USA vs. Australia: Coffee (Can Starbucks pull off a Flat White?)
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- Опубликовано: 22 авг 2024
- Can America recreate the iconic Australian Flat White? We go to Starbucks to find out...
While living and working in Australia we fell in love with flat white coffee. Now that we're back in the US, we're on the hunt for a flat white!
We compare a local coffee shop's flat white vs. America's favorite... Starbucks.
Watch to see which was best :)
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We’re Jenny and Logan, American Millennials with a passion for traveling and eating delicious food from all around the world. Our love for travel started in the UK where we lived and worked for a while, traveling to different European cities almost every weekend. So when we went back to our “normal” lives in the US, we knew we weren’t ready to settle down. This motivated us to plan a trip around the world and then a year in Australia. We decided to give this vlogging thing a shot and have really enjoyed sharing our travel journey. Who knows where we’ll end up next, so be sure to follow along to find out! :)
I love how we basically got rid of Starbucks here in Australia, apart from a couple of places where the tourists go.
Our coffee is so, so much better.
We loved it! Thanks for watching 😊
The link highlights why Starbucks failed, & while they cut back store locations drastically, they are still around in the 3 major cities where overseas tourists land (Covid aside) & all strategically placed for the familiarity of the brand for overseas visitors. From all reports, they are at least making their presence viable, unlike their previous efforts with plans to include more of the Aussie coffee culture within their own branding.
ruclips.net/video/qqqMi_3LJVA/видео.html
Starbucks is for people that don’t know any better😛🤣
I love pointing out that Starbucks serves coffee flavoured, sugar laiden dish water. And that they failed in Australia cause their coffee is gross. 😁✌
@@sheryll5612 I always refer to it as a hot coffee flavoured watery milkshake. Great if that's what you're after, but a rude shock if you're expecting an actual coffee.
"Starbucks" and "Coffee" should NEVER be used in the same sentence other than to say "Starbucks serves warm milk that masquerades as coffee"!!
Haha :)
I did a 3 month stint in Nevada back in 2015 drilling for gold . The first thing I asked my offsides is where Do I get a good coffee , their reply to Starbucks that is where you take your girlfriend to break up .
Warm? I think you mean scalded... 😩
I find it odd that the US like Australia got a lot of Italian immigrants and that coffee in the US is so awful. It’s really hard to find coffee here in Australia that isn’t proper espresso.
@@chrisbrent7487 There are some woeful makers here however they tend to use beans from the large companies and scald the milk. There are a few I patronise who use beans from smaller roasters and always get the milk right, never 60 degrees or higher.
I find it hilarious that Starbucks thought they could come to Australia and compete with our existing coffee shops. They obviously didn't do much research before launching here.
It's serious coffee in Australia 😊
Yea, right next to a Cibo's and a strip of pizza cafes.
Even maccas is better. Starbucks is disgusting.
@@friedchicken3242 Yes, cappucino is the only thing I ever consume from McVomits!
2 extra little words ... "they tried" launching here 😉🙃🙂
Australia and Italy have the best coffee in the world, you will never understand this unless you live in either culture.. We take this very seriously
We learned 😊 and glad it's taken seriously. It's delicious!
NZ has equally good coffee to Australia I reckon.
Australian here. I had to give up coffee about 13 years ago due to a heart arrhythmia. Still miss it. Walking past a cafe is enough to almost put me in tears.
It’s true for espresso based. Although we have different sensibilities when it comes to milk. The general lactose intolerance of Italians has led to a good rule; cappuccino is only for breakfast. You stand for espressos the rest of the day.
Australians incorporate it into a sit dish meal and enjoy the time and produce; no rush. Milk is important.
But let’s not forget the other coffee cultures. Spain has a coffee culture is different. Vienna in Austria is well known fir Vienna coffee. Turkish coffee is like being hit over the head then kissed on the forehead to soothe the pain. Seattle too is a capital of coffee (although one that also generated $tarbucks).
The best coffee I had in my life was in Verona, Italy.
I am a barista in Melbourne / Australia. FYI Flat Whites should have no froth whatsoever . When pouring a flat white ensure you pour down the side of the cup so you don't smash up the crema and the milk should slip under the crema leaving it on top, so whenever u take a sip you get the milk passing through the rich coffee crema.
Good to know!
Exactly. The only "froth" should be the crema.
Thank you! I was hoping someone would mention what the “flat” means! It’s flat. As in no dome of foam.
It seemed like they didn't know what the crema was. Having used a stovetop espresso pot for years and then switching to a basic Sunbeam coffee maker, the crema is the difference. 😃
My stomach can’t handle full cream milk but a little bit of milk is ok, so I always order a skim flat white. Is there another style of coffee I could order that has more ‘froth’ rather than just all milk?
We in Australia usually aren't super confident about anything, except when we say we make the world's best coffee. Because we do.
It's pretty good 😊
And if you think you’ve had the best coffee in Melbourne you’re mistaken. Ona coffee in Canberra is the best. 😉
That’s debatable our coffee in New Zealand is the best
Speak for yourself
@@NZFarmboy80 made with sheep milk
If you need a coffee that big then it ain't coffee. It's quality over quantity that counts.
Haha the sizes here are huge! As expected 😊
If you’re going to have a ‘large’ coffee like that Starbucks one, you’ll have to have about 3-4 extra coffee shots added!!! It sounds like Starbucks serve theirs too hot which burns the beans and the milk....not a pleasant brew at all. Good luck finding your flat whites! Cheers P.
Aww, bless these two for travelling to Australia and actually trying to learn about us and our coffee culture rather than just going to one of the Starbucks you see in tourists areas. I'm really sorry covid got in the way of your travels. We'd be happy to have you back at any time :)
You guys take your coffee serious! Hope we can come back soon :)
You've become coffee snobs! I have a lot of friends who are coffee snobs too, including my wife. I am a tea snob...T2 all the way!
Australia will do that to you 😊
Coffee snobbery is part of modern Australian urban culture. But we do know how to make a good cuppa.
And there's nothing wrong with a pot of tea either.
T2 French Earl Grey 😋
Nothing beats a good leaf from Ceylon 🤷🏾♂️
As an Aussie who spent 5 weeks travelling the USA, I was actually shocked at how bad the coffee was. I made a deliberate detour to Canada for a week just to search for a decent coffee.
Starbucks tasted horrible, I had to add flavouring just to make it palatable.
Someone needs to set up an Australian coffee house franchise over there.
Now there's a good business idea 😏
A few Aussies have set up Australian style cafes in NYC. Whenever we go we head off to them and enjoy their coffees! Two Hands, Bluestone Cafe and Little Collins are terrific. Will be sometime before we are back in NYC. However, just as happy to enjoy the excellent coffee culture in our hometown of Brisbane here in Oz!
mundusa next time go to Vermont. They have great coffee there, with real espresso machines, not that stewed stuff in a pot.
@@AS274. the challenge once you find an Australian style cafe, if you don’t do milk, is getting good quality soy milk in the USA, like bonsoy. American soy milk is too sweet.
When I took my Mum to the USA for the first time she hated the coffee until we got to New York. The Hilton Times Square coffee shop does coffee like Melbourne. And as you may know from your time in Australia, Melbourians love their coffee.
We heard about some Aussie style cafes in NY!
at first sight any Barista would see that the foam air bubbles are way too big
Yah not to Australian standards 😊
MickBellTV exactly my thought
It hurt me when he said a flat white was between a latte and a cappucino :(
@@Julia-ek4pm I audibly gasped
Nothing like Melbourne, Australia coffee! The BEST!
👍
The waves of European migrants to Oz meant they brought good food and coffee. Italian Greek Turkish Austrian etc. all improved our cafe culture and as such you can get and expect the best! We even managed to get Maccas to make almost decent coffee after a while . . a pity about the food but we'll get there on that eventually too ;-) Enjoyed your vids guys!
Thanks for watching ☺️
Just stumbled across this. As an Australian it makes me so proud that you liked it here and our coffee. On behalf of all Australians ever, you are always welcome back :)
You can get bad coffee made in Australia too. It depends on the roasting of the beans and the Barista who makes it.You guys are a delight to watch by the way.
Thanks! 😊
Aussie coffee culture really took off in Melbourne due to all the Greeks and Italians who moved out here after ww2, they brought the Mediterranean coffee culture with them and it really took off to the point we have some of the best coffee in the world now.
Good to know!
When I was a young buck watching Hollywood movies/sitcoms and seeing the actors drinking coffee and talking about it, I always thought Americans knew about coffee. Then I went to America and the rest is history. As soon as I landed back at Melbourne Airport I got myself a cup of joe before I even got my baggage.
We can definitely appreciate that now! 😂
If you ever get a chance to go to NYC, look up a little coffee place called Little Collins, I think it was on Lexington Ave. It's named after Little Collins street in Melbourne. (Some might say the best place for coffee culture in Australia.) It has a real Aussie café vibe and super popular with visiting Aussies trying to find their coffee fix from home. :)
Good to know we can find some Aussie coffee here in the US 😊 thanks for watching!
@@twotravelingkings In fact, in the Nolita district in Manhattan is a place that is called Little Australia. Good coffee, Australian food and atmosphere.
There's quite a few Australian owned cafes in New York. We found 3 or 4 in the East Village. Could even get smashed avo toast to go with my latte.
Best coffee I had in America was at a small cafe called Component Coffee Labs in Visalia on the way to Sequoia National Park. Found it by accident and they totally knew what they were doing. Didn't know the correct names of coffees but they certainly knew how to make them. They were calling a cappuccino a latte, chocolate and all. But I got them to make a proper latte and it was perfect. Definitely as good as Australia. When it was that good, you remember all the details. Lol.
Thanks for the tip, cheers.
Hugh Jackman has started a coffee company and cafe in nyc too.
Also have friends who have opened an Aussie cafe in frisco, Texas called the Aussie Grind =)
Hello from an Aussie stuck in Croatia and wondering how a country so close to Italy can have completely missed the coffee gene. Great work on your videos. Stay safe healthy and wonderful.
Oh wow that is surprising! Logan's been to Croatia but I (Jenny) have not. Would love to get there one day. Thanks for watching and stay safe! 😊
Sounds like a good market opportunity 🤔
When explaining what a flat white is, it is a shot of expresso with steamed milk. It should have barely any foam at all and what you describe as the coffee coloured foam is actually from the creme that sits on top of a fresh well made expresso shot. If the shot is left to sit for just a minute before adding the milk the creme will start to disappear.
Great description! Thanks for sharing 😊
Watch out getting bigger serves. A barista once told me the only difference between a standard and large, or cup vs mug, is more milk.
Smaller cup always for me!
Love your work.
Stay safe over there!
Thanks for the kind words! And definitely 😊 small cup
That's strange, here in Australia the espresso shots go up with the size of the coffee generally 8oz 1 shot, 12oz 2 shots and 16oz 3 shots. We also add an extra shot for long blacks (americano).
unless you ask for a double shot of coffee for the large cup
Rob Aitken true enough. Guess I’d just rather sit over 2 cups...
Great to watch you guys again. Im glad we aussies have got on board your channel and i hope more do. Look forward to the upcoming vids. Take care
That's so kind, thank you Anthony! Glad you've enjoyed our videos ☺️
The Italian, Greek and Turkish communities are huge in Australia. That's why we have the best coffees. The best tastes are in the small cups. We also have an excellent dairy industry. Good milk is important to the success of the coffee. Barristas in Australia is a highly valued occupation. BTW, Melbourne is the coffee capital of Australia, particularly little Italy aka, Lygon Street.
yes, well said Mr Whelan. We are probably all coffee versions of the Seinfeld soup nazi, we take our coffee very seriously here in Melbourne.
We had awesome coffee when we visited Melbourne! Thanks for watching 😊
@@Peter-cm8vi so does the rest of the country! Melbourne people think they have the best restaurants, food and coffee in the country. Bad news for you fella, all Oz cities have excellent coffee and cafe culture. I’ve spent 60 years travelling around the country and you will get a flat white as good as anything in Melbourne in little towns and big town and cities everywhere. No one accepts shit coffee anywhere in Oz!
@@peterhardy6661 Perth definitely doesn't have a cafe or foodie culture.
I like how you had to explain what a flat white was for your American audience... for us Aussie's it's just a standard white coffee, no thrills attached lol
Nah yeah not common over here!
Hi from Sydney! :) Pining the good coffee we have here? Buy a coffee machine (not pod) with a milk foamer and grinder. You'll never look back.
Sounds like a plan!
We had one at work. As I had to make the coffee for visitors, I got quite good at making cappuccino, flat white, espresso and lattes.
After mastering the 20ml oils of crema, you can sip without spitting it out. Buy a decent pitcher too, the steam should fold the milk in an eddie. You want the milk to pour from under the fome, flat white,
A thermometer will stop you from burning the milk, burnt milk yuk.
Good coffee is not luck.
I thought I'd already commented on this, maybe it was in a reply... What made me burst out laughing ( on the bus! ) was Jenny's comment on Logan's condemnation of the Starbucks flat white: "you're cracking me up!"
I think you all are actually Aussies walking around in American skins!
😂 thanks for watching!
You will just have to come back and live in Australia FULL TIME!!! Good luck with that, hope you can!
Would love to come back 😊
Yeah, Starbucks is terrible. No wonder they didn’t survive here in Australia. Logan’s review was spot on. 😂
Won't be getting a flat white from there any time soon... 😂
Theres a reason Starbucks failed. Coffee should not taste like dish water
So true. We're fussy about our coffee
Love you guys!!! Flat White we in Aussieland designed! You guys are sorry not gonna get the same over there anymore! You’re gonna crave our wonderful coffee! I hope your staying safe over there and hope one day you’ll be able to come back and spend the rest of your time here. X
Thanks so much for the kind words, excited to come back when possible 😊
I'm an Aussie and I visited Raleigh a couple years ago for work. Really beautiful place and the people are so friendly. Best thing was the BBQ there which is totally awesome. As for Starbucks flat white over there, yeah it is pretty ordinary
Nice! Yeah great BBQ 😊
Great video guys and look forward to see what you have been up to in the next one. All the best from Brisbane.
Thanks for watching! 😊
Aussie here, my wife and I love our Aussie coffee, went to Brisbane and found a Starbucks, thought what the hell, let's see what the fuss is about. Wasn't over impressed, bought a couple of mugs as a souvenir, but you can keep the coffee.
Haha sounds like an Aussie starbucks experience indeed. Thanks for watching!
When I last travelled in the US I was thrilled by the flat white at Starbucks. It wasn’t the best but it was reliable and kept my coffee addiction under control while I was away from home.
Huh! We must just be a bit spoiled and picky 😂 thanks for watching!
3 coffee roasters within walking distance of my home, here in Adelaide, a Starbucks 500miles away in Melbourne, enough said. Get the wind right, you can smell the coffee in the air.
Not bad 😊
The coffee machine at my local Caltex, $1 a cup, is better than Starbucks.
25 February, I could smell the coffee on the damp morning air.
Once you have had an Australian flat white you can't go back
Very true! 😊
Yes you can, i go back every time!!!! .... 😂 ☕
Actually I spat it out and ordered a Mocha, not all Aussies like crap lol.
@@australian1018 a mocha??? 😂 just get a hot chocolate. How can you judge someone else’s coffee when you drink a mocha? 😂😂😂
@@australian1018 proves you know nothing about coffee. You are an embarrassment.
You'll definitely pay more for your coffee here in Oz - $4 to $5.
But those just didn't look like a flat white. As well as the micro foam, there should also be some crema on top, not to mention some basic if not incredible latte art LOL :)
Yeah missed out on the latte art with the take away cups, we found good coffee for $3 Australian (we always got small size tho) good stuff tho!
Yeah I’m surprised at how much the coffee cost, you pay AUD$4.50 for a two-shot medium coffee vs. USD$4.50ish for a small?
Where do you live that a small is that expensive? In Melbourne it's like $3
Shaun Gordon . Northern NSW. But I buy medium/regular not small. 👍🏼
Love the videos guys, please keep them coming! Flat white is my morning coffee here in Australia - you've hit the nail on the head in terms of what to look for! You could make a whole series trying out different coffee joints in the US and letting us Aussies know where to go for a good coffee!
Sounds good to us! An Aussie guide to US coffee 😊
Your both such lovely people, so nice and humble. You will be missed here in Aus.
Thanks so much for the kind words 😊
Please do come back. We appreciate being appreciated.
We hope we can soon!
Have you found Australian-level flat whites while in the US? Let us know! 🙂
Isn't there an Australian cafe in New York that sells Australian style coffee and smashed avo?
Haven't been to New York in ages but next time we're there will have to check it out
if you guys need a taste of Melbourne Coffee again, and your in NYC there is a place run by Australians call Little Collins. Coffee is on par with the best of Melbourne Cafe's. They also do a nice smash avo and feta with poached eggs. www.littlecollinsnyc.com/
@@johnjon5448 That's the one I was thinking of, saw it on the news
I think there are a few Aussie owned cafes in New York that definitely do an Australian style flat white.
a good flat white shouldn't have all those air bubbles for a start. Love that you guys enjoyed OZ hope to see you back soon.
Cheers 😊
Great video guys ... I have a Starbucks locally, I've only ever had one coffee ... never again 😂😂😂 U$4.60 for a coffee that's a shocker! That's A$6.25 at current exchange rates ... 😂😂😂
Never again! 😂 We could get a great flat white in Australia for A$3.50. Another reason why we liked coffee in Australia 😊
Always love a good coffee critique. As we know, life’s too short to drink bad coffee. I look forward to seeing where life takes you next. Take care from Adelaide where we have very few restrictions now so cafes are full again.
Thanks for watching! Glad you can still enjoy the cafes 😊
I'm not so sure about the coffee culture being due to the Italians. I went to uni in the 90s and remember the coffee was abysmal. Served in small ceramic cups. However, I was young and didn't really know much about coffee and apparently, not many others cared about it either. From what I noticed, if you were Greek, you drank Greek coffee, Italian's drank espressos and Turkish had their Turkish coffee. Everyone else drank Nescafe Blend 43 or International Roast. If you were fancy, you drank Maconna. There were all powdered coffee. I went abroad for 5 years and during this time, hipsters became a thing. On my return in 2006, Melbourne was transformed like a home reno show, and the coffee culture was what it is today. I noticed trendy cafes popped up everywhere. Also sushi bars. The Italians may have been doing their thing in the undercurrent but the hipsters made it cool like an iPhone 3, and brought it to our attention.
I visited San Fran with a mate and it was his first time in the US. When he ordered his Starbucks coffee, he as asked if he wanted half and half. He wondered "half and half of what?" lol. We were however impressed with Starbuck's bottled coffee as we were renting an RV so it was convenient for the morning coffee.
I had also gone to Pike's Place, Seattle to find the original Starbucks just because it was a touristy thing to do. It was a small place. Not far from there was a regular Starbucks shop with a big leather sofas looking like a big lounge. I'm wondering if the Starbucks model of lounge and hanging out with your computer was a Starbucks thing. Regardless, I like this.
Anyway, imho, hipsters were the cause of the coffee revolution in Australia.
Interesting, thanks for watching!
There was good coffee in Sydney in the 80s. I expect it was the same in Melbourne. Probably Pelligrini's would be equivalent to our Reggio's or Bar Italia or Piccolo. You just had to know where to go. But yes, it's changed a lot and now even McDonald's serves half decent coffee and there's multiple cafes in every suburb in every city and the country.
It's not that we didn't need a Starbucks it's just that its really bad coffee.
Not our favorite
So bad. Gloria Jean's is the Aussie version of Starbucks, but even their coffee is foul.
The worst iced coffee I’ve ever had was Starbucks 😝
@@MsAllthenamesaretake GJ's was originalky American, and was named after its founder. It became Aussie way back in the late 1980's or early 1990's, nearly got sold off to a Singaporean company in 2013, but was bought by Retail Food Group, also Aussie, several years ago. Isn't as good as it was prior to the sale, but much better than Starbucks
I had a coffee so bad from Starbucks in London, I actually had to go and ask them if they had put a shot in it. It literally tasted like hot milk and nothing else. They put another shot in it and the taste didn't change. I was actually wondering if they were changing the coffee for each shot or if they just put coffee in at the beginning of the day and reused it for the whole day.
4:11 The epitome of coffee bringing ultimate joy.
:)
My coffee journey in USA wasn't good. I bought a latte from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and had to wait 10 minutes for it to cool down enough to sip. That kind of heat destroys the milk. There's as much technique to the beans as there is the milk.
Jenny burnt her tongue on the Starbucks compared to the local cafe was was warm but didn't burn you! Definitely agree
Some of us in Australia know exactly where you are ! One day we’ll try the Sola ☕️
Really enjoyed it, there's some other good cafes around we need to try
It’s actually closer to our old place in Raleigh than our current fave cafe is to home here in Sydney
Two Traveling Kings have you tried the Outback Steakhouse there? See if that reminds you of Australia
@@Jarjarbinks4president There's our next video :)
Add an extra shot and tell them no big bubble foam, the secret to a good flat white is the creama and micro foam mix when poured.
Nice!
It's interesting that our style of coffee didn't take off in the States as it came from the Italians and there were heaps of Italians in NY? You can't beat our coffee, I always miss it overseas, its so good that even in our small country towns of like 4k people you can still get a quality flat white I grew up drinking them in my smallish coastal town haha.
I live in Newcastle and we have great coffee (even on campus) but Melbourne makes the best coffee as it has a huge Italian population and the second biggest Greek population.
Yeah coffee has a strange culture in the US, lots of good RUclips vids on the different "waves" of coffee in America
The second you showed us the Starbucks coffee I said to myself "no man, that's a cappuccino without the chocolate dust." I seriously would have wanted to complain about that. Now I know why they didn't do well in Australia.
Ha! It definitely was not the best version of a "flat white" we've had. Thanks for watching 😊
The flat white is yet another example of the ongoing culture war between NZ and Aus over who invented what ... fun times.
Side note: It's one of the great things about Wellington... you pretty much fall over your own feet and you're in a cafe and, because of the coffee culture in Wellington, it's incredibly rare to get a bad coffee.
We had to cancel our trip to New Zealand this year which was so disappointing but now we have even more to look forward to, great coffee! Thanks for watching 😊
@@twotravelingkings we like our coffee strong in NZ, our standard is a double shot in Aus.
Santa Claus splashed out last Christmas and bought us a “de Longhi Eletta” coffee machine. It grinds the beans and foams the milk and “expresses” the coffee all with the press of one button. I alternate between the flat white, latte, cappuccino and double espresso buttons. They are all so good. Now it is just down to the quality of the beans and milk we choose. Yeah the machine was expensive ($1,100 on special) - but life is too short for bad coffee. Highly recommended. Ps keep up the great work!
Beautiful, may have to invest in one ourselves 🤓
When in the US and craving some caffeine... any sort of caffeine... I have found that the most consistent way of getting something drinkable from Starbucks is to ask for a "short double-shot latte with no foam". The short is a smaller cup that for some messed up reason they don't put on the menu. It's still likely to be mediocre, but I've found it to be a better option than asking for a tall flat white - that one simply has no coffee flavour and they mostly miss the memo about only having a thin cap of microfoam, so you have to be quite specific about no foam.
My go to in Australia is a small strong flat white, or a ristretto piccolo. It's no surprise that one of the first things I do when I touch back down in Sydney after a long USA holiday is to grab a coffee!!! :) I hope you guys can come back for another taste at some point.
Thanks for the Starbucks tips! May have to try it
One of the things I miss when I travel internationally is my morning flat white. I can't drink that stump water Starbucks calls coffee unless it's loaded with sugar. Edit: $4.60 for a coffee?? That's like $7AUD, wow!
I know! Crazy
Starbucks went bankrupt in Australia. There are only a few left in Sydney mainly for tourists looking for something familiar while visiting.
Yeah they aren't the most popular 😊
the Manly one is a good place to meet people at, as in: meet you out the front of Starbucks.
I really liked the short history lesson about Italians bringing the coffee culture over. Australia was predominately English prior to WWII and were heavily into tea drinking. After WWII, came the influx of German, Italian, Greek and other European countries. Slowly over the years, Australians tastes changed because of the new found diversity of flavors. Coffee became bigger and bigger. Looking into supermarkets now and Coffee and Tea share the same amount of shelf space, as a takeaway drink, coffee is the undisputed King.
Loved the coffee in Australia 😊
Coffee houses existed in Australia in the 1800s but it was expensive and out of reach for most people.
If you get a coffee machine then it's wise to get one where you can load your own selection of coffee. The ones that have pods you are limited to the coffee available. They are also very old and not fresh. You can get reusable pods and also pods that can be filled with your own coffee and sealed. I have a machine that looks like a miniature version of the espresso machines here in Aus. There is a lot of good information on forums; google coffee snobs and you'll see the forums.
Thanks for the tips! 😊
My husband said that the best coffee he had on our US trip was the one at McDonald's in Auckland airport! That's saying a lot because McDonald's coffee is pretty bad.
Haha Maccas coffee can be good sometimes!
But Mecca's in Australia and New Zealand have to lift thier act, the 1dollar endless cup of dishwasher water was not going to cut it.
now you are just as cursed as the rest of us Australians when we travel o'seas :)
😊
One thing I do miss when I travel is the coffee back home in Aus, even NZ was bad. I even love McDonald’s coffee here.
True
I'm glad u said North Carolina coz I hadn't a clue where you were. Better than going to Wagga Wagga or my cousins farm in Poo Wee Rup.
Thanks, John in the coffee capital of Melbourne.
Thanks for watching 😊
Hey Kings! I feel your pain looking for a decent coffee in the USA. I have the reverse problem travelling from Australia to the USA and usually desperate for a decent coffee. Sounds like the Sola coffee was a workable substitute. I wonder if you can buy an espresso machine over there and make your own? Otherwise I have found looking for cafes run by genuine Italians or South Americans are a good place to start. I was last in the States in February 2020 and found the Colombian-owned cafe Atticus near Yale University in New Haven CT had decent coffee (yes, a long way from Raleigh), but I say this to prove the point. There are also a lot more coffee shops run by Australians in New York now, if you are ever in NYC. Unfortunately the closest I've ever been to NC is Virginia so can't share any tips I'm afraid. But maybe your travel blog could start to focus on finding those little gems that serve decent espresso coffee as a service to US citizens and travellers (if we ever get back to your neck of the woods). Good luck with the search!
Great ideas Karen, thanks so much. Hope you get to come back one day soon 😊
Great video guys. I’m Australian and have been to the USA a few times. I find that when ordering coffee in America I need to ask for a double shot / extra strength coffee to resemble anything close to an Australian flat white. You’re right though, flat white’s are the best!
Thanks for watching! And good tip 😊
You should come on over to NZ and try our coffee culture, even get a decent coffee at a service station along with the best pies around while you fill up your car. Heaps of roasting companies and cafés dotted all over the country.
Planned on a NZ road trip after our time in Australia! Next time 😊
@@twotravelingkings sweet as.
Once you rtn to Australia...after Covid....you have to get yourself to Melbourne...some of the best coffee places, absolute gems hidden in lanes and various suburbs...I like tea too...Earl Grey...hot !...sometimes with a splash of honey.
We only got to spend one weekend in Melbourne so we'd absolutely love to go back! 😊
My heart goes out to you both as I don't know if I could not have a coffee everyday.
I felt for you so I went and had a coffee 🇦🇺🇦🇺
Haha 😊
Nice
Flat white is my coffee. I’m so sad you miss them. When you come back I’ll shout you your first coffee :)
Sounds like a plan :)
@@twotravelingkings I’ll 2nd that...I live in Cronulla! Home of coffee!
My first work trip to the USA for work I arrived with a 1Kg tin of Nescafe. I took it everywhere with me & even had to buy a kettle as you buggers don't use electric kettles. I returned a few months later with a 5 Kg caterers Tin. It was popular with my workmates too.
Haha yes electric kettles are awesome! Hard to find tho
Coffee - yes please!
My favorite from Melbourne is a Gloria Jeans regular cappuccino from my local shop in Forest Hill.
Their regular size is around about a mug size, served hot, with thick foam and sprinkled with chocolate powder. I was at my local just an hour ago and enjoyed my favorite beverage.
Not sure if you guys get Gloria Jeans in the States but it is by far the best coffee chain in Australia - in my opinion.
We do have it in the states, tried it in Australia. Was pretty good!
And of course you don't need to buy from a chain, there are hundreds - if not thousands of small cafes all serving superb, first class coffee.
I'm nearly 70 and retired. When I was in business I was required to travel the world. My last trip to the USA was early 1990's and I'm sorry to say your coffee back then was (I'm so sorry) rubbish!
For me, except for Australia, the best place for quality coffee is Italy. And in Rome, opposite the Spanish Steps, is/was a magnificent cafe.
I hope you get back to Australia and continue your wonderful journey.
Hi again Jenny and Logan. Of course the main thing that defines a good coffee from a bad one is the barrista. A great coffee lounge can be heavily impacted by a poor barrista. Likewise a brilliant barrista can turn a traditionally poor coffee shop into a 'must stop shop'.
And on the subject of Vegemite - a much loved spread by me. I also add Vegemite to celery to make a great hunger buster.
Get some fresh, crisp celery, wash it, and cut the storks into 75mm to 100mm sticks.
Spread a thin layer of Vegemite into the valley of the celery at about the same thickness as you would on toast. (Some like it thick, some thin)
I just love my celery/Vegemite sticks as a healthy snack.
Part of the reason I hate Starbucks is because it’s just a big corporation like McDonalds and the little cafes in Australia are usually just people’s small businesses.
That's very true! There's something about the small local feel that makes the coffee taste better 😊
Don’t think you’ll be getting many ad dollars from Starbucks
😂 probably not
Hopefully Starbucks checks out your post and listens to your coffee critique and improves there coffee, so it could be a win win for everyone, but wouldn't hold your breathe on that one.
@@Renegade040 I mean they didn't listen to the whole nation of Australia telling them their coffee is rubbish and changed their ways, they just shut up shop and left lol
@@twotravelingkings Who is Starbucks? Lol.
If you do travel to the US and want a good coffee suggest you try and find Aussie Coffee outlets. In NY there are a substantial Aussie coffee outlets around Manhattan
all serving coffee just like at home. I particularly enjoyed Little Collins in 3rd Ave, NYC
A lot of people commented about Little Collins! Will check it out if we're ever in New York 😊
That's also very true, there are coffee cafes everywhere in Australia; but most bars, and restaurants also make coffee here. Starbucks usually pops up at university campuses, airports and hospitals; places where you need to get your coffee and run; and it makes a whole lot of sense there. Wow you roasted the crap out of them , it was hilarious.
Yeah wasn't good haha
Had to laugh reminded me of coffee junkies looking for a fix stay safe cheers
Cheers 😊
Burnt coffee with spit in it. *Thank you, The Chaser*
All you need is a coffee machine that grinds the coffee for you, pushes a bit of water through to make about a 1/4 cup of black coffee then add it to some milk you warmed up in the microwave.
Probs the closest you will get to Aussie coffee over there...
Thanks for the tips! Will give it a try :)
That Starbucks coffee almost looks like a babychino. In Australia, thats a small cup of foamy milk for young children to drink, while the parents have a proper coffee, maybe with a snack. They are very common in adventure play centres. Mothers with preschool aged children often meet up at these places. The mothers have a chat, while their kids play with their friends.
Sounds like a good place to be a kid! 😊
Thats the reason why Starbucks didn't survive in Australia. Australian coffee is one of the best around the world. I have a hard time finding good decent coffee when I travel around the world myself.
Hard to beat!
NZ is the only place I've been that rivals an aussie coffee.
Ethiopia the land where it originally came from. I've been there they cook the beans in front of you and then boil it. If you want the best coffee taste it's there.
From a real Aussie Coffee Lover.
The foam in the first one had big bubbles. Should not be able to see bubbles. Just a smooth solid foam like a foam coffee cup. The Starbucks was way too foamy. Looked like a cappuccino.
Most good baristas in Australia use a special barista milk made to foam well. Has the right fat content.
The coffee roasting in Australia is strongly Italian based due to the many Italians that migrated to Australia after WW2. Hard to get a bad coffee in Australia.
In France coffee with milk is usually OK, as long as you do not try Starbucks coffee. They use Long Life milk and it tastes disgusting. Like medicine.
Gave up trying coffee in the UK. WEAK. A regular coffee has no coffee taste at all. Tried a triple dose one and it was about the strength of a regular coffee in Australia.
You know your coffee! Thanks for the info :)
Late to the party on this. As an Aussie that lived in the US, my hack was to ask for a latte with no foam - mostly worked. The one at Starbucks was ordinary.
This was very helpful! I was rather uneducated about the flat whites, now I know! Thanks!
😊 thanks for watching!
In the United States of America go to the neighbourhood of Nolita, Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York. Heaps of Australian cafes there run by young Expat Aussies in their 20s & 30s. So you can also expects to find heaps & heaps & heaps of Flat Whites there ❗ ( Oh BTW, Starbucks royally 👎 👎 👎 👎 👎)
Someone else commented that too! Good to know 😊
Sounds like the 'solo' place needs to grind a touch finer or anothe 1/2 shot of coffee and work on the milk.. well steamed milk should taste sweeter then the plain milk that it came from and should look velvety.....
We'll let em know 😊 thanks for watching!
@@twotravelingkings well??? Did you get better coffee?????
I’m Australian and I must say that the coffee I drank in the USA in 2006 compared to 2019 .... huge improvement. However, it’s so weak. I had to ask for 2 extra shots for it to be close to what I’m used to and had to order a cappuccino as most places didn’t know what a flat white was. I like my coffee strong, nut normally just have one super strong flat white to start the day and I’m set. Sorry NZ, I haven’t been there for 12 years, looking forward to coming back,
Yeah you'll be hard pressed to find a flat white here in the US especially one that comes close to the authentic Australian flat white!
I spent 2 months in Italy, a town called Montepuluciano and the coffee there was fantastic. It was as good as the coffee in my small hometown in Qld, but no better. Had some great coffee in Rome that was nearly as good as Melbourne. To be honest, you can go to any small back blocks town and get a great coffee. Narrabri NSW, is several hours form any big city in Australia, and I had coffee there as good as anywhere else in the world. It's in the middle of nowhere and it has at least 3 good coffee cafe's. Food, wine and coffee is a real thing eh..
Bubbles too big on flat white 1 , Starbucks 😳good luck with that ,
a large Aussie one is larger + you can smell it without opening the lid.
Good to know!
The first one looked like a long black with some foamed milk... or a long machiato
Last time I was in USA (years ago), I got an iced coffee from a chain store (not Starbucks). I had to bin it. Im still wondering why the heck it was so bad. Maybe it was drip coffee?
Yes we Americans love our iced coffee. Which is drip coffee with ice in it, not an americano over ice. They can be hit or miss
I think I got something similar from a gas station in the US... it was big and I added creamer to whiten it up. I also binned it. Idk was creamer is but it didn’t taste like cream OR milk
@@twotravelingkings strange, most iced coffee in australia is milk based. Either an iced latte (milk, ice and espresso) or iced coffee (scoop icecream, milk and espresso) either can be served with whipped cream. We of course offer iced long blacks but black coffee generally isn't the norm in the Australian coffee culture.
Another difference could also be the milk here in Australia as our production standards are different. I read once that American milk can't be sold in Europe, Australia and other countries for that reason.
Interesting!
I've done 2 month long stints in the US (2016 & 2019). Crap coffee (in my opinion, the locals clearly enjoy it) was the norm. Nothing produced by Starbucks even remotely resembled good coffee. Its insipid, yet burnt - no surprise that it seemed to be commonly ordered with caramel shots - or some other flavour masking additive.
I did have their version of iced coffee a couple of times when desperation hit.
Had a decent coffee in SFC from a chain, surprisingly, - I reckon it was called Peets... (small place toward the middle of the city) Had another good coffee in New Orleans - dont remember the name of that joint, was strolling past and that magical aroma of properly expressed coffee nearly yanked me off my feet.
Yeah peet's isn't bad!
Lordy,you guys annihilated Starbucks. Now I remember why I only tried it once. If you guys ever make it back to Oz come to Queensland. Darn sight better than living down south.
Starbucks isn't always awful but that flat white was not good! And definitely need to check out Queensland. We'll make it back eventually 😊
I second that Charles. Better climate, cheaper everything, more scenery diversity and the Great Barrier Reef.
@@rosssmith6205 Clearly, You both have never visited the Sutherland Shire...We have the best of EVRYTHING!
$5USD for a mediocre coffee ouch... you need to interview an Australian barista and ask them what the difference is because even as an Australian I can't really tell you.... i drink long black and flat white interchangeably
An expensive cup of no good coffee 😔
I'm sorry you guys did not get to stay here in Oz longer. I really hope you can come back down under after COVID. I love the beautiful countryside around your home. Stunning. I love a good flat white. Australia seems to concentrate on its quality rather than quantity.
Pro tips: If you're forced to get a coffee at a place with questionable standards, one thing I like to do is get them to just put the shots of coffee in the cup then fill the rest of the cup with cold milk - this is how I drink coffee even at good places during the Australian summer, but it's helpful because it prevents you from having to deal with burnt and badly textured milk. It won't help mitigate stale and or over roasted coffee which a bad coffee place will invariably be using but it does at least eliminate one variable that can be screwed up.
The other really important tip to judging whether you're at a good coffee place without buying anything is to watch what the baristas are doing - a good barista will grind the coffee that they need for each cup as they need it. If you see one of those grinders with the collection tub built into it and a bunch of coffee ground ahead of time you should turn around and walk out - you are about to be served stale coffee. The essential oils that give coffee beans their flavour start to evaporate as soon as you grind it, even 30 mins is long enough to affect the flavour.
Finally, look at what they are doing with milk. A good barista will never refroth the same milk twice. A poorly run place will have a giant milk jug that they froth, pour some of it into a cup to make a coffee, top it back up, and then froth again. This ruins the milk. A good barista will only ever pour what they need into the jug, and toss out anything left over before frothing completely fresh milk for the next customer.
Great tips! 😊
how about tea
Not big tea drinkers to be fair, just the odd green tea every now and again...
I didn't know that Starbucks actually make coffee.
🤣
BullEye!!!!!!!!!...... 🏹
Gloria jeans is doing good in Australia, mainly due to 2 Aussies helping the company out setting it up. You might wanna get a flat white from them in the US.
Tried them in Australia! Pretty good
I get Gloria Jeans on occasion. I think it's very hit or miss, had some good coffee from there and some that tasted burnt to heck and back.
Add in their cups are tiny. People say Starbucks is expensive, when they are roughly what you'd pay at post cafes(at least what I've experienced). Gloria Jeans in the expensive one just looking at it from price to what you get
that being said, I swear Gloria Jeans cup sizes weren't always so small. I think it's something that's changed within the last few years
Ha ha! I’m so happy you two found a good flat white a reasonable drive away for when you need one.
We are too! 😊