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I kinda think of it like this - it’s like wine or bread in Europe, eg France with bread or Italy with wine: the standard day to day stuff is noticeably better than what we get here at the same level. Of course you can now get a better loaf of bread from a specialist artisan baker in the UK vs a boggo bakery in France, but the main thing you notice is that a baguette that costs a euro from an entirely standard bakery in France is a world apart from the equivalent in the uk. Same goes for drinking the cheapest/average wine in a normal cafe or bar in Italy vs the UK. I’d happily order a wine in an Italian cafe without much thought, but I’d probably be a lot more trepidatious ordering one at a standard street corner cafe in the UK.
Good bread, wine or coffee tend to be the exception in the UK, compared to them being the standard over there. Or at least the baseline is a lot higher.
So of course the €1 Italian espresso isn’t going to be world class, but at least for me it never fails to surprise me how reliable and drinkable it is - which is an experience completely different to buying coffee in the UK.
Nef-
Bingo.
You can find the best stuff here in the UK if you know where to look, but generally, in any random shop in France, Italy, Spain, etc you will find better stuff for much less.
I don't know why I mentioned France. Nothing is open there, ever :)
Melbourne is like that - I remember walking into some random suburban bakery and getting a better cappucino from there than I'd had in any chain cafe in the UK anywhere in 10 years.
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So true, there's real knowledge about what's good and what isn't in those countries... In Spain food is very egalitarian, you don't have to be rich to eat well, everyone eats the same things, rich and poor...
When I was in Brixton I'd go to one of the many Portuguese cafes and enjoy a £1 espresso with a £1 cake, delicious and way less than half the price of any of the third wave places... In Spain the coffee will cost you €1 and they'll give you the cake for free! I don't know how they stay open... But if your coffee is shit you'll go out of business, simple as that...
The specialty coffee phenomenon is great and all that but good coffee has been consumed in Europe forever... There were always fresh coffee beans, a grinder and a moka pot at my grandparent's place, it's how they lived and they were poor as church mice...
hippy
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As a very trendy third-waver having never been to Italy and had a 1€ espresso from a street corner, can someone explain to me how it can be good coffee? I’m guessing it’s super roasty with wide margin for error so doesn’t have to be particularly carefully prepared? Or is it more a sense of place/experience?