A beautifully presented latte at Cafe Clover in Annandale.
The first espresso machine was imported into Australia by an Italian in the 1950s. History here.
This was the heyday of post-WW2 Italian immigration to Australia (my in-laws for example) & had a profound impact on us. US Italian immigration largely predated the modern espresso machine, invented by Gaggia, so they missed out and had to wait for Starbucks to approximate a version of espresso coffee.
Starbucks has pretty much failed in Aust due to the widespread abailability of independent cafes. Even the smallest places have espresso machines. Latte, cappuccino, macchiato, short black, long black, flat white (like a latte but a bit less milk and frothiness) are part of out language!
