Our Managing Director, David Williamson has just landed back in Lawmoor Road after a 19 day coffee tour of the Far East and Australasia. (More of which in fresh 14.)

One of David’s tasks was to track down the ultimate Macchiato. Australia and New Zealand provided the richest sippings, with a real understanding of freshness and presentation. For instance, at Sydney’s Matchbox, they grind every shot to order, and the beans are removed from the hopper and stored in the fridge overnight. If that’s not serious enough, they also store unopened bags under the stairs in insulating boxes to fend off flavour-destroying heat.

A little excessive? Not judging by the taste.

In fact, David even witnessed plenty of Macchiato art in Auckland.

However, it’s fair to say that the Japanese market doesn’t ‘do’ coffee as we know it – witness the canned latte. But despite this, David managed to track down a café run by an ex-Seattle resident.

Macchiato wasn’t on the menu (they hadn’t even heard of one), but David managed to persuade the incredibly helpful staff to have a go. The results were surprisingly good. And better, say, than the quadruple (yes, really) brewed, mixed-with-old-coffee-grinds, sweetened with condensed milk concoction favoured in Hong-Kong.
Sayonara for now.

This article originally appeared in Fresh 13