OT Article about Australian Coffee Culture

[SeanB]

Caterer's Blend , ah reminds me of what used to come out of car radiators until they put glycol in; actually I think car radiator water tastes better!!!

Try Ciro catering quality coffee. It would generally taste slightly like coffee if you tossed a teaspoon and put in about 4-6 dessert spoonfuls into the cup, then added hot water and milk and sugar to hide the taste. I used to get issued a tin a month, and never drank it. There was the one guy I worked with who loved the stuff, he would get my tin each month. I used to buy Nescafe Classic and still do, or buy Jacobs.

We did find a use for it though, it was a pretty good fine grinding paste if mixed with oil. The tins made a pretty good camping kettle though.

[vk6zgo]

Most have been around for 30 or more (some,way more!) years-----a bit more than  2 weeks!

That's probably about right (I keep forgetting how old I am). When ever you asked for a coffee, anywhere, they would put the kettle on and if you were lucky they had nesscafe not international roast.

As a kid I remember my mum buying vitoria beans at the super market (coles?). She'd scoop out how many she wanted and pass them through an electric coffee grinder they had bolted to the shelves.

When she made you a cuppa shed fill the cup to the top with coffee from the thing below and add a dash of milk. None of this tiny shot of coffee in the bottom and the rest milk, rubbish.

As in many things,WA proceeded differently to the other States.

In the late '50s & through the '60s,the Coffee shop's device of choice was a gargantuan "Gaggia"machine.
These things,when in operation,made noises reminiscent of a mainline steam locomotive.

STW9 had one of these in their Canteen when I worked there in 1965.
Quite sophisticated to be able to grab a Cappuccino at work.

In the '70s,it became trendier (& cheaper) to have several glass "Cona"jugs full of coffee which were filled from a large percolator.
That was the usual source of coffee in Pubs,too.
They made nice coffee,though.

From the 1980s,technological improvements made Espresso machines cheaper & smaller,& they came back into vogue.
Dome went wild with shops all over the place,& a lot of Independents set up shop,too.

Until cheap home Espresso machines became available,the usual pattern for home use was:
Buy a Percolator,enjoy the coffee for a while,get tired of messing around,go back to Instant.