Ok, so Lori and I don't generally drink coffee. Actually, I don't think I have ever seen Lori drink coffee and I drink it only rarely, but... we both enjoy a mocha... not just a coffee with powdered hot chocolate mix added or from a bottle of chocolate syrup.
Call us spoiled, but it has to be an espresso with REAL chocolate. Well, it turns out that Australians don't do mocha. None of the local coffee shops can make a good mocha AND even if they could, their business hours suck! We did find a chocolatier that makes a great one - but that is a 5 minute train ride away, so after $10 in train fares and a pair of mochas it is near $20! So what did we do to overcome this horrendous tragedy? Naturally we convinced ourselves to buy an espresso machine and make our own... and we do have a 10kg bag of chocolate to use so it makes sense... right?
So after a crash course in espresso and having learned what crema is (the foam on top of an espresso), along with 101 useless facts about espresso, we purchased a Nespresso automatic espresso machine. You insert an air tight cartridge with the flavour of espresso beans you want and 45 seconds later you have a hot cup.
So far we are learning the ropes and enjoying it - and the caffeine buzz I had for the first few days is just starting to wear off :)
On another note, it is definitely autumn here. They do not use the term "fall" because most of the leaves do not fall. Overnight the temperature has been dropping to around 14
degrees and during the day the high is between 20 and 25 degrees. It has rained more, but unlike the Vancouver rain it rains hard and then you get a stretch of nice weather. The other interesting thing about autumn in Australia is that a lot of the flowers are going into full bloom. At some points on our evening walk with Kona the perfume is amazing. To the left is a flower next to our walkway at the condo.
I also thought I would post a few Australia teasers here to encourage you all to come visit us...
We've had a Nespresso for over two years and love it (we had it when you visited)! We've convinced many friends and family to buy one, so it's awesome that you guys did all the research and ended up with what we have....or it's kinda dumb that you didn't ask your coffee connoisseur friends a most basic question and saved yourselves hours of research :P
Glad to hear that the worst thing about life these days was simply in finding a decent mocha!
Meeka, I have sent Lori off to catch a Platypus for you (she is a better swimmer than me) but so far no luck... we can glue a duck and a beaver together for you?
i was expecting lori to be carried off by a spider or mosquito in your post...and Jon saves the day. maybe next time ;)
ReplyDeleteI would have mentioned that, but it happens EVERY day so it is old news...
ReplyDeleteWe've had a Nespresso for over two years and love it (we had it when you visited)! We've convinced many friends and family to buy one, so it's awesome that you guys did all the research and ended up with what we have....or it's kinda dumb that you didn't ask your coffee connoisseur friends a most basic question and saved yourselves hours of research :P
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that the worst thing about life these days was simply in finding a decent mocha!
I was pretty sure you guys had a Nespresso and I remember enjoying it when I was there. I just never thought we would own one!
ReplyDeleteI would have asked if I could ever catch you on Skype... I can't even get Pat to answer when I call his cell! :)
I would like a platypus please.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Jonabin, we're almost never on Skype. We'll try and be better! Definitely miss you both and need to catch up :)
ReplyDeleteMeeka,
ReplyDeleteI have sent Lori off to catch a Platypus for you (she is a better swimmer than me) but so far no luck... we can glue a duck and a beaver together for you?
good luck with the beaver.
ReplyDelete