Whatever you call it: café, coffee, espresso, café latte, or just a ‘cup of joe,’ coffee has been drunk for centuries and varies depending on the species of coffee plant the bean comes from – a misnomer for seed (arabica, robusta, etc.) – and the type of roast (Italian, French, American, etc.). It was discovered originally in Ethiopia, spread through Arabia into Turkey and eventually to the thriving trade port in Venice. Today coffee drinks are big business and, for better or worse, a cup of coffee has become part of the uniform of the American worker (and an eco-disaster). Noted as one of the world’s largest, most valuable, legally traded commodities after oil, coffee has become a vital cash crop for many Third World countries. Brazil is the world leader in production of green coffee, followed by Vietnam and Colombia. Of course with all this demand comes big ecological impacts as well. A major issue concerning coffee is its use of water. According to New Scientist, it takes about 140 liters of water to grow the coffee beans needed to produce one cup of coffee and coffee is often grown in countries where there is a water shortage.

The concept of fair trade labeling, which guarantees coffee growers a negotiated pre-harvest price, began in Europe in the ’60s.  Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall below the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.

The production and consumption of “Fair Trade Coffee” has grown in recent years as some local and national coffee chains have started to offer fair trade alternatives. Starbucks, one of the largest buyers of Fair Trade Certified coffee, will double its purchases to 40 million pounds in 2009, making the company the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the world.   A number of studies have shown that fair trade coffee has a positive impact on the communities that grow it by strengthening producer organizations, improving returns to small producers, and positively affecting their quality of life. The families of fair trade producers were also more stable than those who were not involved in fair trade, and their children had better access to education.

I used to never drink the stuff; all through high school, university, and through my twenties – not a drop. After the Starbucks craze (and, in case you don’t live in the US, there are also many independent cafes and coffee bars in the US) I was sucked in just a little and would maybe treat myself to a few coffees each month. And since I wasn’t a true coffee drinker, these were, of course, the frou frou coffee ‘concoctions’ of Starbucks – like a mocha (espresso with a shot of chocolate syrup…for me minus the whipped cream). Now as I’ve traveled around the world and through Europe, my coffee and thus caffeine intake has dramatically increased – for a few reasons. First, when you are walking around towns and cities for months…you simply need something to do when you ‘take a break.’ And, of course, there are all these inviting cafes lining the streets beckoning you in with happy patrons laughing while they sip a cappuccino. So it was nice for me to join in. Plus if I sat down and ate something every time I wanted to take a break, I’d be as big as a house. Next, I did actually start to appreciate the taste and differences of coffees around the world. From the surprising, yet good, café culture in Melbourne, Australia (where I worked as a barista) and the chains of Asia to the less-than-stellar instant coffee commonly served up in Eastern Europe and the pleasing café au lait of France and rich espressos in Italy. In fact, the more coffee I drink, the less milk I add. I’ve gone from a crazy Starbucks caramel macchiato (not the real macchiato—an espresso ‘stained’ with a drop of milk) to a simple, yet robust, real Italian espresso (in 3 sips you’re done). I used to never order an espresso thinking it was too strong and dark for me, but I have to tell you, these are delicious.

The one coffee I just could not force myself to like is Turkish. For me, it’s just too strong. The grounds are left in the cup which makes for a bit of a sludgy beverage. But the after show is nice…having someone read your fortune in the bottom of your cup. Maybe mine would say, ‘you are drinking too much coffee.’ Well, probably not since the fortuneteller probably gets kick backs from the establishment.

After six weeks, my short-lived career as a sandwich engineer and coffee chemist is over. For the most part I really enjoyed learning some new things–like the correct way to slice capsicum or dealing with a currency that has six coins–and meeting the real (and hungry) people of Melbourne.

At the Licata’s café, I had the unique honor of being the only American they had ever hired. But, coincidentally, about 9 out of 10 customers asked me if I was from Canada. This has been happening to me during my entire trip and isn’t surprising because of the fact that Canadians simply travel the world much more than Americans. And in turn, I’ve already met more Canadians than Americans in my few months on the road. When I answered this common asked question of ‘if I was Canadian’, most askers would always apologize because, apparently, when it’s the other way around most Canadians find it rather insulting to be called an American. Sadly, I can sometimes understand why. Of course, the few Americans I have met are very interesting and not an embarrassment at all to our country. But, of course, I haven’t met any Mississippians or West Virginians (there are about ten to fifteen other states I could throw in here) traveling the world just yet. Now, I certainly don’t mind being mistaken for a Canadian—I mean seriously, we do sound and look very much alike…well, unless you’re from the ‘country’ of Quebec, oui monsieur.

The best part of working at a café (besides the fun and free sandwiches or yummy salads for lunch everyday—I’m a lunch junkie!), was getting to know my co-workers and meeting all the different people and quirky characters that came in everyday. There was the ‘never-smiling’ Eastern European guy who ordered his lunch like it was always his last meal on earth. “Give me the Rye Cobb Loaf. No, not sliced! In a bag. Goodbye.”

Or Margaret who was a regular—she always ordered the same two sandwiches everyday, and wanted them exactly the same each time. “No, it’s tom-mah-to, then the cucumber and then capsicum, then pepper and just a dash of salt on top of the pepper.”

There was the Australian Football hottie whom all the counter girls drooled over as he ordered his ‘manly’ tuna sandwich on white bread. Just as I was finally remembering that John came in every day and ordered a ‘regular capp., two sugars’ or Greg, a tall, dark in the goth way, guy that lived around the corner wanted his latte with ‘one and a half sugars,’ it was time for me to leave.

But, I also was quite ready to leave because it was also at this time that the Italian owner, Charlie, was really starting to get on my nerves. It didn’t matter if he was an Italian with a ‘funny’ Australian accent—he was still Italian through and through and innocently ‘hit on’ me and all the café girls in his charming yet skeevy way. This fifty-year-old Sicilian also kept things interesting by being the biggest micromanager I’ve ever had in my entire working career.

“Is that a piece of lettuce in the to-mah-toes??”

“Someone just walked in this second—have you asked them what they want yet???”

“Did you ask this customer if he wanted salt and pepper on his take away sandwich??”

“It doesn’t matter that there are tons of customers waiting, you must write take away orders on this color paper.”

“You just scratched your ass wrong. Up and down, not left to right.” (okay, he really didn’t say that, nor did I scratch my ass at work, but you get the picture)!

He was unquestionably condescending to all his employees and even though they were all much younger than me, no one deserves to be talked to that way. You could have just finished serving a dozen customers, he would walk in from the kitchen and see dirty dishes on a table and remind you to always check the tables. Or you could be cleaning off the dirty tables when customers would walk in and he would come in and ask you why you aren’t behind the counter helping these starving customers. Believe me, the customer service here was great compared to anywhere else I went in Melbourne and no one here ever waiting longer than a minute to be served and were always told ‘hello, we’ll be right with you’ as soon as they walked in the door. In fact, I really appreciated this since one of my pet peeves today is some of the poor customer service out there where cashiers don’t even look up at you when they ring you up or never even utter ‘hello’ or ‘thank you’ (I’m distinctly thinking of Walgreens back in the states). But now being on the other end—the constant barrage of reminders could be maddening. He would tell us ad nauseum how to ‘build’ a sandwich or how to write up an order ticket (because he just didn’t read it correctly when it got to the kitchen) or how to freaking mop the damn floor. Now, don’t get me wrong, I totally respect the amount of work that goes into owning and operating a food establishment. I realize now how non-stop the work really is and learned it first hand (and foot)—especially since we were dealing with perishable and bug-attracting food—a restaurant is inherently susceptible to so many more problems or challenges than, say, a gift shop where at closing time you can literally switch off the lights and lock the door at 5:01pm. At closing time in the café, we knew we’d be around for at least another hour wrapping foods, cleaning out toasters and pizza warmers, cleaning and wrapping up each individual dish in the sandwich bar, and every cake tray, washing dishes, taking apart and cleaning the entire espresso machine, sweeping, cleaning tables, mopping, taking out the trash, tossing old breads, and pre-made sandwiches, and on and on.

But, besides all the hard work all the guys and gals who work there seem to put in, Charlie rarely would simply say ‘good job’ or ‘thanks for the hard work today’ or God forbid actually just notice something good someone did. He continued to find fault with everything and anything and this got me frustrated yet happy I was only working there for a few weeks. He wanted his people to be perfect, but he never got the schedule right (when I told him the two days I couldn’t work one week, those inevitably were the days he put me on and I had to remind him several times to change it. But when I asked for more hours my last two weeks, he actually took me off the schedule). In the end, after going back and forth with him several pointless times on this issue, I had had it. So being the “typical” independent, strong minded American woman that I am, I let him certainly know how I felt. He expected us to listen to him and be perfect, but I felt he wasn’t really listening to us. I mean I literally spent about $100 to change my next two flights in order to work there for a few more weeks. When I was first hired I felt very guilty that they were going to put in the time to train me and then I would leave in three weeks.

I didn’t care if I was just a casual visa-less worker, I still deserved just a sliver of respect. Luckily, it wasn’t just me who felt this way and after a run-in with the boss, I happened to bump into Mark, the thirty-two year old chef from Manchester, England who actually lasted less time than me there—he quit after just two weeks. We commiserated about the minutiae-meddling ways of Charlie. Mark recounted some of his frustrating yet hilarious times in the kitchen with Charlie telling him how he had it all wrong.

“Oh no, Mark. It’s lettuce, than chicken, then mayonnaise–that’s the correct order—not mayo, chicken, lettuce—that’s so wrong. My repeat customers want consistency.” I wasn’t the only bitter and sarcastic one.

Mark jokingly said, “Oh, yes, because I know some of their amazingly loyal customers bit into my Chicken burgers and in mid-mastication stopped and said, ‘something is wrong here. It just has the wrong mouth-feel. I must send this back. The lettuce is on top and it should be underneath. It’s just not right’” In laughing about Charlie’s crazy ways, I realized why he had such a high turnover rate.

But, then my last day came. Charlie and I had mended our fences and he and his wife Rose completely caught me off guard with a lovely ‘goodbye’ gift. I mean it was truly unexpected and unnecessary. I had only worked there for 6 weeks, after all. They had taken the time to write me a sweet card and gave me a tiny gift wrapped box. Maybe Charlie was going to propose to me? Luckily, no, it was a very cute pair of stud earrings.

All in all, it was a fun and educational experience that has me wondering if I really want to run my own café one day. But, at least for now, I know I can work in one. So when I return to the states, Starbucks, here I come!

After living in Melbourne (pronounced ‘Mel-bun’ by the locals) for a month and a half, I feel as if I’ve just about moved here. I’ve become quite familiar with this lovely city on the Yarra river and some of its finer offerings over the last few weeks. In so many ways Melbourne has been competing with its older brother, Sydney, since the 19^th Century. Just as in the U.S., Chicago will always be second banana to New York City, hence its oft-used nickname: The Second City. Here, it seems Melbourne could be called the same thing.

Currently, Melbourne has about 3.7 million inhabitants, but was once Australia’s largest city thanks to a gold rush in the mid 1800s. Sydney was first claimed for the British by Captain James Cook in 1770 (of course the Aborigines were here first—for, oh about 50,000 years) and, it’s no rumor, many of its first inhabitants were British convicts. This Island nation was first seen as a harsh and horrible place—and in many ways it still is very tough for folks to live here—case in point—the horrible drought they’ve been suffering for several years now. Unlike the U.S., Australia has NO water running through the middle of it. More than 168,000 convicts had been ‘shipped’ to Australia by the time the practice was abolished in the mid 1800s. Sydney now has a little over 4 million, mostly law-abiding people who get to admire the Opera House and stunning Harbour on a regular basis.

Melbourne hosted the first Olympic Games in the Southern Hemisphere in 1956 and became the country’s sporting capital. Of course, Sydney ‘one-upped’ Melbourne with the 2000 Games. Since the Australian people are very proud of their hometowns, you can imagine the on-going debate over which is a better city. Just through personal experience alone, I happen to prefer Melbourne. I am the first to admit this is all based on simple personal experiences and if I’d gotten a job in Sydney and had met more people there, I may feel the reverse.

It’s summertime in Melbourne and this city comes alive with moonlight movies in the park , outdoor concerts put on by the symphony, cricket matches, the Australian Open, and Melbournians just getting outdoors for the sake of getting outdoors.

I mentioned in an earlier entry how ethnically diverse this city is. Like most big cities, it’s a veritable melting pot of the world. And there is no day better to celebrate this than on Australia Day. Multiculturalism is the theme here and the live concert on Australia Day was a random mish-mash of local performers—Asian, Maori, Aboriginal, Spaniards, right down to the “robot man” known as—get this—the Sonic Manipulator, who literally is a well known street performer here. Sounds like the next Arnold Schwarzenegger flick—today the California Governator, tomorrow the Sonic Manipulator.

Just like everywhere else I’ve lived, the weather here is the butt of many jokes and is known for its changeable conditions. Here, they always say, “four seasons in one day.” One morning it can soar into the 100s and then later that afternoon it’s 60 degrees and rainy. This January’s 43.9ºC (111ºF) day broke a record and was Melbourne’s hottest since 1939. I think Maria Sharapova was sweating her pants off because she was playing that day (wouldn’t all the guys like to see that?)!

Melbourne’s famous tramway system is the largest outside of Europe and the fourth largest in the world. It stretches along 244 kilometers (152 miles) of track, and has 450 trams. A free city circle tour tram circles the central business district forming a ‘loop’ around it.

The mostly flat city has been named one of the best cycling cities in the world and is criss-crossed with hundreds of bike lanes and paths. Bike lanes here are marked in bright green and when I say bike lane—I really mean it—a solid line separates you from the cars and in some cases there are even traffic lights for bikes! They will soon be trying out some European style bike lanes (commonly used in Copenhagen) where the traffic lanes and bike lanes are separated by parked cars. I took advantage of this Chicago-like cycle friendly city by renting a bike for a few weeks and using it to tour around and as my main transport method to and from work. I also was lucky enough to score an excellent deal on the rental ($50 for 2 weeks instead of $25/day) thanks to the fact that all the Brunswick Street Cycle Shop guys and gals come in to the café where I work to get their lunches and coffees. Apparently TV jobs aren’t the only ones with perks!

Melbourne is often referred to as Australia’s garden city, and the state of Victoria is known as “the garden state” just like my home state of New Jersey. Melbourne is chock full of lush green spaces—The Botanic Gardens, Carlton Gardens, Fitzroy Gardens. These are all huge parks with towering trees and bricked curving paths where locals can laze the day away with a picnic of vegemite sandwiches or just play some fetch with their pooches. Sounds nice, but in actuality many are just hanging out smoking. Lots of smokers here. Cough.

Also, like many cities, there is a huge revitalization going on. The Docklands, Southgate and Crown Complexes are all new areas to eat, shop, and stroll around in what was once old industrial port and shipping yards. There is also some pretty amazing public art sprinkled throughout the city—in parks, on bridges, and on sidewalks.

One day I also swapped roles here and took a Melbourne Greeter Tour. I was a Chicago Greeter Volunteer back in Chicago for a couple years. Many cities in the world now offer this great service where a local will take around tourists for a few hours and show them their city from a real local’s perspective. On the tour we discovered one of the best and most defining characteristics of Melbourne–its “little laneways:” Degraves Lane, Hardware Lane, the Block Arcade, the Royal Arcade—these are all virtually glorified alleys that have been closed to traffic, filled with charming European-like cafes and outdoor table seating. They offer the illusion of being secret and hidden even though they are quite famous. Some are darker and narrower than others and some barely feel like much more than an alley except the fact that they lead to an inconspicuous bar—like the Croft institute that is literally at the end of a combo trash/urine-smelling, dingy, dumpster filled alley. What a challenge to get past that and know a cold drink is waiting for you at the end, even if it is in a beaker.

So, Melbourne will no doubt continue to struggle to come out from the shadow of big brother Sydney’s striking yet obvious beauty. But I like to think Melbourne’s beauty is just more ‘hidden’ and more than just skin deep. And, I think one of the reasons I like Melbourne so much is its ‘down to earth’ similarity to my adopted home and my ‘second city’…that I think is number one.

The Great Ocean Road is one of the most spectacular drives, view-wise, in Australia and is up there with the best in the world. It stretches for hundreds of kilometers along the southern edge of the state of Victoria’s rugged coastline. This curvy drive is reminiscent of the Pacific Coast Highway of California—except for one thing, here, your are driving on the left side of the road…so you may want to take care when gazing off into the ocean that you don’t ‘end up’ in the ocean. My friend Kay and I rented a car for two days and took to the open highway to experience it all for ourselves.

On one side we drove past the lush Otway Ranges and National Park filled with rainforests which contrasted much of the nation’s parched outback. We spotted wild koalas sleeping lazily up in the eucalyptus trees. They weren’t too hard to spot—just look for a big round ‘lifeless’ ball. I’m not being facetious when I call them lazy—these marsupials sleep around twenty hours a day. For the rest of their busy day, they will be munching on gum leaves, which are so toxic, the koala expends most of its body’s energy on detoxifying his lunch once it’s inside his system. They also don’t actually drink water, but get their hydration from these same leaves. This sloth-like ball of fur has an unusually small brain for its skull which is said to look like a pair of shriveled walnut halves leaving about 40% of the cranial cavity filled with fluid. It is the only animal on Earth with such a strangely reduced brain. Perhaps it is why they move so slow and seem so polite? They simply have “nothing” on their minds. The Koala needs large areas of healthy, connected forest and will travel long distances along tree corridors in search of new territory and mates. The ever-increasing human population on the coastal parts of the Australia continues to reduce these corridors due to increasing agricultural and residential the Koala here. development, forestry and road-building, marooning Koala colonies in decreasing areas of bush. Save the koala here.

On the other side of them Great Ocean Road was exactly what it was named for—the Ocean. The sight of stunning limestone cliffs, gorges, and arches carved out by crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean was awe-inspiring. The most famous and photographed of these scenic spots is the “Twelve Apostles.” These yellowish-orange rock stacks ominously sit tall in the ocean and were once part of the mainland, but thanks to natural erosion they are now each their own sea skyscraper. Only seven or eight of the twelve are actually visible from the viewing points and no one seems to know for sure if there ever really were twelve—maybe it just sounded good.

We figured once we got out of the city, the ‘funny’ driving would be quite easy since we would just be going straight for several hours and certainly tried avoiding making right turns. Driving is usually second nature to most, but not when you are, not only driving on the wrong side of the road, but also sitting on the wrong side of the car!

There were some definite things that just felt plain odd. For example, as I normally sit on the left side of the car to drive, many normal habits were backwards now and it took actual concentration just to look up and to the left into the rear-view mirror (I ended up using the side mirror a lot more than usual) and also reaching up and to the right to put on my safety belt. This one was funny because even though sitting on the right side of the car in the states means the seat belt is also behind you to the right, since I was driving, my instant reaction was to reach back and to the left where I ended up playing “air seatbelt.” Also, when in a quicker type situation like parallel parking, I tended to immediately reach down with my right hand to throw the car in reverse, but, alas, the gear shift was to my left.

The biggest, and funniest, difference of all was the fact that every time either of us went to make a turn we would instantly put on the windshield wipers by mistake because the lever for them was where our turn signal usually is! This was quite hilarious and I have to say that by the end of our journey—we had the cleanest windshield around.

I joined a very exclusive club as I began my trip. No, not the mile high club—I’m talking about becoming one of the ‘elite’ Americans with “the card,” the American Express card.

I had always been hit over the head with all the Am Ex marketing about how good they are with international travel help and benefits. Well, I am here to tell you—don’t bother! Did you know that for any international charges you make with an Am Ex card in another currency they charge you a fee? That would mean a fee for nearly every single transaction I’m doing this whole year! Luckily my other credit card does not do this and pretty much has all the travel benefits that AmEx has. I’m glad I found out about the fees before I left and have basically gotten the Am Ex card for nothing! Until now.

Here in Melbourne I found one good use for it. A few nights ago I joined thousands of Melbournians in Federation Square—the city’s central meeting point and all around ‘hang out plaza”
to watch the final match of the Australian Open.

I had been fortunate enough to go to one match live the first week of the tournament. The Australian Open is the first of the world’s four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, held each January at Melbourne Park. The other three are the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open held in Queens, NY.

The Tennis Grounds here are just a quick ten minute walk from the Central Business District and they are beautiful. There are nearly twenty tennis courts with several matches going on at once as well as the bigger matches taking place in the two larger arenas—Vodafone and Rod Laver Arena. Thousands of tennis fans, local Melbournians, and just plain ol’ tourists looking for a party wander around the grounds. It is apparently one of the livelier world tennis tourneys. For a sport that is a bit on the tame side and more ‘adult’ than say rugby or football, the Australian Open does have its share of crazy, possibly not-so-sober fans. I saw many a young mob from Croatia and other parts of the world draped in their country’s flags and dripping with the requisite face paint. You can buy a simple $20 ground pass and just wander in and out of the lesser matches. My friend Kay, who’s here getting her Master’s at the University of Melbourne, and I splurged a little more and got tickets into Rod Laver Arena for the second round. The arena was named to honor one of Australia’s greatest tennis players of all time. Rod Laver is the only player in the history of tennis to have captured two Grand Slams (1962 and 1969) – the ultimate in tennis where a player wins the four major titles in the same calendar year. We got to see a few of today’s biggest stars play and even saw two who would eventually become champs in the end—the U.S. Bryan Twins in Doubles, and Roger Federer, the Swiss Stallion who went on the win the Men’s Final here for the second year in a row. I also got to see our very own Andy Roddick easily defeat Frenchman Marc Gicquel, but unfortunately he later went on to just get mentally crushed by the fierce and ‘on fire’ Federer.

So, of course, I didn’t have tickets to the actual final match, but they were showing it on the big screen TV outside in nearby Federation Square. So, I hopped on my bike and rode over to join the mobs ready to watch some good tennis. I realized American Express was one of the big sponsors of the Open. They had an ‘exclusive’ seating area just for AM EX card holders, like me. I grabbed a seat, noshed on some snacks, and cheered for the underdog: hot Chilean, Fernando Gonzales. Plus I got to practice my waning second language skills with some friendly Chileans sitting next to me. Muy guapo Fernando put up a good fight, but in the end Federer is just a maven on the court.

So for this one night, I guess membership had its privileges.