“Vittoria! Comme stai?” Greets a smiling Italian as she stamps my loyalty card.
“Victoria, ca va? Medium today?” asks a dreadlocked Frenchman.
With three languages in one transaction, you would be forgiven for thinking I am at some sort of international trade fair. I’m actually just at my local coffee place, Nashi, getting my daily soy flat white.
Like many Melbournians, getting my morning coffee has become a bit of a ritual. As you walk into your ‘local’ and are greeted by name, you can’t help but feel welcome. I believe there is a certain smugness you are entitled to when your order is remembered without you having to utter a word. It is a reminder that you are a VIP, a status earned purely for showing up every day.
“Here you go Vittoria. Ciao!” Chirrups Marina, the friendliest Italian I’ve ever encountered.
Taking my prize I sip at the golden liquid. It is smooth and creamy with the familiar kick of caffeine. Ahh those first few sips are the best. I cradle the warm takeaway cup in my hand as I make my way back to the office. All around me people do the same, clutching their coffee and taking furtive gulps as if they are drawing on a lifesaving force. We each hold different coloured cups, each colour representing another cafe, another tribe. I am of the Nashi tribe. I have a brown cup.
What drew me to Nashi was the fact that they use Vita-soy and not Bonsoy. What kept me returning was the friendliness and the proximity to my office. If the barista’s change however, I would consider changing too. Within 5 mins walk from my office I estimate there to be no less than 14 places where I could get my coffee fix, and that doesn’t even include the Nespresso machine we have IN the office.
I wasn’t always a “soy flat white”. For years I was a “skinny latte” (that’s a “skim latte” for you Sydney siders). I made the switch to soy after receiving the devastating news that I was lactose intolerant. After the initial shock wore off, I got used to the taste of soy milk and joined a growing population of soy-milkers. Us “soy flat whites” are quite different from “soy cap” people, who prefer a dusting of chocolate on their coffee. I have a respect for “long blackers” or “espresso drinkers” but I actually don’t know many of them. They are hard-core coffee lovers who refuse to have the purity of the beans tainted by milk. Then there are “Chai latte” people who different all together. Pfft, please.
My coffee addiction started at university, but rather alarmingly, coffee drinkers are getting younger and younger. Walk into any Melbourne cafe and you will no doubt spot a yummy mummy with a fashionably dressed toddler who is sipping on a baby chino.
But coffee, like most addictions, is not cheap. If you spend $3 a day for coffee (usually more for soy milk), each work day you would spend around $780 a year. That’s a LOT of money for a hot drink. That is half the current market price of a gold bullion. Most of us think nothing of paying this. It has become socially acceptable, nay, normal behaviour to shell out this much. If you were less of a coffee snob and instead liked instant coffee (yuck!), for the same price you could purchase 55 jars of Nescafe Gold 500g, that’s around 27kg of coffee!
I have some friends currently participating in Live Below the Line. They are challenging themselves to live on $2 a day for 5 days to raise money and awareness for the Global Poverty Project. How they are going to do this I have no idea. But it most certainly means no coffee. Good luck to them I say! If you want to sponsor their efforts or get more info, check out https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/hanzbot.
