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

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

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?

@imip thats interesting.

I don't use the big chains, and I only drink black coffee so that maybe skews my view! Lots of people here are saying it's the temperature of the milk that's crucial.

Everyone's coffee beans come from the same places in the world. I don't believe coffee is grown in neither UK nor Australia? I think if someone were that picky they would bring their own beans traveling. Or know exactly what type they enjoy then frequent places that serve them, or find places to buy them. I know I prefer beans from Mexico or Kenya, but I am happy with anything except Starbucks, because their beans are lower grade and burned, most people don't realize how nasty it is because they order drinks with a revolting amount of sugar. So you can see I'm a bit of a coffee snob yet I would never complain about an entire country's coffee. Most coffee is fabulous if you treat it right. Ok I googled it and Australia does have some coffee growers. Not enough to supply the country though so I doubt this is what they are referring to.

This makes no sense because overheating milk causes the lactose to break down and become sweet.

I think it is many variables - machine you use, beans etc etc. I was thinking about buying some Pret beans. I use an aeropress at home and different beans will give me a wildly different taste in coffee. Apparently so also the size you bring them to, but I cannot be arsed with that one…

I once won a barista course at a school auction and I was so shit at it, but I took a friend and it was such a fun day! And no hangover (but no sleep!).

Plenty of mediocre coffee in Aus too! I think there are probably higher standards in the average place here than in the UK (because people are very fussy about it) but I had some very good coffee in the UK as well.

Our Son is a Barista in Sydney

He travels the world carrying his own coffee

No one in this house drinks coffee,( I might have one or two a week ) and I went out and bought, what to me was a very expensive coffee machine for his visit and very expensive beans

He was rude enough to tell me to take the machine back and recommended me to buy a machine in the thousands!!!!!

Last time we saw him was in Italy for his wedding and the coffee preparation had gone up another notch - scents for the water !!

I took a jar of Nescafe :)

However since I now have this expensive bit of kit, I have learned how to make a coffee and I too have become a bit snobby about my beans. Even though the beans all come from the same place its the subtleties of the roasting that make the difference , and how long ago they were roasted. We have a local small roaster who produces coffee I like, deep , chocolatey, nutty and smooth

Nah not gonna accept that: grew up in Sydney and now live in London. Honestly the rain in London is relentless. Often weeks long drizzle that just doesn’t stop until everything stinks of damp.

In the wet season in Sydney it’ll be 35 degrees, steaming humidity, and all of a sudden the air will turn to water. Roads will go from sticking to your shoes to being covered by 3-4 inches of water with every gutter blocked in about 20 minutes and then it switches off and back to hot. You may get more actual rain in Sydney, but that won’t stop you going out for the day. It just interrupts you for a short while (and don’t get caught in it cause it will be like you’ve taken a bath). It was always really satisfying in the middle of a thunderstorm to go into our garden that would flash flood and unblock the drain and see it drain away like a bath (a tree near the drain would block the drain with leaves)

In winter you have bright blue skies with 25 degree weather. Only downside is the beach is cold cause the current is flowing north not south. It’s not like in the UK when it’s raining and it actually stops you going out cause you wake up, it’s raining, and the whole day it rains, and then you get home and it’s raining. That doesn’t happen very much, whereas in London that’s the norm from bloody October until April. I mean really you just have to get on with it, but the weather is much “wetter” in London. I will agree that nothing is quite as beautiful as an English summer though, if it’s not bloody raining

I had an Australian friend come visit earlier this year.
I also have a swish coffee machine for my coffee drinking DH. (I'm a tea gal)

Ausie mate insisted on instant coffee, which I had to go buy especially. Ugh, the shame of buying a jar of gold blend. And Ayssie Bob obviously had no taste.

Catza · 22/12/2023 17:38

What does she mean by British coffee? Coffee isn't grown in either Britain or Australia.

Australia does have coffee farms in Queensland.
I was working in Darwin (I'm a Pom) earlier this year and aske a woman in Coles what was decent, she pointed out two that she liked.

One was bloody awful and the other was fine, but nowt special.

I agree that Starbucks is undrinkable shite, it's why the like to put syrups and strong flavours into their drinks.

Maybe your coffee has improved. I spent many years working in the UK and couldn’t get a decent coffee ever at that time. The concept of a Latte didn’t seem to be well understood and if it was the execution was fucking appalling, like they had no idea what to do with the milk and completely murdered it. Hopefully it’s different now.

I lived in Oz for a year and never worked out why they thought their coffee was so much better.

In winter you have bright blue skies with 25 degree weather.

In Sydney? It's more like highs of 17 and single digits at night (inside your fibro as well as out).

I’ve lived in Melbourne for six years now and never believed I’d become a coffee snob (always been quite happy with instant 😄), but it’s happened.
I go back to the UK twice a year and really can’t drink coffee there now. It either tastes burnt, bitter or watery and I have no idea why. I’ve tried lots of different independent places in the hope of finding something comparable, but it’s too hit and miss - I drink tea when I’m there now, which is better than here, mostly, but don’t start me on trying to get a decent chai latte in the UK 🤢.
Mind you, there’s lots that’s still better over there - proper farm shop ham for a start. Yum!

One of the weirdest things for me when I moved to the UK from Aus was the way that Italian food and drink was executed so badly (in general) compared to Australia, given how much closer the UK is to Italy! I put it down to the mass immigration post war and also the fact that there are more independent eateries/cafes in Aus.

It has definitely improved in the last couple of decades but as others have said, you need to seek out good places whereas the standard is consistently high in Aus (see also: Greek food).

There are many Starbucks in Sydney, to the poster who said there are just two. Same in Melbourne.

But despite that, the coffee here is generally excellent.

I spent a month in Australia and every cup of coffee I had was gross! It's very different to our coffee, so in my opinion, it's a combination of what people are used to and the fact that Australians love to complain about British coffee.

On average coffee is better in Australia but the best UK coffee shops are absolutely equivalent to the best Australian coffee shops.

Our (admittedly brilliant) local is as good as the best in Melbourne which was a shock to us. One difference I’ve noticed over the years is that Australian coffee is often extremely hot, it’s more common for British coffee to be a bit on the cool side.

Aussie who often travels to the UK here. I’m serious about my coffee, have a very expensive home set up etc. I live in inner Melbourne so the heart of Australian coffee culture.

I can’t say I’ve ever had a coffee in the UK I’d consider ‘good’.

There are lots of average coffee in both places, but generally the coffee is much better in Australia.
I've lived in both, for extended periods.

Last visit to Oz, I noticed that friends’ dd was obsessed with coffee. ‘In Melbourne we take our coffee seriously!’

TBH I just found it tedious. An obsessive sort of ‘fashion’ IMO. I didn’t find the coffee anywhere particularly amazing TBH.

The Australians are getting as bad as the Americans with their cultural arrogance. O5s embarrassing.

Coffee here in the UK is awful compared to European coffee and Scandinavian coffee so probably also consider ti Australian coffee

"They think they're better than us at some things" = "upstart colonials with their cultural arrogance, how dare they!"

😂😂😂