Coffee at roadhouses

Widgie used to be our local roadhouse its always been expensive.
OPerating off of a genie wouldnt help

My wife agrees and is now keeping a jounal rating all the good spots when we travel. Only dowen South Coast of NSW so far.

I'm not a coffee drinker but the wife is, so the price people will pay for a coffee I find extraordinary.

With butane stoves so cheap & easy, you can get a little stove top perculator for about $20, and a battery powered milk frother from ikea for $2.

Then you can have your choice of good coffee, any place any time..for very little.

cheers

Gday Paul,
Just playing the devils advocate here........But did anyone contact the roadhouse to see if there wasnt a mistake made?

Sometimes it is an advantage drinking tea not coffee. Ha

Phil

The problem we have at most places is they don't understand what "hot" means. We do not like luke warm hot drinks. We like them hot. For this reason we generally brew our own.

Geez.............that's about $20.00/l and people complain about the price of Petrol at $1.80/l.

You got two coffees and two icecreams, while dear it can't be classed as being "stitched up", hardly.

The government should pass a decree that a quality coffee shop is located at regular intervals along all roads.
The coffee would be supplied by the state and highly regulated in texture and taste so absolutely no one is ever slightly inconvenienced or left with a taste they didn't expect.

Left in the hands of the unregulated masses, the delivery of the essential "coffee" may vary far too much for some to handle.

The early explorers probably wouldn't complain though.

I'm sure Len Beadell would have a clarifying comment to say about this serious situation.

Ross M

Just to be clear on what a "flat white", I resorted to Wikipedia:

A flat white is a coffee beverage developed in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s. It is prepared by pouring microfoam (steamed milk from the bottom of a pitcher) over a single or double shot of ristretto espresso. It is similar to the latte and the café au lait although smaller in volume, having a higher proportion of coffee to milk, and more velvety in consistency.


Description

The beverage is typically served in a small 150–160 millilitre ceramic cup. Microfoam is used, and loosely frothed milk from the top of the steaming vessel is typically discarded or held back in the vessel while the creamy milk from the bottom of the vessel is folded into the coffee, resulting in a smooth and velvety texture. A flat white almost always incorporates latte art, at least if prepared by a properly trained barista.

According to purists, a flat white has several defining characteristics:

a very thin layer of velvety micro-foam (hence the "flat" in flat white)
medium size (typically the same cup size of a cappuccino, i.e. about 150-180ml or 5-6 oz)
double shot of espresso (usually ristretto), thus creating the rich and intense aroma that distinguishes a flat white from a cappuccino
free poured milk so that the foam is folded through the whole drink and there is no discernable layer separation between liquid coffee and foam

Making a good flat white is difficult, because a properly skilled barista is needed to prepare the espresso base correctly, to steam the milk such that micro-foam is created and to properly fold the milk in with the espresso, thereby creating the thin velvety layer of foam with latte art.

Outside of Australia and New Zealand, if a cafe offers a flat white this is often a sign that this cafe considers itself part of the Third Wave Coffee movement. However, with the flat white becoming increasingly well known to people, especially in cities with a thriving coffee scene (e.g. London, Berlin, San Francisco), many cafes who are not part of the specialty coffee movement and do not put great emphasis on correct preparation of coffee (as is typically the case with Third Wave Coffee cafes) are catching on to the trend and are also offering flat whites. In the UK, even coffee shop chains such as Starbucks, Costa Coffee and Pret a Manger have added flat whites to their menus.

Flat whites are typically prepared using espresso beans with a relatively light roast rather than more traditional dark Italian roasts. This fact, together with proper extraction by a skilled barista and the fact that double shots are typically used, creates the characteristicly rich and intense, though not bitter, aroma of a flat white. This is another reason why flat whites are predominantly found in third wave cafes, since they typically use only lightly roasted beans anyway.

End quote.

Let the buyer beware. How could you expect a "properly skilled barista" to be working at an out of the way roadhouse? You may have been gouged, but it not the end of the world, is it?

Cheers,
"A".

Paul, did you see any sign of or hear an espresso machine being used? If not then very hard to make espresso.

Although I consider myself to be a coffee aficionado, enjoying good coffee in its various prescriptions, I can still enjoy an instant coffee when out bush. There are a couple of instant coffee blends that are reasonable although the motel International Roast is not one of them!! Instant does not pass as espresso but it will do when I am roughing it. So will tea. Both of them black. Nevertheless it is a delight to reach civilisation and a genuine espresso. I would never, never ever, obtain coffee from a roadhouse.


EXCEPTION: On a trip in the Nullabor, a companion promoted the cappuccino from the Balladonia Roadhouse. He came in for a lot of ribbing until we reached the roadhouse and was forced to 'put-up or shut-up'. Well he was right. I have quaffed coffee from some respectable baristi, even in Italy, but that Balladonia cappuccino was as good as any of them. Dunno how or why, but it was.


So Paul, for a real cappuccino, it's Balladonia mate. And you can witness it being created on a real espresso machine.

If you think that is crook, avoid any coffee anywhere on the Stuart Highway. All the road houses there have installed these infernal DIY machines that, at best , give you a poly cup of warm, watery milk.
Quite the worst coffee I have ever tasted anywhere at any time. But the salesman who did the Highway and offloaded all these machines must be laughing all the way to the bank.
After that trip, a glass of warm dog's piss would have been welcomed as a better alternative.
Jack

Haha loving this debate! Well I do like a coffee or three a day and yes I like it just right too. Trouble is everyone's idea of just right is different. The solution I have adopted for this situation is to dedicate a small place in our van to the lovely new map coffee pod machine. Perfect coffee just the way I like it. Cost approximately $1 per coffee only inconvenience is, if we have no power we have to fire the generator up to run it.
I must say though for those who don't like coffee you will never understand how good and bad coffee can taste if made right or wrong.
Also took a little convincing the "better" half that I was serious when suggesting it was coming with us!!!
She doesn't like coffee!!!

Widgie's always been a dump since the pub burnt down.
It was the only place worth stopping for, the slimy frogs loved it.lol

G'day Paul B,

Probably a good time for me to mention, we sell Nespresso pod coffee at $4.50 a cup.. maybe we're too cheap..lol
We also run Gensets of course.

Cheers
Al

G'day Paul

The bright side is that you won't get caught like this again. If only all cafe/roadhouse owners were drawn from a pool of coffee lovers!

The cheeky comment is that as good as it is to enjoy a good coffee in the company of friends, it's not the reason we explore oz.

And for those who talk up instant coffee - it's like having to drink West End beer. Something you do when there's absolutely nothing else, and the water in the creek is too muddy to put in your instant tea.

Cheers
John

sooks, ya all go away to "get away from it all" and know full well you are not in a city anymore yet still expect the city perks, camping, bush and remote is just that, bare basics .........
Actually i love it, after watching a group of old farts in the $100,000 cruisers at Camerons Corner complaining bitterly about no "cappuccinos" being available, i realized it is what keeps them away from the bush, if all this fancy crap was available out bush just even TRY to picture what idiots we would have driving out here, it is bad enough as it is, i may go add some more salt to the sugar hahahahaha