Monday, April 03, 2006


regional coffee culture, part many, redux

"a recent report by economic researcher bis shrapnel found that the number of coffees served each year in australia increased by 65 per cent over the past 10 years and the industry was now worth $840 million.

while local growers produce just 200 tonnes of beans each year, less than 1 per cent of the world coffee production, australia imports more than 40,000 tonnes, mostly from papua new guinea and indonesia."

and isn't this a very interesting article? long-time readers will recall i spent much of november and december last year in oz myself.

thus i can testify to the high quality of coffee -- and its lows! -- in oz's major cities. sydney and hobart have excellent coffee, truly world class; in several shops there it does surpass all but one or two places in the u.s.a.

however, i haven't been to scandinavia yet, where the quality of coffee beverage service has also lately improved dramatically. but in general, i think there's little doubt that in the past couple years, oz and scandinavia have been wrestling for the top global spot in specialty coffee culture.

i would also love to go to tokyo, to see how oz barista champ paul bassett's new shops there are doing. from early travel reports, however, these could be the best or certainly among the best, in the world today.

serious coffee lovers, start planning your pilgrimages now!

let's take a moment to go back to peter g's counterculture rwanda, which i've been discussing over the past several days. i think this is best brewed in the chemex, which shouldn't be a surprise, since that was also the conclusion i came to in considering dougie's gmcr rwanda.

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posted by fortune | 7:46 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments