It doesn’t get much more quintessentially Australian than that Vegemite. It’s an acquired taste – some would say an aggressive one – that many people (mostly Australians) swear by. Most first-time Vegemite tasters find the substance, a sort of brown flavored paste made from leftover brewer’s yeast and secret herbs and spices, quite off-putting. Perhaps only good in petite doses. But now Vegemite is connecting with the source of the great Australian kvetch: the flat white.
As reported MSNThis deeply Australian drink was created in collaboration with the Australian-inspired London coffee chain Farm girl and will premiere at this year’s festival London Coffee Festival. The drink combines a time-honored flat white, which doesn’t actually have a single reference, but in this case means a 7.5:1 milk-to-espresso ratio, with a splash of intensely salty and hot black paste that some say tastes like “concentrated soy sauce.”
“Flat Vegemite is set to be our fresh bestseller, what a taste sensation,” Farm Girl’s co-founder and original director Rose Hood tells MSN. “We can’t wait for customers to elevate their coffee the Australian way!” (Even though Hood’s cafe is in London, at least she’s from outside Melbourne, so at least she’s not another Brit who will weirdly fight for the Aussies.)
And while I’m tempted to have a drink, I’m sorry to report that I think it might actually be okay? I mean, miso lattes pair with savory-sweet dishes with aplomb, so maybe Flat Vegemite could follow suit.
I’m more certain that this won’t be the last we’ll see of this drink. The London Coffee Festival unfortunately got ahead of the whole Espresso Martini thing – you could even argue that it was one of the popularizing forces that brought it back – so if they present Flat Vegemite to over 30,000 attendees, it stands to reason that it could produce a similar result. Combine that with a global passion for Australian-style cafes and it’s a recipe for success. A salty, hot success.
If you can’t attend the London Coffee Festival but still want to try Flat Vegemite, Farm Girl shared the recipe with MSN, which looks like this:
Ingredients
20 g Ristretto (double espresso)
One teaspoon of VEGEMITE
150ml balmy milk (preferably steamed)
Method
Take out 20g of a double shot of ristretto.
Stir one teaspoon of VEGEMITE until completely dissolved.
Pour 150 ml of balmy milk over everything and finish with a gaunt layer of foam.
Optional: serve with balmy toast spread with butter for dipping.
