Interview No. 2: Coffee-lovin', Mac-huggin' Greek freak

Here's the second of a little string of interviews I've got lined up. Enjoy.

As long as I've known Dave, he's been a caffeine freak, searching for the freshest, liveliest coffee around.

When he's not doing that, he's hunting down ancient Greek nouns and participles. (And occasionally turning up for work as well.)

He finished his mid-year college exams only last week, but felt that another set of questions was just what the doctor ordered. So who was I to argue?

Celebrating Design: People from all over Sydney (and well beyond) would know you as the coffee freak who buzzes around from one café to another critiquing crema and aroma before posting your observations online. What got you interested in coffee in the first place?

Dave: Like most people, I think, I started drinking coffee as a means to stay awake; I was drinking more and more instant coffee, and then started drinking uni cappucinos.

It wasn't until I left uni that I started looking for a better quality of coffee. At my first job after uni, we bought a small espresso machine for the office: I started getting used to making espressos and lattes, so much so that I organised another espresso machine for the next place I worked in.

CD: What are the traits of a well-engineered coffee?

D: In my own opinion, an espresso and a latte have different traits.

For espresso, I look for something that's syrupy, that coats the tongue, has a somewhat bright flavour with a lot of complexity, and then stays with you for a long time afterwards.

With a latte, it's all about the milk-work. Often, you'll find that the kind of coffee that makes a good latte will make a lousy espresso: it's about something subtle: the coffee flavour and its interplay with the milk.

The process of engineering a coffee goes as far back as knowing the farms where the plant is grown, through the roasting process, checking the grind: even the kind of water that you might like to use to make the coffee.

People can obsess over it, and that can make all the difference in what you drink.

CD: How does an understanding for the work which goes into producing premium coffee enhance your appreciation of it?

D: When I'm drinking coffee (and now when I'm drinking decaf), I think about what the different flavours are, the texture, the aromas, the crema; it's a far cry from where I used to be with those dirt-flavoured cappuccinos back at uni.

The downside, of course, is that it's much harder to find a coffee that I'm happy with.

CD: Does the skill of learning to 'read' coffee translate over into any other experiences in life for you?

D: I think I learned most of my coffee tasting skills in the field of wine tasting, but they've gone far beyond what I'm able to detect in wine.

I've found that working on my palette has enhanced my enjoyment of food - provided I take the time to look at it. It's also helped me with cooking, because that's all about mixing flavours together.

Reviewing cafes has had a broader impact: it's helped me think carefully about how hospitality works, and what kind of spaces, and little touches, make all the difference.

CD: A while ago you turned to the challenge of learning a 'dead' language: biblical Greek. Many of us have had the opportunity to learn 'live' languages like French or Japanese. Is there a different pattern of learning employed for being schooled in ancient Greek?

D: I've never tried to learn a second language before, so I'm not sure what the process is for learning one. With biblical Greek, there's no real opportunity to practice it conversationally: it ends up being an effort in flashcards, and trying to see familiar patterns.

CD: As you learn their language, what picture of the Greeks of the 1st century AD era builds up in your mind? Does the language itself (and its form) tell you anything about them?

D: When we were first learning, the lecturer mentioned that Greek is a verb-based language, while English is noun-based. I've been trying to see how that works, but it has yet to become clear to me. The deeper I look into the language, the more complicated it gets - my latest reading project for Greek is a 600-odd page book just devoted to grammar.

CD: Coffee, Greek and Mac computers all seem to appeal to you strongly. Is there a common link in there somewhere?

D: There's something about logical, structured design that links the three, I think: if you look at the scoresheet that comes out for the World Barista Championship, you can see how coffee-making really is an ordered process.

There's something similar there with Macs, and with Greek: they each have an elegance and a structure to them.