Greetings from Down Under.

[Danny]

Just thought I'd drop you all a note from sunny Brisbane.

Home has changed a bit (or maybe we have) but I am glad to say that the Coffee has actually improved.

The other day I had a few hours to kill in the city as I dropped my dad off to the hospital to have some tests and I stopped by all the places recommended to me by some Brisvegan coffeegeek members.(Brisbane is affectionatly called Brisvegas, I dont know why)

I gotta say that no coffee was a dissapointment but having 6 in the space of 2 hours was a bit of a push. I got back to the hospital and, being the meddlesome imp that my mother thinks I am I hooked myself up to his pulse monitor. hehe My heart rate was 93, not sutprising as I was bouncing off the walls from the caffiene.

Anyway, like I said, there were some good coffees to be had and my long time favourite was still great. (IMHO) The guy behind the counter even recognised me from 4 years ago so we were able to sit and talk coffee for 10 minutes. It's not only nice to see an owner being as freaky about quality as me (almost) but great to see that this attention to the bean pays off (he has 4 stores now).

Anyway, I'll take some photos of my favourite haunts and put them online sometime. (Joey, if you read this, perhaps you'd be interested in seeing what an Aussie coffee shop looks like? Might give you some ideas at any rate.)

The coffee at home is not so great, my old (not so great) machine needs some TLC before it could be used again and I dont have a grinder. At the moment I am drinking Nescafe instant *sniff*.

-D
p.s. All dads tests were fine so that is a load off my mind.

[phil]

Hi Danny

Glad your Dad's OK.

Send me the piccies and some text and I'll happily put it on the web for you. I'm sure I can put a European slant on the title to justify it somehow!

When do we expect you back in NL?

Cheers mate

Phil

[Raf]

Good to hear from you Danny.

[Joey]

BRISBANE!!!! I love it.
It's such a beautiful, clean town. The botanical garden is wonderful!
I remember these 3 Cafés in the middle and on both ends of the mall in the center...i forgot the name of the chain, but downtown, uptown and midtown was added, I think...
I specially loved the artistically menu blackboards.
Please send me pictures, I'm curious about any imput I can get!
And thanks for thinking about it

Have a nice time and best wishes for your family, too.

Greetings from Austria (where we sell "no kangaroo" T-Shirts bacause so many people in the world mix Austria with Australia when you tell them where we are from....)

Joey (Guess where I got my nickname? Yep, lived in Sydney for 2 months once)

[Danny]

Lol, love that T-Shirt.

Living in the EU I get a lot of the "Austrian/Australian" thing too.. Especially when conversing with ppl via email.

Pictures to come.