A quick bit of history…
No one really knows the true origin of coffee, however there are many stories dating back to 800 A.D,tracing its heritage back to the ancient coffee forests on the Ethiopian plateau. Legend has it that a 9th-century goat herder Kaldi noticed the effect caffeine had on his goats, who appeared to “dance” after eating the fruit of the Coffea plant and would not want to sleep at night.
Kaldi reported his findings to the abbot of the local monastery, who made a drink with the berries and found that it kept him alert through the long hours of evening prayer. The abbot shared his discovery with the other monks at the monastery, and knowledge of the energizing berries began to spread. As word moved east and coffee reached the Arabian peninsula, it began a journey which would bring these beans across the globe.
Which brings us to today…
To say coffee is big in Australia is an understatement. Some even say that wherever coffee is found, Australians can’t be far away. Australian espresso culture developed from cafés owned by Greek and Italian migrants, slowly brewing from the post-war immigration boom in the 1950s and 1960s, to becoming a nationwide obsession that is part of Australia’s cultural identity today.
In terms of coffee production, Australia is not a major coffee bean producing country. Nonetheless, the Australian coffee market is among the largest in the world, reaching a revenue greater than 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2017. The annual domestic coffee consumption in Australia reached almost 1.87 million 60-kilogram bags. On average, Australians consumed around 1.91 kilograms of coffee per person in 2019, out of which 1.39 kilograms were roast coffee and around 0.53 kilograms were instant coffee. Considering the per capita consumption, Australians are far behind Finland, Scandinavian countries and other European countries, but still among the leading 30 coffee consuming countries.
Around 23 percent of all coffee orders are coffee-to-go orders, ranking Australia fourth behind Japan, the United States and Canada in terms of coffee-to-go. The most popular cup sold in cafe’s and coffee shops in Australia was the latte, followed by the flat white and the cappuccino.
Now here is a list of some of my favorite go to Coffee places in Melbourne. Now not only do I go by how good the coffee is but the service provided. (As I do a lot of adventurous coffee drives I will continue to update this list with the one’s worth mentioning).
- St Ali’s – South Melbourne
- The Premises – Kensington
- Wee Jeanie – Yarraville (Frequented)
- Boma Coffee – Yarraville
- Coe & Coe – Footscray (Frequented)
- Rudimentry – Footscray
- 279 – North Melbourne (Frequented)
- Abacus – South Yarra
- Auction Rooms – North Melbourne
- The Chocolate House – Richmond (Frequented)
- San Churro’s – QV (Frequented)
- The Hatter and the Hare – Bayswater
- Industry Beans – Fitzroy
- Top Paddock – Richmond
- Workshop Brothers – CBD
- Vanilla – Oakleigh
- Stokers – South Melbourne
- Local Folk – Kensington (Frequented)
- The Ascot Vale Food Store – Ascot Vale
- 19 – Ascot Vale
- Code Black – Brunswick