Cafe latte – caffeine choice of the corporate employee.
Sometimes the only redeeming factor on a Monday morning is looking forward to that first cup of coffee.
Today is International Coffee Day, which means there’s an extra excuse to celebrate with a few cups of Joe.
Melbourne’s relationship with coffee is unmatched in Australia; so much tourism exists around our café culture. Walking through the CBD, it seems like everyone is clutching a take-away cup, and in the suburbs locals sit out front their favourite café, perusing the daily paper. It’s a huge part of the Melbourne identity.
However, International Coffee Day is still a relatively unknown event, with the exact origin of the day unknown.
Darren Silverman, director and head roaster of Black Velvet Coffee on Exhibition Street in Melbourne, says it’s only in recent years he has celebrated the day.
“When I’ve suggested International Coffee Day, even if they’re in the industry or not, no one’s ever heard of it” he said.
“It’s strange because Melbourne is the coffee centre of Australia. There are other cities that like to think that they are, but they’re not.”
The day can be traced back to 1983 in Japan, when the All Japan Coffee Association first promoted an International Coffee Day. The event started to gain momentum in the mid 2000s, after the United States used the day to announce the New Orleans Coffee Festival.
Many countries around the world now celebrate International Coffee Day, using it as an excuse to celebrate the beverage that provides comfort in the morning.
In the lead up to the day, Black Velvet Coffee began collecting data to determine the most popular coffee.
“We started by simply asking our regulars, and we have a digital customer rewards program, so we collected data from the membership cards” said Mr. Silverman.
“We found that around 85 per cent of our customers ordered café lattes, I guess because a lot of our clientele is very corporate.”
Mr Silverman firmly believes that what determines a coffee order is not where the customer lives, their age or their gender – it’s their profession.
“During the coffee rush hour when I am stuck with my head down behind the machine, I can usually pick who each order is for. The large capp with two sugars is for the tradie, the espresso for the journalist, the skinny flat white with an equal for the publicist, a skinny or chai latte for the stay at home mum. Financial planners and IT workers seek a caffeine hit with a double espresso and as for the hipster bartender on their way to uni, anything goes as long as it’s strong.”
For baristas, lattes are usually their favourite coffee to prepare.
“Lattes are the one coffee that gives baristas a chance to showcase their milk pouring technique. Latte art has become huge … baristas can show off what they can do,” Mr Silverman said.
Black Velvet Coffee can be found at 136 Exhibition Street, Melbourne.
