Editor's letter

The Sunday Age

Sunday August 23, 2009

Amanda Dunn

Telling Melburnians that the standard of coffee in this town leaves a bit to be desired is kind of like telling them the MCG is not all it's cracked up to be. It strikes at the heart of who we think we are. But as our cover story explains, some of the city's top coffee experts think our cups of joe are generally a little on the nose - and it's hard to argue with them. While there are plenty of places that serve excellent coffee, there's also a lot that are too milky, flavourless or have that awful aftertaste of dirty ashtray about them. And given that a cup of coffee costs in the vicinity of $3.50 to $4 in the city, we should be able to expect a quality drink in return. Whatever the case, Melburnians will vote with their feet and go elsewhere if their coffee has that dishwater vibe about it. So perhaps cafes need to invest more in barista training, or just buy a better quality bean. Good coffee is about more than making a leaf or a heart in the froth. Though that's kind of nice, too.-- Amanda Dunn