically in some cases. A few Australians I’ve met have come to stay/live precisely because they have connections from some part of the UK and like to explore Europe too.

iloveyoghurt · 22/12/2023 18:36

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 22/12/2023 17:29

There is an Australian owned coffee shop in Streatham which isn’t far from where I live. To be honest when I went there (I’m not a huge coffee drinker but do like lattes, cappuccinos and mochas) I wasn’t that impressed but my boyfriend at the time said it was good.

I agree with others, a good indie coffee shop/cafe will be just as good as the Aussie ones. Chains aren’t good generally.

I do find sometimes too some Aussies like to complain about British food/drink/coffee in quite loud tones, guess they’re getting us back for being whinging Poms!

Edited

Would you mind sharing which coffee shop is it please 🙂?

AllyBugs · 22/12/2023 18:37

My sister now lives in Australia says the same thing. I just think she goes to the wrong places, her sample included coffee at a soft play which I wouldn't even bother with. When I've been in Australia I've had great coffee and awful coffee much the same as over here.

nottaotter · 22/12/2023 18:37

I thought Cafe Nero was meant to be pretty good coffee? Costa is horrible, but I like Nero.

Also the person saying most uk people don't grind their own beans I think a decent home machine will grind beans, its quite common now.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 22/12/2023 18:39

Sorry, I just heard something shocking. An award winning British local barista (lovely man) took his own life this autumn. I had no idea… Sad

cardibach · 22/12/2023 18:39

aubergineman · 22/12/2023 18:25

The best coffee I've had in London is from an indie cafe almost exclusively staffed by Aussies.

Also had great coffee from Aussie coffee stands at festivals.

And they did invent the flat white, so I think she has a point.

Invented the flat white? What now? In the 70s my mum used to make Italian stovetop espresso with warmed milk, so essentially a flat white. She just called it milky coffee.

Daisies12 · 22/12/2023 18:39

Melbourne independent coffee shops make the best coffee I’ve ever had. I’ve occasionally found an independent place in the UK that’s been nearly as good, but most places are average here - she has a point!

Pushkinini · 22/12/2023 18:43

I travelled to several Aussie cities last year and had a fair few cups of coffee. Whilst nice, none were particularly memorable. That one cocktail bar in Melbourne though...

Original poster
EmmaGrundyForPM · 22/12/2023 18:44

ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea · 22/12/2023 18:26

My thoughts too .

Show quote history

FFS you know exactly what I mean.

Cups of coffee made in the UK vs Cups of coffee made in Australia.

Happy now?

OP posts:
CamDiaz · 22/12/2023 18:44

When I lived in Australia I found that so called ex-pats (immigrants) had to put down the UK in every other sentence in order to justify the enormous decision that they had made.

And most of them were people who had bollocksed their lives up in the first place. They then passed down this ranting against the UK attitude to their dc.

Danielle9891 · 22/12/2023 18:46

I agree with her. The coffee culture in Australia is huge. I worked in cafes both in Melbourne and Sydney and I've got to say the UK is very behind. Costa and Starbucks do very poorly over there as it's so poor quality. I really miss Australian coffee but you can get some half decent coffees in some small cafes over here. But Australia definitely has better quality. I remember a cafe in Melbourne asking me what coffee beans I wanted. They had 5 to choose from. 😂

WorkworkworkworkworkTips · 22/12/2023 18:47

OP, you are very unreasonable.... they are worlds apart!! It is truly disgusting here in comparison

giadaros · 22/12/2023 18:47

I'm from the UK and have lived in both Aus and NZ. Sorry but Aus and Kiwi coffee is made a lot better than a standard UK barista coffee. There are some speciality independent coffee shops in the UK that make a great coffee but these are not the norm whereas in both Aus and NZ the majority of coffee shops will make a very good coffee.

giadaros · 22/12/2023 18:51

Also in the UK it varies greatly as to where you live. In London there are some great coffee shops. Where I grew up in a town in the midlands, there is a cafe Nero and nothing else. The town I live in here in NZ is the same size and has around 10 independent cafe/coffee shops. The coffee is also cheaper here despite the fact that the average hourly rate for a barista in my town is now around the equivalent to £14/15 an hour.

iloveyoghurt · 22/12/2023 19:04

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 22/12/2023 18:38

Thank you, i have been in this one and i think the coffee there is rank. I refuse to get a coffee from Brookwood, it taste sour

LakieLady · 22/12/2023 19:07

I do find sometimes too some Aussies like to complain about British food/drink/coffee in quite loud tones, guess they’re getting us back for being whinging Poms!

Have they managed to brew decent beer in Oz yet, or are they still producing weak, tasteless gnat's piss?

deepsea9 · 22/12/2023 19:11

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 22/12/2023 17:29

There is an Australian owned coffee shop in Streatham which isn’t far from where I live. To be honest when I went there (I’m not a huge coffee drinker but do like lattes, cappuccinos and mochas) I wasn’t that impressed but my boyfriend at the time said it was good.

I agree with others, a good indie coffee shop/cafe will be just as good as the Aussie ones. Chains aren’t good generally.

I do find sometimes too some Aussies like to complain about British food/drink/coffee in quite loud tones, guess they’re getting us back for being whinging Poms!

Edited

If that is the one I think you are talking about, they made me a truly shite cup of tea. So, swings and roundabouts.