I doubt the problems are related to appreciation of single origin coffees - that was the authors carefully crafted choice words to appear sophisticated and on-trend for that demographic - after all, Fitzroy is like a coffee Epicenter. Juices and smoothies are twice the price of a coffee in most Melbourne Suburban cafes - the price of a coffee remains competitive relative to most other menu items. The linkages between certain areas being too expensive to live (and by extension.........enjoy), the unspoken class differences between contrasting neighboring suburbs are probably more symptomatic of the ridiculously uncontrolled Melbourne (and Sydney) real estate bubble. Truth is these class differences between suburbs have always existed. The backlash against hipster cafes is not really about hipsters or about cafes. It's the reactions against greedy developers overpricing property, snapping up every available site in Melbourne, knocking down a house and building 3 - 6 units, no street parking anywhere, no amenity, congested roads everywhere ringed in by expensive tolls. Almost every new apartment site within 7km of the CBD now has to have a new cafe underneath for reasons that totally escape me, putting further pressure on operators to make ends meet after their 6-month free rent period expires, driving up the prices of basics and creating this constant state of churn where places are only operational for 12 - 18 months at most. I have a terrible sense this dire housing affordability problem is ruining our society.....people are being stretched in ways that drive bad behaviors and we are seeing rapid transformations of areas that perhaps can't accustom to dramatic changes in such short time frames - hence the lash out (which I don't condone).
