If you thought Starbucks was a confusing place in which to order coffee, you’ve neve tried in Australia. They don’t seem to call it the way we call it in America, and it took us a few days (and a few misordered products) to work it all out. Of course, once you learn the lingo, it actually makes quite a bit of sense.
- Short Black: This is a single shot of espresso.
- Long Black: Espresso with water (1/3 espresso 2/3 water). If you want a close approximation of a regular cup ‘o joe, order a long black. It’s equivalent to a Cafe Americano ordered in your local coffeehouse.
Simple, yeah? Well, I hope you didn’t want milk with that. That’s where the confusion starts.
- Flat White: This is a popular drink in Australia and New Zealand. As far as I know, it’s not served anywhere else in the world. A flat white is an espresso with steamed milk (about 1/3 espresso, 2/3 milk). The closest approximation in America would be a no foam latte.
So, what if you want a regular cup o’ joe with milk?
- You order a Long Black with Milk on the Side. This gives you cold milk to add to your long black.
Thankfully a latte is a latte and a cappaccino is a cappacino.
Hey, what about a moccha? or a chai latte? You’ve still got the rest of the menu to work your way through.
Ha! I totally forgot about that.
I have to tell you, I loved the long black in Aus/NZ – really rich and flavorful, but not bitter. I tried to get something similar in the states and there’s nothing – bitter Starbuck’s espresso just doesn’t cut it. Does anyone know where I can get this?
[...] http://sffoodie.wordpress.com/2007/01/21/how-to-order-coffee-in-australian/ [...]
I love my caffine, I have an espresso machine for my daily fix of coffee and espresso, I don’t think I could live without it.
vJdezb Blogs rating, add your blog to be rated for free:
http://blogsrate.net
[...] on Dunkin. I have yet to have enough time to really run through how all this works, but I did find a posting on yet another American’s blog that was clearly as confused as I that seems to add some detail to the issue. For now, I’m [...]
[...] In Australia, it is very dependent on independent coffee houses. (On a side note, if you ever try ordering coffee from Australia, it is like being the casting director of a porno [...]
LOL!
Just be grateful that what to order was your biggest problem!
I am an Australian who has just moved to Abu Dhabi UAE.
The coffee here is TRAGIC..
It doesn’t help that my wife and I moved here from the inner southern Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, a place you would have to look hard to find a BAD coffee.
Here though – well, for a country of folk who have made an art form out of sitting around in cafe’s all day, they wouldn’t recognise a great cup of coffee if it reared up in there ‘coffee-mate’ infused drinks and slapped them around the face with a coffee stirrer.
As I mentioned in my own blog:
“When, upon walking into a shopping centre, Starbucks is leading the race for your coffee dollar, you know there is something stinky going on”
SO.. give me convoluted and unnecessarily complicated Australian coffee menus ANY time.. at least after ordering there might be a reasonable beverage coming my way..