By Rama Gaind
No excuse is necessary to visit Melbourne: this is where you will find a smorgasboard of new international exhibitions and popular festivals, appealing theatre productions, along with plenty of retail bargains and sporting fixtures.
Add to this, a tour to discover why Melbourne is Australia’s coffee-drinking capital with Maria Paoli from Evolving Success and the two-day stay is jam-packed with activity.
There’s so much to see and do, but first things first: check-in to the chic Lyall Hotel and Spa in South Yarra. This is Melbourne’s only privately-owned and operated five-star hotel with a collection of one- and two-bedroom suites together with grand suites and the platinum suite that are complemented by tailor-made service in luxury boutique surroundings.
The welcoming ambience is appealing, but most unusual is the mini art gallery on each level with fireplace and oversized armchairs from where you can admire the original works.
Voted Australia’s ‘Leading Boutique Hotel’ by the World Travel Awards, the hotel has 40 suites of contemporary oriental design. All of them are spacious, resembling apartments rather than typical hotel rooms. Even the smallest (540 sq ft) deluxe one-bedroom suite includes a separate bedroom and living area (both with TVs) and an ensuite that has a marble bathroom with bath.
Being obsessed with getting a good night’s sleep, it was reassuring to know that the high quality mattress and non-allergenic pillows were in addition (or instead) of the pillows that dressed the bed. The choice was wide: feather and down, contour, anti-ageing and rubber core foam. Opting for the anti-ageing pillow, for obvious reasons, I had a comfortable, dreamless night’s sleep – but didn’t look any younger for it!
The Lyall’s lifestyle facilities include a restaurant and champagne bar, day spa and gymnasium. As a guest, you’ll get an opportunity to indulge in retail therapy with privilege shopping at a number of the finest shops will tempt you with goods and garments from Australia and around the world.
This is a fashionable address that’s tucked away from the busy main street, but you’ll have plenty of opportunity to explore world class stores and restaurants.
Whirlwind coffee trek
Now the time had come to find out just how important the cafe/coffee revolution is to a country’s economy.
Why is Melbourne addicted to coffee and when did the city’s love affair start with the bean? After taking a whirlwind walking tour weaving through the CBD streets, arcades and the rich café and coffee culture with Maria Paoli I realised the intensity of her passion. The tour introduced Melbourne’s elaborate coffee history, which began on Bourke Hill and challenged all participants to develop “cupping skills” inciting the craze of coffee in all.
Enthusiasts are escorted through Melbourne’s coffee history, while sampling some of the city’s best-extracted coffee. The Culture Crawl takes you through the city to visit original cafes and roasting houses, sampling blends and learning the art of a great roast, a perfect extraction, extending, texture and the art of cupping.
Part-history lesson and part-coffee appreciation class, the trek began at the landmark Pellegrini’s Bar in Bourke Street which was one of the first cafes to import a Gaggia machine in the 1950s, and the famous Florentines restaurant, home to the city’s first espresso machine in 1901.
While enjoying the macchiatone with the froth on top, Maria elaborates about Melbourne changing forever in 1954 when the first water-driven expresso machine was introduced. Known locally as the ‘Coffee Girl’, the extent of her knowledge is astounding, matched equally by her fervour. Maria knows everything there is to know about coffee and everyone associated with the industry. She is a veteran barista who now trains would-be world champions.
“The previous steam-driven machines produced coffee that was very bitter. The new
water-driven machines made a more flavoursome brew that lured people away from the traditional tearooms and sparked an explosion in coffee shops, altering the way people engaged with the city.”
Education continues
As the education continues, we visit the Specialty Coffee Sensory Lab at the entrance to David Jones which is more like a shrine to the coffee bean. Here we chat with a pierced, tattooed barista whose knowledge, insight and dexterity is amazing. This is where you learn that “there is chemistry and science in coffee”.
The cafes we visited are a mixed bag of surprises weaving down hidden laneways and old city buildings.
We went into Somerset Lane into Captain’s of Industry and along Little Bourke to BBB (the cafe with chairs on the roof) and Hardware Lane. We then move on to some other modern establishments and to Guava Bean the “smallest hole in the wall” in the city in the Causeway laneway.
As Maria puts it: “Coffee is synonymous with retail therapy and one cannot do without the other. Myer has cafes through out its Bourke Street outlet with one of Melbourne’s successful cafe Brunetti in its lingerie section”.
We mingle with other coffee trekkers and learn about baristas, roasters, participants in coffee and the cultural revolution in espresso, the best machines and the role of Australians in international and national championships.
It doesn’t take long to realise that Maria is fuelled on coffee – and it’s infectious!
The tour is a feast of tales and anecdotes taken from Melbourne’s coffee history together with tasting the deep-golden extraction across tongues to experience the full flavour.
It’s amazing to realise that the enthusiasm for coffee continues to grow and hover at levels between the inspiring and the ridiculous.
Cultural highlights
If you visit Melbourne now, you’ll also get a chance to see Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs that’s on at the Melbourne Museum; Love Never Dies
is the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera at the Regent Theatre; Rock of Ages is on at the Comedy Theatre; and National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne is showcasing art by early 20th century Vienna artists such as Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele.
Rama Gaind was a guest of the Lyall Hotel and Evolving Success.
DETAILS
The Lyall Hotel,
14 Murphy Street
South Yarra VIC 3141
Phone (03) 9868 8222
http://www.thelyall.com
Evolving Success
Maria Paoli’s historical coffee trek and coffee making classes are at www.evolvingsuccess.com.au
