JOIN USOf single origins, flat whites and more
Caffeine has been thrusting through the veins of Melbourne for several years. There are literally over a thousand cafes across Melbourne city.
I have only two days, and the best way to discover the best brews is by booking a walking tour with a local (the price starts from roughly 75 Australian dollars and can go up depending on the inclusions).
My tour starts in front of Tulip Coffee where I meet Monique Bayer, founder and owner of Walk Melbourne. As we begin with a single origin and a house blend espresso, I learn that Melbourne's coffee culture goes as far back as the 1950s (starting with Pellegrini Espresso Bar), following an inflow of Italian immigrants.
It is nearly impossible to walk in any part of the city without the familiar aroma of a flawlessly brewed espresso drifting down a laneway. Of the espressos I have tried, I prefer the house blend with a dash of milk over the single-origin that's popularly ordered as a 'short black.'
The coffee walk
Tasmanian-born Bayer individually helms about three tours a week and also creates tailored tours—her groups comprise no more than ten people. A café crawl for some coffee aficionado friends kickstarted the idea to create these walks in September 2012.
While I taste the single-origin espresso that is way stronger than I'm used to, Monique fills me in about the rising trend of filter coffee, which is one of the mildest ways to brew coffee. She promises to make me try one during the walk as there are various ways to filter.
Bayer's endless search for exceptional local alcoves and holes has led to discoveries such as Bean by Workshop Bros, noticeable only by a little overhead sign, and Industry Beans, which is in trend for its milk coffees especially the Aussie Flat Whites.
If you are on a paleo diet, go for butter coffee. Coffee with butter is said to augment vigour and motivation and is available at Patch Café in Richmond and Seedling in Flinders' Lane.
Our next stop is Maker, where I try the filter coffee; I go for the cold drip, a 12 to 24-hour drip-by-drip brewing process that extracts more essence from the beans and reduces bitterness.
The coffee tour has been all about caffeine-fuelled revelations, and my discovery of frozen coffee is perhaps the best one yet. It's not the iced coffee we know; here, the coffee is made the way you prefer and frozen till you want to drink it.
Clearly, not many cities take their coffee as earnestly as Melbourne.
(Awarded the "Best food writer in the country" by the Indian culinary forum, WACS and the ministry of Tourism, Rupali Dean writes on food and travel.)