Tips and Tricks for Your Morning Brew
- BrittGirlAus
- Feb 12, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 26, 2023
Australia has a vast mix of cultures, but there is one that puts our country ahead of everyone else: coffee culture.
My bias aside, Australia has such a collection of individual cafes with varying roasts and brewing methods that it will be a long time before consumers tire of the product. But there are a few extra things your local café could do that you possibly didn’t know of.
Check the Bean Range
Have you ever noticed a floral or fruit flavour in your long black? Don’t worry, you’re not going mad! Specialty Coffee Cafes will often serve their espressos, macchiatos, and long blacks on a single-origin bean (meaning, the bean has come from one farm). Even Gloria Jeans has a second bean choice called the Soreno blend which offers a lighter flavour and more caffeine!
On the North side of Brisbane, there is a popular roaster called Clean Skin. They supplied a café I once worked at and would rotate what our café had for a second roast. So, not only could your local café have other flavours on offer, but they could be rotating the second option.
Keto Kick
One of my regulars used to consistently order a long black (or an Americano) with pouring cream. The man was conscious of his health and would explain that his diet consisted of a morning fast. The exception during this time was his radical coffee order.
I would later learn that this coffee order falls into the Keto diet. Initially, it’s an odd thought to add something generally considered unhealthy for health benefits, especially when a long black contains the least number of calories across your coffee menu (wakacoffee.com).
However, research from 2018 is unravelling the previous ideas of fatty dairy products’ connection to cardiovascular disease (academic.oup.com). The addition of cream can even be beneficial in being a source of protein, calcium, choline (which is good for metabolism [ods.od.nih.gov]), as well as vitamins A, D, E, and K (healthline.com). And when paired with a diet consisting of a morning fast, this Keto kick gives the consumer energy through the caffeine and a feeling of being fuller due to the cream.
More importantly, it’s delicious. Long blacks have been my choice of caffeine for many years now, but I have a hesitation at cafes when there is a chance the coffee will be burnt or too strong. Adding pouring cream softens the intense caffeine flavour and even gives the water-based drink a creamier consistency that I liken to a latte.
However, pouring cream is specific to individual cafes. It’s a coin toss if they have it but adding full-fat milk will offer a similar effect.
A Cheeky Nip
One of the cheeky drinks we’ve added to my family’s home menu is French Coffee. Our first encounter with this drink was at a restaurant on my mum’s birthday, and the drink they served could be likened to a latte with a shot of Kahlua topped with cream and cocoa.
This isn’t something you can (or should!) sneak into work, but a similar cheeky flavour can be achieved with either butterscotch or Irish Cream syrup. Cafés will have the classic flavours of vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut, but sometimes there are some extra flavours that many consumers aren’t aware of. These can lead to an adventurous coffee, and a somewhat cheeky morning.
All that’s needed is to ask your cashier what syrups the café has on offer. Choose the one to your liking (I recommend the butterscotch or Irish Cream found at Gloria Jeans) and ask for whipped cream on top.
These sorts of drinks really are treats but sometimes you need a sneaky burst of sugar for a dragging work day.
Speak Dirty
Every café will serve the typical range of latte, flat white, cappuccino, and long black. These coffees are constantly amongst the barista’s receipts, but every now and then there’s a drink that pops up that breaks this trend.
These lesser-known drinks in my experience are piccolo, macchiato, short black, espresso, chai latte, and even the dirty chai latte. These are available at every café, and if someone says otherwise, I’d question that café. But the bigger focus today is on the dirty chai.
Sounds rebellious, doesn’t it?
The dirty chai latte has a structure similar to an everyday latte. However, this drink has the addition of chai powder or chai tea. Chai is a mix of spice flavours like cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and nutmeg (nourisheveryday.com). But the bigger secret from this is to order your chai or dirty chai on soy milk.
I am a strong advocate for full cream milk and adding the delicious pouring cream to my long black, but not only have customers and colleagues reported that chai is best served on soy, but there’s also a local café that immediately makes their chai on soy milk. And even my mother is an advocate for this recipe!
In my experience, having these tips in my arsenal has created a more adventurous trip to cafes across Australia. I’m sure there are hundreds of more tips and tricks beyond the ones I’ve shared, and not just from baristas too! Customer or Latte Artists, what are your tricks for the best café trips?
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