Having recently traveled off-line and into the bush, we experienced many different versions of coffee during our journey. Some were however so awful they shouldn't have been called coffee!
What we do when we travel
Fortunately (or unfortunately really) our children are all grown up and rarely travel with us. We therefore have space for our Jura automatic machine and yes, we take it along. As off-road campers we often have no electricity and this poses a problem - we then turn to our Bialetti Venus, a stove top machine which works fantastically using the gas stove in our camping trailer. So coffee we will always have!
What we found en route
Aside from our own coffee, we enjoy stopping and shopping at roadside venues along the way - it would be unfair to name them but here are a few of our experiences. We urge baristas and shop owners to be very careful - more and more of your customers know what good coffee should taste like and it's time you did too. Customers vote with their feet and will simply never return. Even if you are the only coffee shop between here and nowhere, you are charging up to ZAR 30 in some cases and serving rubbish!
Burned milk: An amateurish and common error. Milk should never be heated beyond 70 deg,C. It scalds and the taste changes (not for the better). Yes I know customers like hot coffee, this doesn't have to be burnt!
Microwave: Really? Don't take your coffee or milk near one!
Stale coffee: Ground coffee is stale almost immediately. Buy whole beans and grind them yourself (not in a blade grinder either). You're charging for your coffee, take the trouble of sourcing freshly roasted coffee, not the commercial stuff on supermarket shelves.
Foam: It's micro-foam and not bubble-bath made with your blender. We had one cappuccino which looked like it was topped with meringue .
Single shot milk based brews: No coffee lover wants to taste milk with a hint of coffee. Serve only double-shot cappuccinos please....
Tear packet cappuccinos: Yes believe it or not, in an Eastern Cape country town we ordered a cappuccino and got one of those commercial instant tear-packet options. Read the label folks, you will never use it again.
Instant coffee: Noooooooo
I could indeed go on but I think those shop owners reading this will get the point, your customers are important to you, give them the good stuff! In this modern day of efficient logistics many good roasters ware able to ship fresh coffee to your door. This is an overnight service for big centers and will only take a day or two to reach smaller towns why not source good coffee online?
Buy coffee online here - South Africa
Have a good weekend folks
Alan H
What we do when we travel
Fortunately (or unfortunately really) our children are all grown up and rarely travel with us. We therefore have space for our Jura automatic machine and yes, we take it along. As off-road campers we often have no electricity and this poses a problem - we then turn to our Bialetti Venus, a stove top machine which works fantastically using the gas stove in our camping trailer. So coffee we will always have!
Above pics: a Juvenile bataleur stretching his wings; the Bialetti Venus range.
What we found en route
Aside from our own coffee, we enjoy stopping and shopping at roadside venues along the way - it would be unfair to name them but here are a few of our experiences. We urge baristas and shop owners to be very careful - more and more of your customers know what good coffee should taste like and it's time you did too. Customers vote with their feet and will simply never return. Even if you are the only coffee shop between here and nowhere, you are charging up to ZAR 30 in some cases and serving rubbish!
Burned milk: An amateurish and common error. Milk should never be heated beyond 70 deg,C. It scalds and the taste changes (not for the better). Yes I know customers like hot coffee, this doesn't have to be burnt!
Microwave: Really? Don't take your coffee or milk near one!
Stale coffee: Ground coffee is stale almost immediately. Buy whole beans and grind them yourself (not in a blade grinder either). You're charging for your coffee, take the trouble of sourcing freshly roasted coffee, not the commercial stuff on supermarket shelves.
Foam: It's micro-foam and not bubble-bath made with your blender. We had one cappuccino which looked like it was topped with meringue .
Single shot milk based brews: No coffee lover wants to taste milk with a hint of coffee. Serve only double-shot cappuccinos please....
Tear packet cappuccinos: Yes believe it or not, in an Eastern Cape country town we ordered a cappuccino and got one of those commercial instant tear-packet options. Read the label folks, you will never use it again.
Instant coffee: Noooooooo
I could indeed go on but I think those shop owners reading this will get the point, your customers are important to you, give them the good stuff! In this modern day of efficient logistics many good roasters ware able to ship fresh coffee to your door. This is an overnight service for big centers and will only take a day or two to reach smaller towns why not source good coffee online?
Buy coffee online here - South Africa
Have a good weekend folks
Alan H
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