Why all the fuss? Its just a coffee!
I think I started off 2020 much the same as a lot of other people.
The past couple of years had been tough and the new year and decade symbolised a fresh start, a time to be positive. The future that I had been working so hard for seemed to be just around the corner, a gear shift was coming.
As the new year rolled around, I was full of promise and potential. You know when you daydream or have those shower thoughts, asking those big exciting questions, scheming those big audacious goals. The type that play out so effortlessly in your imagination, but never seem to make it past the bathroom door. Questions like.
“What do i want to achieve this year?
How can I really make an impact ?”
and
“why the hell doesn’t my wife put the face wash back in the shower after she’s finished using it at night?!”
I hope the fact that I’m writing this now is proof that sometimes those shower thoughts do make it past the bathroom door, and whatever happens from here, well at least I can say I gave it a crack.
I’ll start from the top, when I guess you can say this idea began brewing…
Early 2019 saw Aisha (my beautiful Wife) and I in Sydney, with our 5 month old son, we were there to shoot an ad/video for a company called Babbel. They liked our Italian wedding story, and I may have said that I used the app more than I actually did, to help with some Italian phrases. They flew us over to tell our story in front of the camera. I was terrible, Aish carried the team on this one as I froze in front of the camera. You can see for yourself here if you get a moment. As you’ll see I’m definitely not a natural in front of the camera, you’ll also notice how much I’m punching above my weight class by marrying the 10 standing next to me in the video.
The hectic schedule in Sydney meant we both needed lots of coffee, I ordered my usual, wherever i went. A long mac topped up. It didn’t even occur to me that the style of coffee that I was requesting was not the typical Sydney order. I did get some odd looks when we were asked for our orders when the film crew did a coffee run, what I was given was definitely not what I was expecting, but I’m not one to complain so I just grabbed what caffeine I could without thinking twice. It wasn’t till the last day that i ordered, in a cool back alley cafe near the hotel that the young waitress looked up and said “you’re from Perth aren’t you?” Aish and I looked at each other perplexed, “do we really stick out that much?”
She saw the confusion in our eyes and continued by explaining that she was also originally from Fremantle, and that only those on the other side of Australia order their long macs topped up, she smiled and put the order through, knowing exactly what caffeinated beverage I was desperately seeking to start my morning. The receipt was returned after payment to show “double shot latte” Thats were I was going wrong apparently.
But then I stopped and questioned. “Was I wrong? Were a large majority of people of Perth wrong ? Was a whole state of Australia wrong?” should I have felt embarrassed that I was adding to a stereotype of Western Australians being a little less cultured than our Easter States counterparts?
As i sat there waiting for my pancakes, i discussed what was going through my head with Aisha. She looked interested, but i think thats just a skill she’s gained over the years of listening to some of the crap i tend to talk about. Ordering the double shot latte got me my long mac topped up, finally. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was an underlying push back, that the Western Australian way was simply not going to be accepted. The process of explaining the style of coffee I was after was essentially the same, I mean we essentially get to the same place but just with different instructions.
Who is actually controlling how we order ? And why shouldn’t Perth’s very own Long Mac Topped Up be considered as the correct way of ordering? Who are the caffeine oracles of the Eastern States of Australia that determines that one way is better than the other ?
So many questions !
So I let that thought from my eye-opening trip percolate for a while.
Since that time, much has happened for everyone in Australia, and the World. Large catastrophic events and pressing issues. The Bushfires, Covid-19, tensions between Super Powers, Black Lives Matter rallies, economic uncertainty, lock downs, quarantines and lets not forget toilet paper shortages!!. A lot more pressing or important subjects to focus on, rather than my coffee ordering paradigm.
All of these events have crushed the plans and good intentions that everyone set out for this year and decade, myself included. It’s gone from what can i achieve this year to what can we salvage of this year? And It’s easy to feel helpless as we are constantly bombarded on social media and television about issues that we are made to feel we are responsible for, or that we have some sort of control of. But just don’t know how to help, so we find ourselves arguing on obscure social media threads, with people we’ve never met all trying to prove that one persons point of view is wrong and theirs is right. It does nothing but cause anxiety, anger resentment and fear. And we still don’t feel heard.
The events of this year have truly shown a side of the people of Perth that We are becoming more and more proud of who we are and where we come from. The actions of our Premier Mark McGowan from the start of the pandemic seems to have kicked off a sense of pride among the people of WA as we find ourselves in a very enviable position of any Country in the World. Locals are demanding local produce and to support local businesses and they are going out of their way to do so. This mentality can only be beneficial for us as we attempt to get through this Covid-19 pandemic and set us up for success well after we have seen the end of this.
Where does an individual even start in order to to make an impact or change the World? My initial thoughts are, before we start attacking each others differences to prove each other wrong let’s find something small that we have in common, and work together from there. Lets start with coffee…
My belief is that Western Australians should stand strong with their method of ordering coffee. The long mac topped up is a style that we have organically come about ordering. Our coffee and cafe culture is second to none and as the Australian cafe style starts gaining momentum in countries like USA and Canada, now is the perfect time to add a lasting twist of Perth to that growth.
My aim for this website is to provide a platform to discuss something as simple as a style of ordering coffee. If something as simple as this can bring people together in order to support local businesses, instill WA pride and connect those that want to make a difference, then our potential is endless with what we can achieve.
The events section of the website will give you a rundown of what we can achieve when we work together. Lets start by getting a few more cafes and businesses involved. Then lets raise some money to help Melbourne #LMTU4MELBOURNE by donating the cost of a long mac topped up to Food Bank Victoria with our GoFundMe that we set up, And then lets put the theory of thinking globally and acting locally and try convince Hugh Jackman to add the #longmactoppedup to his cafe menu in NYC #LMTU4HUGH.
If you would like to be involved some how, any way at all, I’d love to hear from you.