And that was just after 1pm. I am not a coffee drinker myself, but recently had the experience of hearing the passionate moans of delight as a Latte Lane coffee was devoured.
Manager of the business Jade Allen said coffee drinkers were becoming more “health aware”, hence the move to alternative milks.
“Almond milk is the way people are going,” she said.
“It’s a trend, some people want to try it for health reasons and other are doing what seems to be cool and trendy.
“I drink almond milk coffee because I like it.”
She said despite the coffee not being as creamy as regular dairy milk, the nutty taste was “quite nice”.
She said the role of a modern-day barista had developed dramatically in the past decade or so, as the range of coffee options increased almost tenfold.
“We could have someone order a large takeaway decaf extra hot soy latte with two Equals (translation: a decaffeinated coffee where the soy milk is steamed to 80°C and has two satchels of Equal, a sugar replacement) all in one coffee,” Jade said.
“There are a couple of people like that.”
Latte Lane has been part of the Echuca coffee scene for seven or eight years, a revamp of the business in the past couple of years making it even more attractive to drivers.
“There is now more on the menu and even the cold drinks we offer have expanded,” Jade said.
She said most of the business’s regulars were like clockwork with their arrival to the drive-through facility.
“We will regularly have people waiting for us to open the gates,” Jade said.
A good bean and well-textured milk was her assessment of the key ingredients for a good coffee, along with an understanding of the art of making a coffee.
The seven-day-a-week operation is open from 6am on weekdays and kick-starts people’s weekends at 8am on Saturday and Sunday.
It takes six baristas and 13 people in all to run the operation.
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