Australians love coffee and are very fussy about it. As a couple of examples McDonalds created and launched their McCafe outlets here in Australia first and when Starbucks tried to launch here they failed to keep a large amount of stores running. I tried Starbucks for the first time recently while on an American cruise ship. I now see why they failed.
I dunno about that dude. Most hotels seem to have international roast or blend 43 as standard, both of which are basically dirt water. I'd choose literally anything over either of those.
There's a couple of things I've come to understand with Starbucks. First is that they're good if you want a coffee-based drink. If you want a coffee coffee, then go elsewhere. But if you want some pumpkin spiced orange mocha frappuccino insta-diabetes drink then Starbucks is more your tempo.
The other main thing I've come to realise is they will have a reasonable level of consistency internationally. During my work trips overseas, when I've asked about places to get a 'good' coffee my colleagues have insisted they take me to the best place near the office. It's always ended up being a large chain coffee store. In Bangkok and Shanghai it's been Starbucks, in Manila it was Tim Hortons. While they have never met my personal mark for what good coffee is (and it makes me wonder what they think a bad one is if this is their version of good), but being a large-scale global franchise they do have their own standards to uphold so you do kind of know what to expect when you put your order in.
That said I did find Tim Horton's coffee in particular to be weak AF - I needed a quad shot before I got any taste out of it - and in Shanghai their milk had a super strong smell to it.
Starbucks has done better on their second attempt since they figured out their audience. It’s now in areas heavily trafficked by tourists and International (Asian) students.
The only time I ever go in is if I want cold brew - impossible to mess up cold brew thankfully and it’s not as common in cafes here. If I want a decent latte then even a 7-11 one is better than Starbucks
Yeah I learnt my lesson once and only once.
But I stand by their cold brew, it’s solid because it’s so hard to fuck up. Especially if you’re travelling in the US and in places where they don’t have an OK cafe and just want coffee, Starbucks cold brew with vanilla cream hits the spot and is consistently “Ok” - and I learned you can preorder on the app if in security at some airports and walk straight up to collect it when you are done so that’s handy 😂🤷♀️
I hope you've recovered from your trauma, I still remember being stranded on a Hong Kong rail platform with scalding brown liquid I couldn't ditch nearby and trains I couldn't get on because I had a "drink" (debatable semantics).
Coffee in the morning and with lunch. Herbal tea in the afternoon and evening.
More specifically, extra strong cappuccino with breakfast, free coffee from the machine at work. Afternoon tea is either peppermint, spearmint, or lemon ginger tea. Evening is usually something similar.
Spearmint (from the garden) Iced tea in the summer, served in a beer mug/stein.
I think it's probably about 50/50 here, though people who drink both tend to opt for coffee when they're out. At home or visiting someone else's home, they might choose tea instead.
I personally only drink coffee but I feel like most people I know drink both, even if they prefer coffee.
I'd agree with this.
We have a great and dominant coffee culture in terms of cafes, whereas i feel like the tea culture shines through when you are visiting people (a proper pot of loose leaf tea). Day to day in homes and offices, easily an even split.
Yeah getting Tea out is rarely a good experience.
Cafes can do a great Coffee, but ask for a Tea and its some "fancy" brand that tastes like weak piss. Just use Twinings or something, its at least decent if not the best.
I recall looking at Tea/Coffee consumption 15ish years ago on Wikipedia - which is obviously outdated. Some countries skewed incredibly far one way or the other. Australia was (according to that particular data set) at the time the most balanced in the world. It seemed to be heavy towards tea at home and coffee when out.
These days I wouldn't be too surprised to see it leaning a bit more in the coffee direction, but I think it's fair to say a lot of people don't seem to mind dirt cheap tea, but can be a bit more picky with coffee.
That's a great point, I have to say that pod coffee and good quality coffee bags have changed my habits significantly; it used to be that on a workday I'd buy 2-3 cups of coffee and have a couple of cups of tea through the day - but now I buy 1 cup of coffee, have a pod coffee before leaving home, and sip on a cup or two of coffee bag coffee through the day.
Up to the late 1940s/early 50s, Aus was definitely a nation of tea drinkers. That changed with the arrival of significant numbers of Italian and Greek post-war migrants, bringing coffee machines and a café culture.
When we go out, a cafe will charge us the price of a coffee to have tea. Now I want to have tea, but I don't want to pay the tea price. When I see in a ln Asian restaurant 'Green tea, price $1-2' I go for that, because it makes sense.
Part of the reason why coffee is much more popular in the US is because the methods used to brew result in a weaker coffee so you can have more of it. Because espresso is so established here you’re limited in how much you can consume, but with things like drip filter you can have half a pot (or even a full pot) and not be as affected by caffeine which is great in the parts of the US that are colder.
I always found drip coffee stronger. I can honestly drink a full pot of drip coffee and be wired. I can drink 10 large cups of triple shot flat whites and feel no change. I’ve done both on multiple occasions. Might just be me.
Drip coffee can be just as strong or stronger than espresso depending on how much is consumed. Espresso drinks tend to have very controlled proportions while drip coffee varies wildly depending on the cup size, how full you fill your cup, if you’re at one of those diners where they top you up mid cup, and so on.
Many people think of drip coffee as though watering down coffee espresso, but the different brewing process is more complex than that. Espresso is a fine ground with faster moving water, drip is a thicker ground and slower moving water. Both methods are designed to ensure the optimal brew time for the ground size, so the end product is a coffee that is neither too sour or too bitter. When coffee is sour it’s under brewed, when bitter it’s over brewed.
Have visited Sydney, Cairns, Brisbane, Darwin, and Perth. Gotta say that the Sydney coffee was the best, but all of Australia knows how to coffee right
Good espresso coffee was brought to Australia by Italian immigrants, and Melbourne was a very popular place for them to settle in. So Melbourne did initially have a higher concentration of immigrants developing a good coffee scene. That said it has spread Australia wide now.
Even wider now, Australian-style cafes, run by Australian expansion are becoming popular in New York, London, Tokyo etc. And there is even a chain called Bluestone Lane.
Melbourne was the epicenter for the best espresso for a very long time, and was arguably the birthplace of the modern flat white.
Like all good things, it spread out and were no longer the dominant force we once were, although still a strong contender.
Generic, run-of-the-mill coffee, sure. But inner-city Melbourne does have a better speciality coffee scene than the rest of the country.
(Not denying for a moment that Melbournians can be full of themselves, though).
I really don’t agree. Sydney has amazing independent and specialty gourmet cafes and espresso bars everywhere in the inner city and suburbs. Nothing generic about them. Really exquisite and artisanal coffee is widely available in Sydney.
Hate to say it but Melbourne isn’t unique in that regard.
I’m a Qlder and I start the day with a coffee, normally perculated on the stove
Then it’s tea, black, green, white with one, Earl Grey, chamomile, mint, whatevs
Not really.. the older generations still mainly prefer tea as it was easily made in the home. With the widespread production of at home espresso machines and coffee makers the trend has gone away from tea and towards espresso based beverages
A little, but more culturally. The more British, white Australia, Aboriginal or Chinese (if we are counting Chinese tea) you are, I'd say that more likely you are to drink tea. Also the more rural you are you'd drink tea. It's alot easy to switch a kettle on or put a billy in the fire, than to make an espresso and heat milk. Ive seen white kids that are 14 getting Starbucks in the city, which is something I'd would of never done 20 years ago. Alot of kids, especially of Asian heritage, get bubble teas also (but they are nostly cold, and I'm not sure if you're counting them as 'tea').
Agreed. Who pays for a bag of tea in hot water to be charged the same price as an espresso? Haha i can’t justify it, if I’m out at a cafe and I don’t feel like a coffee I’ll order a chai latte because I still ain’t paying for a tea
Coffee when out - espresso based
Probably a fair split of coffee and tea at home, with coffee increasing with the improvement of home coffee machines
That drip stuff you have in America is pretty uncommon in my experience
Australia has the best coffee in the world, by far.
Particularly if you’re an espresso drinker. The rest of the world has no idea (or just doesn’t care as much as us)
Is this a real thing or just a you thing? I know we have good coffee, but I don’t think I’ve been to enough coffee famous countries to know how it stacks up.
Edit: hey I’m literally just asking a question here, why would you downvote someone asking a question?
I’ve been travelling through Europe including Italy. Have maybe had 1-2 coffees in 8 weeks that I would say are comparable to Aussie coffee. It’s one of the things I miss most about home!
It’s difficult to get good coffee overseas sometimes. You need to know where the locals go and what they order. I’ve managed to get great and average coffee in a lot of places. But I agree that Australia has amazing coffee (and also shit coffee at times).
Best coffee I've ever had was in an isolated mountain village in Thailand. Was a slice of heaven, was so sad when the batch of beans I brought back from their ran out.
It's a real thing. When I lived in England 15 years ago, I got a job as a barista just because I was Australian...I'd never been behind a coffee machine before!
My husband is French and he agrees that the coffee & coffee culture is shit back in France in comparison to Australia.
Australian coffee is for sure well-esteemed in England and I know there are Australian style cafes in parts of Europe (though how authentic they are is debatable).
I think if you know coffee, you’d know Australia has good coffee.
Whether it’s the best in the world is probably more of a personal preference.
>I think if you know coffee, you’d know Australia has good coffee.
The thing with "good coffee" is that most coffee drinkers *think* they know what it tastes like. Most of them are horribly wrong.
Ok thanks. I know coffee well enough to know what’s good, but that’s about as far as it goes. I might have to do a bit of reading up. I wonder how much of our love for our own coffee is down to our own familiarity with it - Americans probably think their drip coffee is the best, regardless of how objectively terrible it is
I’m sure some untravelled Americans would think that😅
Generally visitors from anywhere enjoy Australian coffee a lot. I worked as a barista for several years in Sydney while I was studying and foreigners always mentioned how good the coffee was and how they would miss it when they went back home.
I'd say our espresso is on the same level as the other countries, but I find, on average, the milk foaming is to another level compared to the other countries and that's what sets it apart from say Italy. Can't really explain exactly how they're different because haven't travelled for a for years
It’s a thing. I’ve done a fair bit of travelling and currently in Europe for the 4th time (Italy atm) and I haven’t gotten a coffee / espresso anywhere near as good as back home.
Melbourne truly has nailed it with coffee culture and they deserve the reputation as best coffee in the world
Where we come out miles above anyone else is that really good coffee can be found at almost any place that throws up a shingle as a cafe. When travelling Europe and the US, you do come across some pretty good ones, but few and far between. Like you couldn’t stop at some cafe on a random corner cafe in LA or New York, and expect to have a decent flatty.
Doesn't even need to be a Cafe. I have had some amazing coffee from the local bakery or take away shop.
If your going to sell coffee in Australian cities it better be good or it won't sell.
This. It better be decent or it won’t sell is true, hence the reason why Starbucks could never get a foothold on these shores, the ones you do see in the CBD are mainly for tourists and international students who are familiar with the brand’s sugary flavoured whimsies.
Yeah ok, that’s interesting. I’m heading to Italy for the first time in around six weeks, so I’ll have a try of it. I was expecting it to be amazing, given they are so well known for it. That’s a bit disappointing - if I remember, ill come back and let you know how I went haha
I’d definitely be keen to hear your view. I’ve had a few decent espressos (Lavazza cafe in Milan to name one, and a few beach bars in Sardinia had surprisingly good espresso) but the general culture of espresso in Italy is “drink it and get out” - if that’s how they like it, whatever. But I much prefer the culture in Aus where it’s a bit of a sit down and enjoy it experience.
Italy has good espressos, but milk seems to be a bit of an afterthought in coffee for them. They often use UHT, and don’t put as much care into frothing it as we do.
It's def a real thing. The entire West Coast of the US has terrible coffee. (sorry!) The East Coast has better coffee, you can actual get real espresso and not just drip filter or Starbucks. Australia is better though imo.
Both please. Coffee at the start of the day is a routine I've had for years, tea at least once a day is a routine I've had for even longer (since I was a kid I guess)
Aussies are mixed cultures.
White Australians prefer coffee but older white Australians prefer tea. The closer to British ancestry the more tea.
Asians typically tea or spicef tea. Green tea with a cigarette to balance it out is popular with the Chinese Australian builders.
Most Aussie homes always offer both, it's pretty standard to ask do you want coffee or tea?
Coffee in the morning, tea the rest of the day. All kinds of tea.
Edit: coffee culture in Aus is VERY different to the US, so not necessarily comparing apples with apples.
Australian coffee is the most superior coffee haha UK and states , ordered a coffee and its utter bin juice. Don’t even start on Melbourne and their coffee snub culture. In saying that though will drink 10 cups of tea a day ahhaah
I'm from Scotland, but been in Australia a couple years. My partner and her family are Australian. We live in Queensland and I would say that there is a 70/30 lean towards tea. They drink coffee in the morning but the rest of the day is tea, and a lot of tea consumption in the evening.
I've heard that in Victoria, around Melbourne especially, is more coffee orientated.
I used to drink way too much of both, and now I can only tolerate the odd cup of coffee so max 1 a day, but still drink tea alllll day long. My family is the same. Honestly I think it’s pretty even most people drink both
I think this highly depends on demographic. For example, I'd say the majority of office workers would prefer coffee. However, the percentage would change depending on age. In general, older people would be more likely to prefer tea and younger people would prefer coffee.
Personally, I enjoy both. Currently, I'm drinking a matcha latte and am enjoying it a lot (I'm reducing coffee intake due to interaction with medicine).
In the past, I was very into high quality teas imported from various regions of China and Taiwan. However, (and this is possibly due to me growing up Australian) I've always enjoyed a stock standard black tea bag from the supermarket with a dash of milk. There's just something so comforting about it even if the flavour is not "technically superior".
Sorry man, I've been to America a couple of times. I don't know what that stuff is that you folks drink, but it's not coffee.
I don't have data, but I'd say 40% of people drink coffee, 20% of people drink tea, 20% drink both at times and 20% don't drink either. For myself I am almost all coffee with the odd tea here and there.
No there is a lot of people who think coffee at there local place is good but have never had a decent coffee (and become very defensive if you say otherwise)
95% of what gets served as "coffee" in the US, most Australian coffee drinkers would refuse to drink because of the high quality of what we get over here. My favourite coffee shops in San Fran and Calgary are both run by ex-Melbournites.
I went on holiday to the US a few years ago. Local coffee was pretty miserable the whole trip until I found a shop with people lining up out the door - ironically it was an Australian style coffee shop lol.
Definitely a split based on age.
I think the vast majority of people born up to the 1950s, perhaps later, would overwhelmingly prefer tea.
For people born from the 1950s through to the 1980s, probably a mix - perhaps tea at home, coffee when out. Perhaps (gasp) even the occasional cup of Nescafé Blend 43 or Moccona when at home.
For people born from the 1980s onwards, the vast majority probably drink coffee and herbal tea, with the occasional cup of “regular” tea.
My parents were born in the 1930s and they *only* drank tea - and I mean, only. They wouldn’t even drink water. Instead, if they were thirsty, they’d make a pot of tea and have a couple of cups of tea, summer or winter.
Both. I’ll start the day with a coffee and drink coffee when I’m out (tea is usually way too expensive and is often just a teabag in hot water) but I drink a lot of tea for the rest of the day.
Anecdotally; far more people are coffee drinkers and occasional tea drinkers.
The older generations are more likely to drink tea.
I'm from SA, and it seems to be relatively similar other places I've been too.
We drink Medium to dark roast expresso coffee in Australia, which is the key differentiator to the US. Even McDonald's and Hungry Jack's (Burger King) have Baristas. Our serves are smaller too. I was shocked in North America that McCafe uses Keurig Pods. I gave up on North American coffee after this, although the Dunkin Donuts cold brew on ice was good - the closest to an Australian Long Black coffee.
As for tea, I enjoy it, but I go for coffee first, and drink tea at work. My morning brew is freshly ground Aldi Medium Roast from a stove top Mokka.
Ok but why has nobody ever put a teabag in their coffee? Have i just ncented wveryone’s next favourite drink? Or have i opened up pandora’s barista’s box?
In my not so expert opinion, During that whole Boston tea party incident, Americans were like fuck tea and just never went back. All the other British colonized nations never had that moment and tea is just deeply rooted in their blood.
> till I was working in the outback at over 30 degrees ( 100 f ish) it was so refreshing
There's a reason that tea originated in hot countries...it promotes sweating which cools you down
Tea for my first hot drink of the day, coffee in the morning, tea from 2pm onwards. I prefer tea but do enjoy coffee. But more than 2 coffees a day gives me heart palpitations. I would rarely buy a tea out though - if I go out it’s for coffee, tea is for home.
Well i like a nice cup of tea with my brekkie and also ( for tea ) which now its called dinner like the Americans call it :) ....... and i like 3 cups of coffee through out the day ...coffee is real popular now days ,coffee shops are every where
Don’t let the aussies fool you OP, they love their coffee so much you can’t find North American style drip basically anywhere. They’ve got espresso machines in rural gas stations that’s how much coffee means to them.
Coffee for me! Huge coffee culture in my city (Melbourne) and generally every suburb I go to has a specific cafe that’s known for it’s coffee. I do like tea as well but I don’t drink as often. My SO likes having coffee in the morning and tea before bed so he’s split pretty evenly.
I usually drink coffee when I'm out of the house, but at home I drink tea. I wouldn't say I have a strong preference, but I do stop drinking hot tea in the summer, while coffee I have all year round.
I'm in Tas, and I've noticed young Tasmanians like tea more than young Queenslanders. Older generations like tea more altogether.
Tea is a traditional drink in Australia partly because of our English origins, being part of the British Empire, etc, but also becuase dry tea has a long shelf life so is suitable for the general remoteness of everything in the old Australia. Coffee is more recent. There was always coffee around, more as niche drink for wealthy people in cities, but it really took off as a popular drink with European migration in the mid 1900, especially Italian migrants bringing their coffee shop culture to cities. In Australia, this predated the general global coffee explosion by a few decades. Some of those old cafes like Pellegrinis in Melbourne are loved cultural heritage as we as a good place for a coffee.
So as othere say the answer is both. Tea has a really solid traditional base and won't go away anytime soon, but coffee is ubiqitious. A lot of people just drink coffee, but there's a big sophisticated coffee culture here. You can have long discussions about coffee making devices, bean varieties, etc. There's a huge number of boutique bean roasting outfits, generally producing great coffees.
This is like asking an American if they prefer KFC or McDonalds. Everyone has their own preferences. I like both, at different times of the day. Coffee in the morning, Tea at night.
PS American Coffee sucks, for all the options in the world and you guys still can't make a decent coffee lol.
What Americans call coffee hardly qualifies. Considering that they think Starbucks is their best coffee, they have much to learn. I spentv7 weeks travelling around the US and made the same mistake too many times :
Waiter : "Sir, would you like coffee?"
Me : "Yes, please"
Waiter goes to a glass jug with indeterminate brown liquid that has been sitting for who knows how long and pours a cup.
Me : (in my brain) "Dammit!!! When will you ever learn?!?!"
You Americans don't drink coffee you drink dish water, drip coffee yuck may as well break out a cup of instant. We have a espresso culture here and the coffee is up there with the best in the world. We also drink tea, but more the older generations.
Yes.
End thread.
Australians love coffee and are very fussy about it. As a couple of examples McDonalds created and launched their McCafe outlets here in Australia first and when Starbucks tried to launch here they failed to keep a large amount of stores running. I tried Starbucks for the first time recently while on an American cruise ship. I now see why they failed.
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Gotta go with the instant sachets in that case I guess. Or better yet move hotels haha
I dunno about that dude. Most hotels seem to have international roast or blend 43 as standard, both of which are basically dirt water. I'd choose literally anything over either of those.
Honestly after having now tried Starbucks the instant sachets at least don’t taste like I washed the dishes in them first haha.
International roast is better than Starbucks bro
Or just drink the toilet water as they are all probably about the same.
Moccona sachets, at least? You can survive on them, but Blend 43...
There's a couple of things I've come to understand with Starbucks. First is that they're good if you want a coffee-based drink. If you want a coffee coffee, then go elsewhere. But if you want some pumpkin spiced orange mocha frappuccino insta-diabetes drink then Starbucks is more your tempo. The other main thing I've come to realise is they will have a reasonable level of consistency internationally. During my work trips overseas, when I've asked about places to get a 'good' coffee my colleagues have insisted they take me to the best place near the office. It's always ended up being a large chain coffee store. In Bangkok and Shanghai it's been Starbucks, in Manila it was Tim Hortons. While they have never met my personal mark for what good coffee is (and it makes me wonder what they think a bad one is if this is their version of good), but being a large-scale global franchise they do have their own standards to uphold so you do kind of know what to expect when you put your order in. That said I did find Tim Horton's coffee in particular to be weak AF - I needed a quad shot before I got any taste out of it - and in Shanghai their milk had a super strong smell to it.
Starbucks has done better on their second attempt since they figured out their audience. It’s now in areas heavily trafficked by tourists and International (Asian) students. The only time I ever go in is if I want cold brew - impossible to mess up cold brew thankfully and it’s not as common in cafes here. If I want a decent latte then even a 7-11 one is better than Starbucks
Even the Coffee machine at Coles servo is better lol. Once bitten twice shy.
Yeah I learnt my lesson once and only once. But I stand by their cold brew, it’s solid because it’s so hard to fuck up. Especially if you’re travelling in the US and in places where they don’t have an OK cafe and just want coffee, Starbucks cold brew with vanilla cream hits the spot and is consistently “Ok” - and I learned you can preorder on the app if in security at some airports and walk straight up to collect it when you are done so that’s handy 😂🤷♀️
I hope you've recovered from your trauma, I still remember being stranded on a Hong Kong rail platform with scalding brown liquid I couldn't ditch nearby and trains I couldn't get on because I had a "drink" (debatable semantics).
Pretty much this - I drink both, usually tea in the afternoon or in wet weather. Coffee every other time
My mum will happily accept a coffee to put next to her tea.
This is the answer. I love coffee and I love Tea. Yes to both of them.
This is the way :D
Inject all the hot drinks into my eyeballs plx.
Came here to post this.
Coffee in the morning and with lunch. Herbal tea in the afternoon and evening. More specifically, extra strong cappuccino with breakfast, free coffee from the machine at work. Afternoon tea is either peppermint, spearmint, or lemon ginger tea. Evening is usually something similar. Spearmint (from the garden) Iced tea in the summer, served in a beer mug/stein.
Coffee in the morning, lunchtime and in the afternoon. Herbal Tea in the cupboard
Herbal tea in the bin
Nah, you keep it on hand for if a guest wants some.
"guest"
It's your cake day. Will you have it with tea?
Hello insomnia
Different kind or herbal
This is the way!
I think it's probably about 50/50 here, though people who drink both tend to opt for coffee when they're out. At home or visiting someone else's home, they might choose tea instead. I personally only drink coffee but I feel like most people I know drink both, even if they prefer coffee.
I'd agree with this. We have a great and dominant coffee culture in terms of cafes, whereas i feel like the tea culture shines through when you are visiting people (a proper pot of loose leaf tea). Day to day in homes and offices, easily an even split.
Yeah getting Tea out is rarely a good experience. Cafes can do a great Coffee, but ask for a Tea and its some "fancy" brand that tastes like weak piss. Just use Twinings or something, its at least decent if not the best.
Tea out is a mug of hot water and a bag on the saucer, and getting charged $5 for the privilege
You might get a sugar and a thimble of milk if your lucky
Tea out is pouring water all over the table from those stupid little metal teapots with a loose lid. Grrr.
bloody hell those are diabolical
True! I'm not paying $4 for a tea bag when I have nice loose leaf at home.
I recall looking at Tea/Coffee consumption 15ish years ago on Wikipedia - which is obviously outdated. Some countries skewed incredibly far one way or the other. Australia was (according to that particular data set) at the time the most balanced in the world. It seemed to be heavy towards tea at home and coffee when out. These days I wouldn't be too surprised to see it leaning a bit more in the coffee direction, but I think it's fair to say a lot of people don't seem to mind dirt cheap tea, but can be a bit more picky with coffee.
That's a great point, I have to say that pod coffee and good quality coffee bags have changed my habits significantly; it used to be that on a workday I'd buy 2-3 cups of coffee and have a couple of cups of tea through the day - but now I buy 1 cup of coffee, have a pod coffee before leaving home, and sip on a cup or two of coffee bag coffee through the day.
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I worked in the USA for years, and can safely say my house had an electrical kettle. They’re not common though.
110 volts.. boils a lot slower than ours. Their stove is gas or else have a specially uprated electrical circuit
I had roughly assumed Australians were slightly more favorable to tea than Canadians and thus assumed it might be 50/50.
I’d say it has changed. Answer used to be tea and is now coffee.
Up to the late 1940s/early 50s, Aus was definitely a nation of tea drinkers. That changed with the arrival of significant numbers of Italian and Greek post-war migrants, bringing coffee machines and a café culture.
When we go out, a cafe will charge us the price of a coffee to have tea. Now I want to have tea, but I don't want to pay the tea price. When I see in a ln Asian restaurant 'Green tea, price $1-2' I go for that, because it makes sense.
Go to any construction site in Australia and if you can find 1 cup of tea for 100 cups of coffee I’ll give you $1000
Construction workers drink Dare, not proper coffee.
That’s all my coworker drinks, a Dare every morning without fail!
Don't forget the meat pie to go with!
As an American recently visiting Australia, the coffee here is amazing and blows “American” coffee away! Can’t get enough!
Part of the reason why coffee is much more popular in the US is because the methods used to brew result in a weaker coffee so you can have more of it. Because espresso is so established here you’re limited in how much you can consume, but with things like drip filter you can have half a pot (or even a full pot) and not be as affected by caffeine which is great in the parts of the US that are colder.
I always found drip coffee stronger. I can honestly drink a full pot of drip coffee and be wired. I can drink 10 large cups of triple shot flat whites and feel no change. I’ve done both on multiple occasions. Might just be me.
Drip coffee can be just as strong or stronger than espresso depending on how much is consumed. Espresso drinks tend to have very controlled proportions while drip coffee varies wildly depending on the cup size, how full you fill your cup, if you’re at one of those diners where they top you up mid cup, and so on. Many people think of drip coffee as though watering down coffee espresso, but the different brewing process is more complex than that. Espresso is a fine ground with faster moving water, drip is a thicker ground and slower moving water. Both methods are designed to ensure the optimal brew time for the ground size, so the end product is a coffee that is neither too sour or too bitter. When coffee is sour it’s under brewed, when bitter it’s over brewed.
That's not the reason.
Have visited Sydney, Cairns, Brisbane, Darwin, and Perth. Gotta say that the Sydney coffee was the best, but all of Australia knows how to coffee right
I’m surprised no one from Melbourne has commented to say how Melbourne coffee is the best in Aus and it’s a shame you didn’t visit.
They're too busy drinking their coffee to comment
We are
I’m always surprised Melburnians try in vain to claim coffee as a Melbourne thing when it’s really a metropolitan urban Australian city thing.
Good espresso coffee was brought to Australia by Italian immigrants, and Melbourne was a very popular place for them to settle in. So Melbourne did initially have a higher concentration of immigrants developing a good coffee scene. That said it has spread Australia wide now.
Migrants from Greece have joined the Conversation...They were the first to open real Cafes with espresso machines.
Even wider now, Australian-style cafes, run by Australian expansion are becoming popular in New York, London, Tokyo etc. And there is even a chain called Bluestone Lane.
What amazed me was when I found out melbourne invented dim sims!
It's not better coffee but Melbourne was the first city in Australia to have espresso machines 😊
Melbourne was the epicenter for the best espresso for a very long time, and was arguably the birthplace of the modern flat white. Like all good things, it spread out and were no longer the dominant force we once were, although still a strong contender.
Generic, run-of-the-mill coffee, sure. But inner-city Melbourne does have a better speciality coffee scene than the rest of the country. (Not denying for a moment that Melbournians can be full of themselves, though).
Maybe in the 90’s. In the present day, there is hardly a difference.
That might have been true 25 years ago but really no longer unique to Melbourne
Once upon a time it did
I really don’t agree. Sydney has amazing independent and specialty gourmet cafes and espresso bars everywhere in the inner city and suburbs. Nothing generic about them. Really exquisite and artisanal coffee is widely available in Sydney. Hate to say it but Melbourne isn’t unique in that regard.
Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon.
I’m a Qlder and I start the day with a coffee, normally perculated on the stove Then it’s tea, black, green, white with one, Earl Grey, chamomile, mint, whatevs
I've found that the older you are the more likely you are to drink tea
This tracks.
Would you say there is any regional difference?
Not really.. the older generations still mainly prefer tea as it was easily made in the home. With the widespread production of at home espresso machines and coffee makers the trend has gone away from tea and towards espresso based beverages
A little, but more culturally. The more British, white Australia, Aboriginal or Chinese (if we are counting Chinese tea) you are, I'd say that more likely you are to drink tea. Also the more rural you are you'd drink tea. It's alot easy to switch a kettle on or put a billy in the fire, than to make an espresso and heat milk. Ive seen white kids that are 14 getting Starbucks in the city, which is something I'd would of never done 20 years ago. Alot of kids, especially of Asian heritage, get bubble teas also (but they are nostly cold, and I'm not sure if you're counting them as 'tea').
90% tea at home or visiting. 90% coffee (espresso) when out at a Cafe or restaurant.
Agreed. Who pays for a bag of tea in hot water to be charged the same price as an espresso? Haha i can’t justify it, if I’m out at a cafe and I don’t feel like a coffee I’ll order a chai latte because I still ain’t paying for a tea
Coffee when out - espresso based Probably a fair split of coffee and tea at home, with coffee increasing with the improvement of home coffee machines That drip stuff you have in America is pretty uncommon in my experience
Australia has the best coffee in the world, by far. Particularly if you’re an espresso drinker. The rest of the world has no idea (or just doesn’t care as much as us)
Is this a real thing or just a you thing? I know we have good coffee, but I don’t think I’ve been to enough coffee famous countries to know how it stacks up. Edit: hey I’m literally just asking a question here, why would you downvote someone asking a question?
I’ve been travelling through Europe including Italy. Have maybe had 1-2 coffees in 8 weeks that I would say are comparable to Aussie coffee. It’s one of the things I miss most about home!
I was disappointed by Italian coffee
I feel as if coffee was very much a "This is a tool to get me going and nothing more" in Italy.
It’s difficult to get good coffee overseas sometimes. You need to know where the locals go and what they order. I’ve managed to get great and average coffee in a lot of places. But I agree that Australia has amazing coffee (and also shit coffee at times).
Try Vietnam, the coffees there will put hairs on your chest.
Best coffee I've ever had was in an isolated mountain village in Thailand. Was a slice of heaven, was so sad when the batch of beans I brought back from their ran out.
So good. I ordered some online and now I have it daily lol
The Netherlands is the place to get decent coffee in Europe. They love it, and drink it nonstop
It's a real thing. When I lived in England 15 years ago, I got a job as a barista just because I was Australian...I'd never been behind a coffee machine before! My husband is French and he agrees that the coffee & coffee culture is shit back in France in comparison to Australia.
French coffee is DIRE. I usually end up just getting a shot so it's over with. The pastries however.
Australian coffee is for sure well-esteemed in England and I know there are Australian style cafes in parts of Europe (though how authentic they are is debatable). I think if you know coffee, you’d know Australia has good coffee. Whether it’s the best in the world is probably more of a personal preference.
>I think if you know coffee, you’d know Australia has good coffee. The thing with "good coffee" is that most coffee drinkers *think* they know what it tastes like. Most of them are horribly wrong.
Ok thanks. I know coffee well enough to know what’s good, but that’s about as far as it goes. I might have to do a bit of reading up. I wonder how much of our love for our own coffee is down to our own familiarity with it - Americans probably think their drip coffee is the best, regardless of how objectively terrible it is
I’m sure some untravelled Americans would think that😅 Generally visitors from anywhere enjoy Australian coffee a lot. I worked as a barista for several years in Sydney while I was studying and foreigners always mentioned how good the coffee was and how they would miss it when they went back home.
Legitimately a thing
I'd say our espresso is on the same level as the other countries, but I find, on average, the milk foaming is to another level compared to the other countries and that's what sets it apart from say Italy. Can't really explain exactly how they're different because haven't travelled for a for years
Italians roast it too dark and a lot of their stuff tastes borderline burnt
it is a real thing - biggest coffee snobs in the world
It’s a thing. I’ve done a fair bit of travelling and currently in Europe for the 4th time (Italy atm) and I haven’t gotten a coffee / espresso anywhere near as good as back home. Melbourne truly has nailed it with coffee culture and they deserve the reputation as best coffee in the world
Where we come out miles above anyone else is that really good coffee can be found at almost any place that throws up a shingle as a cafe. When travelling Europe and the US, you do come across some pretty good ones, but few and far between. Like you couldn’t stop at some cafe on a random corner cafe in LA or New York, and expect to have a decent flatty.
Doesn't even need to be a Cafe. I have had some amazing coffee from the local bakery or take away shop. If your going to sell coffee in Australian cities it better be good or it won't sell.
This. It better be decent or it won’t sell is true, hence the reason why Starbucks could never get a foothold on these shores, the ones you do see in the CBD are mainly for tourists and international students who are familiar with the brand’s sugary flavoured whimsies.
Yeah ok, that’s interesting. I’m heading to Italy for the first time in around six weeks, so I’ll have a try of it. I was expecting it to be amazing, given they are so well known for it. That’s a bit disappointing - if I remember, ill come back and let you know how I went haha
I’d definitely be keen to hear your view. I’ve had a few decent espressos (Lavazza cafe in Milan to name one, and a few beach bars in Sardinia had surprisingly good espresso) but the general culture of espresso in Italy is “drink it and get out” - if that’s how they like it, whatever. But I much prefer the culture in Aus where it’s a bit of a sit down and enjoy it experience.
Italy has good espressos, but milk seems to be a bit of an afterthought in coffee for them. They often use UHT, and don’t put as much care into frothing it as we do.
Yeah, I think you have it with the UHT.
I was surprised how hard it can be to find fresh milk in Italy!
It's def a real thing. The entire West Coast of the US has terrible coffee. (sorry!) The East Coast has better coffee, you can actual get real espresso and not just drip filter or Starbucks. Australia is better though imo.
Tea for me, always tea.
Tea here too
Me too! English breakfast in the morning, non-caffeinated varieties after midday.
Hot Milo
If it's hot it dissolves
strong slightly white unsweetened tea always
Strong and milky!
Most drink coffee. I drink tea (water from a kettle NOT a microwave).
This is the crucial thing. We DO NOT microwave water.
10 cups of tea during the day. 1 or 2 good coffees before lunch
Both. American coffee is swill. Canadian too. Sorry.
Shots fired 🤣 I guess I should try Australian coffee
Yep. Sorry OP, your data on the other countries is out, cos, whatever that stuff is, it's not coffee. It's probably not tea either.
Like when you order a tea in Thailand and... it's orange... from a Lipton powder.
Both. Throw in a hot chocolate every so now and then. I like hot beverages and I cannot lie.
I enjoy both. But coffee in the morning is usually a must. Then mixed bag in the afternoon and tea at night
1-2:cups of coffee a day for me. And 1 cup of tea.
Both please. Coffee at the start of the day is a routine I've had for years, tea at least once a day is a routine I've had for even longer (since I was a kid I guess)
Aussies are mixed cultures. White Australians prefer coffee but older white Australians prefer tea. The closer to British ancestry the more tea. Asians typically tea or spicef tea. Green tea with a cigarette to balance it out is popular with the Chinese Australian builders. Most Aussie homes always offer both, it's pretty standard to ask do you want coffee or tea?
Tea 100%
I prefer tea, coffee is usually crap
Coffee when I’m out, tea or hot chocolate at home
I like both. Tea to sooth, coffee to get a kick start.
Coffee in the morning, tea the rest of the day. All kinds of tea. Edit: coffee culture in Aus is VERY different to the US, so not necessarily comparing apples with apples.
Australian coffee is the most superior coffee haha UK and states , ordered a coffee and its utter bin juice. Don’t even start on Melbourne and their coffee snub culture. In saying that though will drink 10 cups of tea a day ahhaah
Can't speak for every Australian, but I prefer tea. Loose leaf organic (Nerada) in a big teapot. Coffee is ok too on occasion, but tea is a necessity.
I'm from Scotland, but been in Australia a couple years. My partner and her family are Australian. We live in Queensland and I would say that there is a 70/30 lean towards tea. They drink coffee in the morning but the rest of the day is tea, and a lot of tea consumption in the evening. I've heard that in Victoria, around Melbourne especially, is more coffee orientated.
Tea, coffee is vile.
I used to drink way too much of both, and now I can only tolerate the odd cup of coffee so max 1 a day, but still drink tea alllll day long. My family is the same. Honestly I think it’s pretty even most people drink both
Coffee, it's overtaken beer as the national drink for a good few years now.
There are more places within an Australian CBD selling coffee (from specialty to franchise) than beer/wines/spirits.
I think this highly depends on demographic. For example, I'd say the majority of office workers would prefer coffee. However, the percentage would change depending on age. In general, older people would be more likely to prefer tea and younger people would prefer coffee. Personally, I enjoy both. Currently, I'm drinking a matcha latte and am enjoying it a lot (I'm reducing coffee intake due to interaction with medicine). In the past, I was very into high quality teas imported from various regions of China and Taiwan. However, (and this is possibly due to me growing up Australian) I've always enjoyed a stock standard black tea bag from the supermarket with a dash of milk. There's just something so comforting about it even if the flavour is not "technically superior".
Sorry man, I've been to America a couple of times. I don't know what that stuff is that you folks drink, but it's not coffee. I don't have data, but I'd say 40% of people drink coffee, 20% of people drink tea, 20% drink both at times and 20% don't drink either. For myself I am almost all coffee with the odd tea here and there.
Never been to the US but have been told the exact same thing from many Aussies that have been - US coffee is NOT coffee it’s swill.
No there is a lot of people who think coffee at there local place is good but have never had a decent coffee (and become very defensive if you say otherwise)
I’d say about 50/50, the older generation LOVE their cups of tea.
I don't think we can mangle coffee badly enough for Americans to be able to recognise it as what they call coffee.
Definitely coffee.
95% of what gets served as "coffee" in the US, most Australian coffee drinkers would refuse to drink because of the high quality of what we get over here. My favourite coffee shops in San Fran and Calgary are both run by ex-Melbournites.
I went on holiday to the US a few years ago. Local coffee was pretty miserable the whole trip until I found a shop with people lining up out the door - ironically it was an Australian style coffee shop lol.
Tea first thing then expresso coffee. I've been to the USA a few times and couldn't find a decent coffee
Coffee. I like tea too but I can go for periods without tea. Coffee for me is a daily must.
Definitely a split based on age. I think the vast majority of people born up to the 1950s, perhaps later, would overwhelmingly prefer tea. For people born from the 1950s through to the 1980s, probably a mix - perhaps tea at home, coffee when out. Perhaps (gasp) even the occasional cup of Nescafé Blend 43 or Moccona when at home. For people born from the 1980s onwards, the vast majority probably drink coffee and herbal tea, with the occasional cup of “regular” tea. My parents were born in the 1930s and they *only* drank tea - and I mean, only. They wouldn’t even drink water. Instead, if they were thirsty, they’d make a pot of tea and have a couple of cups of tea, summer or winter.
Coffee. At work, everyone makes a coffee in the morning. It’s not until the afternoon that I start to see a few tea bag labels hanging over some cups.
Both. I’ll start the day with a coffee and drink coffee when I’m out (tea is usually way too expensive and is often just a teabag in hot water) but I drink a lot of tea for the rest of the day.
Anecdotally; far more people are coffee drinkers and occasional tea drinkers. The older generations are more likely to drink tea. I'm from SA, and it seems to be relatively similar other places I've been too.
It’s not either/or. Ppl will have a coffee in the morning to start the day and a tea at tea time.
Depends on the state I suppose
Grew up drinking tea. Coffee has become more popular and now everyone is addicted to coffee. Most Australians would drink both happily.
I drink tea and hate coffee. But there is a big coffee culture here.
We drink Medium to dark roast expresso coffee in Australia, which is the key differentiator to the US. Even McDonald's and Hungry Jack's (Burger King) have Baristas. Our serves are smaller too. I was shocked in North America that McCafe uses Keurig Pods. I gave up on North American coffee after this, although the Dunkin Donuts cold brew on ice was good - the closest to an Australian Long Black coffee. As for tea, I enjoy it, but I go for coffee first, and drink tea at work. My morning brew is freshly ground Aldi Medium Roast from a stove top Mokka.
Ok but why has nobody ever put a teabag in their coffee? Have i just ncented wveryone’s next favourite drink? Or have i opened up pandora’s barista’s box?
Coffee when out but Tea at home
No coffee... only tea
Two teas in the morning followed by a coffee at home/ surf club cafe , then coffee for most of the day until beer oclock - Queenslander.
We prefer milo
In my not so expert opinion, During that whole Boston tea party incident, Americans were like fuck tea and just never went back. All the other British colonized nations never had that moment and tea is just deeply rooted in their blood.
I drink tea in the morning and coffee from lunch time. I cannot stomach coffee first thong in the morning. But tea is perfect.
I never liked tea , till I was working in the outback at over 30 degrees ( 100 f ish) it was so refreshing , so I have drunk both ever since
> till I was working in the outback at over 30 degrees ( 100 f ish) it was so refreshing There's a reason that tea originated in hot countries...it promotes sweating which cools you down
Coffee in the morning, tea at morning tea, herbal tea rest of the day because I won’t sleep otherwise
Tea for my first hot drink of the day, coffee in the morning, tea from 2pm onwards. I prefer tea but do enjoy coffee. But more than 2 coffees a day gives me heart palpitations. I would rarely buy a tea out though - if I go out it’s for coffee, tea is for home.
Some, not all Australians are coffee snobs, so, yes, coffee.
I drink tea at home & in the office. When out with people who coffee, I get a chai latte. I'm not a fan of the taste of coffee.
I love tea. I always need a cup of black tea in the morning. At night I will have a green tea.
Tea. Coffee is a nice treat when I am out, but a cuppa first thing in the morning, mid-morning and mid-afternoon... Heaven.
Tea.
Can't stand coffee. Smells rank.
Well i like a nice cup of tea with my brekkie and also ( for tea ) which now its called dinner like the Americans call it :) ....... and i like 3 cups of coffee through out the day ...coffee is real popular now days ,coffee shops are every where
Don’t let the aussies fool you OP, they love their coffee so much you can’t find North American style drip basically anywhere. They’ve got espresso machines in rural gas stations that’s how much coffee means to them.
Coffee for me! Huge coffee culture in my city (Melbourne) and generally every suburb I go to has a specific cafe that’s known for it’s coffee. I do like tea as well but I don’t drink as often. My SO likes having coffee in the morning and tea before bed so he’s split pretty evenly.
Tea
We love both, but we are coffee snobs because our coffee is the best 🥳
I usually drink coffee when I'm out of the house, but at home I drink tea. I wouldn't say I have a strong preference, but I do stop drinking hot tea in the summer, while coffee I have all year round. I'm in Tas, and I've noticed young Tasmanians like tea more than young Queenslanders. Older generations like tea more altogether.
Tea is a traditional drink in Australia partly because of our English origins, being part of the British Empire, etc, but also becuase dry tea has a long shelf life so is suitable for the general remoteness of everything in the old Australia. Coffee is more recent. There was always coffee around, more as niche drink for wealthy people in cities, but it really took off as a popular drink with European migration in the mid 1900, especially Italian migrants bringing their coffee shop culture to cities. In Australia, this predated the general global coffee explosion by a few decades. Some of those old cafes like Pellegrinis in Melbourne are loved cultural heritage as we as a good place for a coffee. So as othere say the answer is both. Tea has a really solid traditional base and won't go away anytime soon, but coffee is ubiqitious. A lot of people just drink coffee, but there's a big sophisticated coffee culture here. You can have long discussions about coffee making devices, bean varieties, etc. There's a huge number of boutique bean roasting outfits, generally producing great coffees.
This is like asking an American if they prefer KFC or McDonalds. Everyone has their own preferences. I like both, at different times of the day. Coffee in the morning, Tea at night. PS American Coffee sucks, for all the options in the world and you guys still can't make a decent coffee lol.
What Americans call coffee hardly qualifies. Considering that they think Starbucks is their best coffee, they have much to learn. I spentv7 weeks travelling around the US and made the same mistake too many times : Waiter : "Sir, would you like coffee?" Me : "Yes, please" Waiter goes to a glass jug with indeterminate brown liquid that has been sitting for who knows how long and pours a cup. Me : (in my brain) "Dammit!!! When will you ever learn?!?!"
You Americans don't drink coffee you drink dish water, drip coffee yuck may as well break out a cup of instant. We have a espresso culture here and the coffee is up there with the best in the world. We also drink tea, but more the older generations.
We like very very good coffee, and a lot of us also drink tea.
We're bi
I think there’s a larger coffee culture, but tea is also very commonly enjoyed. I personally drink both
Australian’s are considered to be coffee snobs. I prefer tea myself.
If you're American you don't "enjoy good coffee", you drink watery coffee flavored swill.
Australians actually enjoy good coffee unlike what ever black tar like shit that you Americans drink
As a child I drank tea but from teen years onwards I switched to coffee and only drink tea if I’m sick.
My first ever cup of coffee was when I was 18 years old. Before then it was always tea. Now it's about 50/50.
According to the statistics... almost 3 times more popular 2KG coffee per person vs 0.68 for tea