It’s the last day in Australia

It’s the last day in Australia.
As planned,
I completed the barista course at The Coffee Gang and received a certificate.

Although it was a short 5-day course, I felt a great sense of achievement in accomplishing something before leaving Australia.
Most importantly, I learned a lot about coffee, understood it better, and made various coffee drinks.

I still lacked experience in making all the coffee varieties served in cafes,
but I learned what’s important when brewing coffee and how to make my favorite Cafe Mocha.

Therefore, even though it was the day before leaving Australia, I felt like I gained something valuable.

Prior to completing the course, we played a small game where we competed in making different coffee drinks:

Long Black,
Piccolo Latte,
Flat White,
Cafe Latte,
Cafe Mocha,
and Cappuccino.

We had a competition to see who could make the espresso and milk-based coffees faster and at the right temperature.
Tony, our barista teacher, served as the judge.

The result was…
du-gu-du-gu-du-gu-du-gu-du-gu.
In both rounds of the competition, I (Dan) came in first place.
Tried 2 times, and I got 48 seconds and 42 seconds.

Making coffee quickly was important, but crema and temperature were also crucial.
The foam of the cappuccino needed to be warm and smooth, both on the top of the cup and inside, forming a boundary with the coffee.
Smoothness refers to the texture, and to achieve this texture, the technique of creating silky steamed milk was important, along with not overlooking the intermediate steps of the Tap-Mix-Pour.

According to Tony, our barista teacher, I had everything perfect.

Later, when I returned to Korea, it was a fact that Australia had a distinctive coffee culture with a blend of European-style coffee and Australian-style coffee.
It goes without saying that I couldn’t find long blacks, flat whites, or piccolo lattes in Korea.
(Nowadays, you can occasionally find long blacks and flat whites.)

The enjoyable barista course had come to an end, and I had become a barista who knew, drank, and made coffee.

Carrying my barista certificate on the way home, the makeshift cafes along the road didn’t seem as appealing anymore.
I had wanted to work in such a place, but my time in Australia was too short.

I heard that Chinese people have bird-raising as a hobby,
and perhaps because there were many Chinese people in Australia, I could occasionally see such bird cages.
Although the birds couldn’t fly freely, seeing them in these cages suspended in the sky made them seem more bird-like.

On the way home, I made a brief stop at Circular Quay. The cruise ship was still docked in Sydney. It was still such a massive ship. I wished I could sail on that ship and go to Korea.

It may not be as big, but from Osaka, I will take a ferry to Busan.

Now, let’s go home.

Dec. 10. 2009