Coffee on a ferry

I am finally settling in to the rhythms of the road. Last night at the YHI I slept for 8 solid, uninterrupted hours. I have not slept like that in over a year. One reason I wanted to travel was to unpack my overloaded brain and relax. My mixed men/women dorm was occupied by normal backpackers - no strange, needy talkers like the woman the night before. (She was a trip, unpacking and repacking all night, telling us all stories about how she was in NZ for a man she loved but doesn't love her back, how she lives as an artist in the Netherlands, but is originally from Japan and has lived in Washington, San Diego, and now NZ. She asked me for workout tips; I taught her how to use a strength band. She is to be avoided at all costs.)



Now I am on the inter island ferry, traversing through the Cook Straights, between the north and South Island, with a hot coffee in hand. The ocean is pretty calm, waves of three feet. But the weather is cold and rainy. The ferry is mostly enclosed, 7 decks of bars, cafes, lookout rooms, a movie theater. It has a feel of an ocean liner, not a small ferry.



Coffee is BIG in NZ. Apparently in the 1990's coffee replaced tea as the "go to" caffeinated beverage in NZ. There are more coffee shops here then there are Starbucks in the USA. And unlike in the U.S., they serve primarily coffee, not 26 oz hot sweet milk creations.

The coffee craze took off with a drink called the "flat white", which appears to be a no foam cappuccino. Espresso with a dash of warm milk. Other popular coffee drinks are the long regular, the short regular, and the Americano. All three appear to be variations of espresso and different amounts of hot water added. (I love the long regular.)

NZ loves their coffee so much that they import raw beans and roast and grind the beans locally. (Which the U.S. also does, and then drowns their coffee in milk and sugar, or just omits the coffee completely.)

I usually travel with Nescafé packets, but here in NZ, I do not need to bring emergency dried coffee. I am in coffee paradise. On a boat.


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Location:On a boat!