No, not an iced coffee

Like most things, tastes change with the turn of a new season. For example, in winter I crave a piping hot cappuccino or a smooth, creamy latte. While in summer, it’s completely different – the iced latte makes a strong return.

Living in Melbourne means I am constantly surrounded by good coffee – at least almost always. I love that I can always be a walk away from a quality cup of coffee; it’s incredibly reassuring.

Everyone also tends to be aware of the standard coffees that are ordered: you’ve got your cap, your latte, flat white, long black, short black and espresso. No one seems to have an issue with them, no wires seem to get crossed. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for my beloved iced latte.

If I order one in the city, it’s safe to say I get what I ask for and for the normal running price too. However, as you move more and more out towards the suburbs I have unfortunately found that knowledge of said iced latte – a.k.a the perfect summer drink – is minimal. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have asked for an iced latte and been met with frowns of confusion, followed with “do you mean an iced coffee?”

Now I don’t usually rant about silly little things like coffee (not really that silly 😉 ) or other things that are really not detrimental, but I’m actually so over this *cry face*.

At first I was like oh ok, you don’t know what it is? That’s ok. I thought it was a one off thing, but the more I started to order it everywhere, the more people were like “sorry we don’t do that here”, “sorry I don’t know how to make that”, “sorry, sorry, sorry”.

AAAHHHHHHH I know many of you may not relate to this but I have found it incredibly frustrating that there are baristas who are unsure of how to make an iced latte! All it is, is cold milk poured over a cube (or cubes) of ice and the shot of coffee – that’s it! No ice-cream, no cream, no nothing – nothing extra. Just milk, an ice cube (or cubes depending on the size of your ice cubes) and the shot of coffee.

And to make matters worse, these places that have no idea what an iced coffee is, charge me almost DOUBLE the price of a normal coffee – you don’t even need to heat the milk up! why am I being charged extra?

Yes this is such a first world problem but this last one was the last straw.

To all the baristas out there, please learn how to make iced lattes – and learn the difference between it and an iced coffee (which includes cream and ice-cream). Pretty please 🙂 .

Sincerely,
Now that I let my frustration out I feel better iced latte lover ❤

 

München Hofbraühaus

Melbourne had had this coming for a while. There was no way that the best city in the world would miss out. Already graced with a miniature replica, we still wanted more.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of avid beer connoisseurs, flock to Munich to partake in the most iconic boozefest of the year. No guilt or fear of judgement and embarrassment is guaranteed during this hall pass from Sobriety. We understand, it’s oktoberfest and that’s what you’re there to do – drink, drink and drink some more.

Our first encounter…

I recall it being a frosty January evening. It had been a long journey to Munich and some people at the hostel I was staying at were talking about beer. I of course, being indifferent to it, paid no attention and continued my attempt to rest.

With more chat about some ‘awesome’ bar, I adopted the #YOLO approach and decided to join my fellow travellers on their quest for this beer. On arrival I heard them ‘oooo’ and ‘aaah’ – noises which were completely wasted on my uneducated ears. Don’t misunderstand, I thought it was a beautiful building and was mildly excited, however it was just beer.

I didn’t know of the infamy of the beer hall – how could I? I wasn’t a beer drinker! Which is why I committed such a ‘horrible crime’ (not knowing to get the 1 litre) and opted for the 500ml of German beer. Now before you judge, I knew the 1 litre would do me in – so my choice was just as much a precaution as it was ‘ignorance’.

No surprises, 30 minutes later I was having a ball and completely surprised at just how awesome this place was. There were people singing, dancing and having a merry old time. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought about how great it would be to have one in Melbourne!

So when I got back home, I was beyond excited to find out that we were getting our very own! Obviously, I made plans to try it out straight away. I wanted to see how it compared with the original and whether it would be just as good — finally, I got to test it out.

2 weeks ago I was finally able to go to the Munich brauhaus. Apparently we already had a haufbraühaus here in Melbourne that I did not know about (crazy, I know) which explains the slight spin on the name. Anyway, I went and was insanely happy.

It felt like a piece of my trip here at home.

It is definitely not the same as the one in Munich in that the architecture is much more modern. Nonetheless I think they’ve done a good job intertwining the old with the new. Bits of timber are seen throughout the place with a stylish, sleek finish.

This 900 seated venue provided me with a show, 1 litre of beer (had it for the whole time I was there and it was great) and a massive pretzel that rendered the sausages and mash I ordered pointless as I was already so full. So if you go, go with a completely empty stomach or if not believe me when I say a beer and pretzel will be all you need.

That’s all I’ll be getting next time!

The people who own this joint did well in hiring plenty of people. They are very professional but not at all cold. We were greeted with smiles and everyone was incredibly helpful — especially since we took about 30 minutes to order our food! They were also very good in giving recommendations which helped me decide which beer to get — even though i don’t remember what it’s called…

I think the only downfall I could say this place has is that we had a booking and had to be out of there 2 hours later — which is completely fine as they had let us know beforehand, but that means we were a bit rushed.

By the end of the night I was 1 litre of beer down and as happy as could be. If you want to celebrate Oktoberfest in Melbourne, chill, or just a have good time in general, head over to south wharf — a short walk from the exhibition centre — and enjoy a Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Hell — there, I remembered 😉

You won’t regret it.

Images
1 © Christina Guzman
2 Urbaneventsvenues