Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 133 - 130 Bone China

"So, are you planning to stay long-term at this City store?" Yan Yan asked Bao Bao.

"Yeah, the original store is stable now with Veronica there, and honestly, I learned my latte art from her," Bao Bao answered Yan Yan.

"Weren’t you drawn to Veronica’s latte art to begin with, which is why you recruited her from Manchester Press? I remember you mentioning before that Veronica’s brewing skills were just average and only her latte art was decent, right?" Yan Yan didn’t know that Veronica had become the manager of that store. (note 1)

"I can learn latte art from her, and of course, she can learn operation from me." Bao Bao and Veronica had somewhat of a mentor-student relationship.

A good cup of coffee is indispensable in its four elements: grinding, extracting, brewing, and creativity.

In current World Barista Championships, since the first three steps have been thoroughly researched, many times the key to winning has shifted focus to creativity.

The concept of creative coffee is somewhat similar to molecular gastronomy.

In recent World Barista Championships, auxiliary materials frequently used in molecular gastronomy such as liquid nitrogen have also appeared.

Of course, if there can be some breakthroughs in extraction and brewing, it would be easier to stand out in the competition. (note 2)

"That’s great, then I don’t have to take over an hour’s drive just to have a cup of Master Bao’s coffee. Your original stores were really too far." For Yan Yan, who barely left the city, it must be true love to travel that far for a cup of coffee.

"Your definition of ’every now and then’ is really quite broad. You’d be amazing if you came twice a month," Bao Bao mercilessly exposed Yan Yan.

"You can’t say that. Before your café opened, did I leave the City even once a month?

I wouldn’t even need to buy a Zone1+Zone2 bus annual pass if it weren’t for going to your place.

As someone who lives just in the city center and doesn’t even own a car, do you think it’s easy for me to go over there?" Yan Yan would never let Bao Bao falsely accuse her.

In earlier years, Melbourne’s transit system was divided into three zones: Zone1, Zone2, and Zone3.

Zone1 was the central area, Zone2 the surrounding areas, and Zone3 was the remote areas.

Now Zones 2 and 3 have merged, making all areas outside the center now Zone 2.

Bao Bao’s first coffee shop is now in Zone 2, but had it been a few years earlier, it would have been in Zone 3.

"It’s easy, there are plenty of people who travel from your café to the City for school every day," Bao Bao continued to expose Yan Yan.

"Ai, if I’d known you thought this way, I wouldn’t have gone even once or twice. Apparently, I showed misjudged affection.

I could just sit at home on the sofa, and Bao Ka would still bring the coffee to my hands.

I go to the shop every month, running back and forth, only to be unappreciated. It’s really a reflection of human indifference and the harsh realities of the world!" Yan Yan began to lament.

"Why didn’t you say ’a dog bites Lu Dongbin’?" Bao Bao felt that Yan Yan’s choice of words today was too "elegant".

"Who says I didn’t, I was just pausing to take a sip of water. Why are you stealing my lines?" Yan Yan protested.

Yan Yan had been quite worried, thinking that without someone to watch over Bao Bao for a few days when she was out of the country, he might start overthinking.

It seems now that even without her supervision, Bao Bao was focusing his main efforts on the soon-to-open store.

Picking beans, roasting, grinding, plus training the staff—Bao Bao, immersed in his work, seemed to be in quite good condition.

"With so many lines of your own, are you really worried about me stealing a line or two?" Bao Bao shook his head, urging Yan Yan not to be so "stingy".

"Alright, considering the line isn’t that crucial, I’ll forgive you this time, you scene-stealing side character." Sometimes Yan Yan could be quite "generous."

"Do you know what Bone China is?" Bao Bao suddenly asked Yan Yan a strange question.

"Bone China? Isn’t that fairly common? They even sell it in supermarkets, right?

Bone China is essentially made by incorporating bone ash into the porcelain-making process.

This makes the porcelain look better and less prone to break.

I think it was first accidentally invented by the British while they were trying to mimic Jingdezhen’s thin porcelain.

It’s arguably the only type of porcelain originally invented by Westerners." Yan Yan liked collecting porcelain.

It wasn’t the kind of collecting aimed at hoarding, but purely for the sake of "putting a good horse in good harness."

For Yan Yan, what dishes to cook and what kind of porcelain to use were as important as choosing the right glass for a particular wine.

However, Bao Bao never cared about this and even often looked down on Yan Yan for buying a few plates or similar items wherever she went, as packing fragile items took up a lot of suitcase space.

Thus, Yan Yan didn’t understand why Bao Bao would suddenly ask about this.

"Turns out there actually is such porcelain. The way Westerners think is really different," Bao Bao mused.

"What do you mean?" Yan Yan didn’t understand the implication of Bao Bao’s earlier words.

"A few days ago, someone told me that in Europe it’s popular to transform a loved one’s ashes into porcelain, some are made into dinnerware for daily use, and others into jewelry to wear all the time," Bao Bao explained her question.

"What? Isn’t bone china primarily made from cow bone ash? Are Europeans really turning human ashes into it?" Yan Yan found it hard to believe.

"I’m not talking about commercially sold porcelain but custom-made items, kind of a way to mourn a loved one," Bao Bao continued.

"So you were thinking of turning Shen Xi’s ashes into bone china?" This was the first time in a long while that Yan Yan had brought up the name Shen Xi with Bao Bao.

"No, I only just heard about it. If I had known earlier, maybe I would have thought about it," Bao Bao didn’t avoid Yan Yan’s question.

"Really? That’s too exaggerated.

Wait a minute, let me think~

I feel like I probably couldn’t accept this way of memorializing someone.

Missing someone should just be in the heart, not necessarily by wearing ash-based items or by using them as dinnerware...

Oh my, this is probably too Western. I think Easterners wouldn’t accept it very well.

Anyway, I definitely can’t understand it," Yan Yan heard of such a meticulous method of memorial for the first time.

"Right, it does seem like a rather unusual way to memorialize someone," Bao Bao thoughtfully said.

note 1:

Manchester Press is a café hidden in Rankins Lane, a small alley in Melbourne.

Because it is hidden deep, there’s a graffiti wall at the entrance of the alley for direction.

Rankins Lane was originally an obscure Melbourne alley.

The existence of this café means no one minds the ’deep alley.’

The café is famous for its various animal-themed latte art.

note 2:

Last year (2016), the champion of the World Barista Championship was Wu Zelin from Taiwan.

He used a nitrogen-infused siphon to blend the essence of jasmine and bergamot into the coffee, allowing the coffee’s aroma to intertwine with the gradually emitting fragrance of the essential oils.

Of course, creative coffee and molecular gastronomy are more suited for those who have thoroughly studied "tradition."

If someone who genuinely loves and understands coffee doesn’t start with creativity, it’s quite possible it will emphasize form over substance.

Like the Hong Kong Three-star creative cuisine Bo Innovation, one of the most stunning dishes mentioned in a previous book looks exactly like raw egg yolk but is actually a dumpling.

If you ask why not just eat a regular dumpling instead of one that looks like an egg yolk?

That’s actually a good question.

Why? There really isn’t a good answer.

But anyway, having such a question shows that maybe it’s not yet time to dine at restaurants known for their molecular gastronomy.