But they alone don't explain the proliferation of cafes serving single-origin coffee or the indie-minded designers selling their wares at stores such as Good Cho's in 44 South Village and Huashan's 1914 Connections.

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Though Seattle and Portland are both pioneering liberal-minded cities with strong community roots, they have long traded jibes on non-sporting matters, such as the quality of their brew pubs, the hipster rating of their alternative music scenes and the potency of their single origin micro-roasted coffee.

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While the original family-run roasters still prosper, and most of Australia remains content with a simple latte or short black (perfectly made, of course), the cities are now in the grip of coffee's third wave: single origin beans, premium small batch roasts, terroir and alternative brewing methods such as the Clover syphon, filter and cold drip.

BBC: Caffeination: Australia's coffee culture