Coffee Makers

COMEDIAN DAVID SMIEDT TAKES AN IRREVERENT, BUT APPRECIATIVE, LOOK AT THE CLASSIC THINGS THAT DEFINE YOU-BEAUT AUSSIE LIFE

- David Smiedt

FOR THE FIRST two-thirds of Australia’s colonial existence, few items tethered us to the motherland like tea. It was as if we could literally ingest Britain, so much so that in many parts of the country the word came to signify not just the beverage but an entire meal. As in: “A roast and two veg is me favourite tea.”

Then, three things happened. In 1928, Australia’s first commercial espresso machine was installed at Cafe Florentine in Melbourne; then, after World War II, coffee import controls were relaxed; and later still, from the 1950s, successive waves of Italian and Greek immigrants brought their caffeinated habits to our shores. Flavour aside, java sharpened our focus and jump-started our hearts in a way Lady and Earl Grey never could. It was new. It was different. It was that chicest of all middle-class aspirations: continental!

This burgeoning taste for a good cup of Joe neatly coincided with the expansion of Australian suburbia. As we moved further away from the industrialised inner cities, the local Italian cafe was no longer just a leisurely stroll away. So coffee became a domestic affair – one that had the dedicated hardware to boot.