Day 16: Energize Cafe, 53 Central Market Plaza

On the twelfth day of Christmas, true love sent to MMC, twelve closed cafes and a juice bar that makes good coffee. On January 5th, twelve whole days after Christmas Day, the city’s hospitality honeymoon continues. With Hindmarsh Square still snoring, we ducked between the Hilton and the Courts building into Market Plaza, joining a decent queue at cafe island ‘Energize’. The Order: one small cappuccino and one medium latte, take away. The Price: small for a cheapish $3.00, medium at $4.00.

With three staff crammed into their bamboo-framed space, Energize offer ‘coffee, juice and snacks’ in a family-business kinda way.
The Shopfront: orange logo, orange chairs, orange coffee machine, and orange t-shirt print leap out of earthy green. A bold ‘Coffee Orders Here’ avoids the potential awkwardness of the four available counters. We obediently approach the busy, pregnant blonde who emanates authority re caffeinated beverages. The Greeting: a no-fuss ‘what can I get you?’ and a no-muss pronto start. She confidently collects new orders while steaming our milk, and leaves money talk until the end. 

Loyalty cards flash from the next wallets in line, and MMC’s hopes rise. Who are these Energizers? And why do they favour the American –ize spelling over the Australian –ise? They’ve no net presence, so MMC settles for a dedicated Wiki on the divergence of American and British spellings. Different dictionaries by different men were favoured in each nation – who knew? Historically unstandardised, British spellings now follow Samuel ‘Dr’ Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary of the English Language. The Americans owe their differences to Noah Webster’s nationalistic 1828 effort to emancipate American English from ‘the clamour of pedantry’ (adherence to rules, details).

Shock, horror! Most ‘ize’ suffixes are not actually Yankeeisms – they’re interchangeable in British usage, though –ise is preferred 3:1 here in Oz. Pedantry aside, there’s no reason not to bounce into Energize to get energised/energized. The Presentation: the eco-friendly colour scheme continues into neutral-brown cups, served lidded. The Service: faultlessly quick. The Pour: a heavy-chocked cappuccino for MMC, but the one maid a’milking has skills – it’s like silk. No strength complaints from friend of MMC. Flavour: by process of deduction, it’s a smooth blend – MMC is disappointed that the chocolate flavour overpowers, but the aftertaste is warm and long.

The lesson: only scholars of Greek/Latin/French word etymology can really pull off spelling snobbery. And very respectable coffee is available Courtside of the markets, even during the twelve days of Christmas.

The latte word: from MMC, 4 beans out of 5. From friend of MMC, 3.5. Arguably as good as Short Black Espresso’s offering, with a far superior service experience. On Wednesday, we pull into a Pulteney St powerhouse for My Morning Coffee – will their multiple machines deliver quality or quantity?