MILANO – Rachael Bolton is the perfect guide for the internet people, to discover the great australian way to feel coffee. Let’s read her journey through the many trends of this country.
Rachael Bolton around the kangaroo country
Australia is a country of coffee buffs. As a nation we consume 2.1?billion cups of the stuff every year, according to the latest BIS Shrapnel figures. And when it comes to our daily drop, we overwhelmingly prefer the café-style espresso to any other form. Of the $8 billion we spend on coffee annually, $6.5 billion goes on flat whites, cappuccinos, macchiatos and non-fat; extra-hot, half-caf hazelnut lattes from coffee shops. The average Australian over the age of 14 imbibes 2.3 cups of coffee a week and 1.8 of those are espresso-based.
And it’s an intensely personal beverage
Some prefer the bitterness of a full-bodied robusta, others the smooth nuance of Jamaican Blue Mountain or a delicate, balanced arabica. Some will pay hundreds of dollars for coffee beans pre-digested by a Sumatran civet.
All togheter with the point of view of Rachael Bolton
But whatever your personal leanings, there is a reason we fork out an average $3.86 a cup. And that is because creating the perfect espresso coffee is an art form as much as anything. In large part, we’re paying for the skill of the professional barista.
This was always the problem with domestic coffee machines – they require a level of skill you may not possess. Any grimy caffeine hit might do for the truly desperate. But to earn its place as a cherished first port of call every morning, that cup reallyneeds to be crafted by someone who knows what they’re doing.
The answer to this “problem” may be capsule machines
They’re so fast and simple, even your uncaffeinated brain can handle it. They all work roughly the same way: you open a slot in the top of the machine, you place in a capsule that looks like one of those aeroplane single serve milk pods. And then press a button and – hey presto! – the reward for your labours is a shot of perfect, crema-slathered espresso.
No mess. No flushing the machine out after every shot to prevent grains from backing up inside and making your coffee taste awful, no danger of burning.
Frothing milk is also very easy
Infact pour cold milk into a canister, press a button, a minute or so later you have foam. It’s a very close approximation of café-style froth, if not 100 per cent the same.
With a recommended retail price of $299, the Nespresso U is the latest offering from the biggest brand name in pod coffee. It’s smaller and even more automated than previous models, even ejecting the used pod.
Also released this year, the Electrolux Lavazza A Modo Mio Premium machine (RRP $399), packs many of the same punches. A bigger machine than the Nespresso. It comes with a traditional frother and a stand-alone auto-froth machine for the craftier consumer.
And batting for the home team, Map Coffee
That is an Australian company that started life as a supplier to cafes before moving into the domestic gadget market four years ago. The Map Bella (RRP $249) is a fairly compact machine. And distinguishes itself from the others by offering hot chocolate pods as well as four coffee flavours.
And this brings us to the most crucial point of all. If you’re in love with a particular brand of home-brew grind, you’re going to have to give it up to go pod. Each machine has its own capsules, varying in size and shape. So you are committed to sticking with that brand. You need to try them all before you make such a commitment.
Pods for the Nespresso start at $6.80 for a sleeve of 10 in one of the 16 regular flavours
Rachael Bolton continues: but sometimes a lot more for “limited edition” flavours that come out periodically each year. You can taste-test different flavours at one of the boutique Nespresso stores. Which is also where you need to go to buy pods (or you can order online and receive free shipping on orders of over 200 pods).
A Modo Mio capsules start at $11.99 for a box of 16 and can be purchased from the Lavazza online store. Or from retailers carrying the machine (Myer, Harvey Normal, Betta Electrical, The Good Guys). Taste testing is available at any of these retailers.
You can get 10 pods of Map Coffee for $6.50 or $7.50 for the Belgian Chocolate flavour. Capsules can be purchased online at MapCoffee.com.au. (free shipping on orders over $50). Demonstrations are held at The Good Guys and Harvey Norman stores Thursday through Sunday.
Ultimately pods can cost as little as 65¢ a cup. So investing in a machine could represent a big overall saving. Say you buy two coffees every work day for a year at the average $3.86 a cup. That’s $926.40.
If you switched to the pod for just one of those coffees, you’d save the cost of the machine in one year.
Something to think about.
Source: The Australian Financial Review
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