The beginning...

For some bizarre, unexplainable reason, I only began drinking coffee a little over a year ago. I had spent much of my life checking out new cafes but I only ever ordered tea... And its not like my taste buds were lacking either...food and especially wine have been an obsession of mine for years. And when I eat ice-cream, 9 times out of 10 it's coffee ice-cream... So why didn't I drink coffee? I don't know...I just didn't...

But then it all changed. Late in 2010, I went into a cafe owned by a friend of mine called Small World in Melbourne CBD. It was the cafe's final day. Adam wasn't serving food that day but he was still pouring coffee. Before I left, he asked if he could make me a coffee. I told him I don't drink coffee. He wouldn't take no for an answer so I gave in. And then about a minute later, he served me a 'short mac'. I drank it, shrugged my shoulders, told him I'd see him in a few months at his new venture and walked out. Suffice to say it wasn't a life changing experience.

A few hours later I spoke to my cousin Josh. Josh is one of my many friends who were perplexed by my lack of coffee intake. Towards the end of the conversation, I remembered to tell him that I'd had a coffee that day. Josh was flabbergasted...and demanded that I drop by his office on the way home from work so he could make me another coffee. So I did. And had another 'short mac'. It was basically much the same reaction as my first that day. But boy was I buzzing driving home! And was still awake at 2am that night!

I maybe had another 2 or 3 more coffees over the next few weeks. Subconsciously I was beginning to get the taste of coffee...but I didn't know it at the time. My first realisation occured when my friend Ari took me to a coffee place on Flinders Lane after we had lunch one day. To put it nicely, it tasted like shit. But more importantly, I had a sudden realisation what bad coffee tasted like. So on the way back from work that day, I visited my cousin Josh again. I needed to taste good coffee again. And one short mac later, it all made sense. The monster had been created...and it needed to be fed.