Hospitality at the edge of the world:
An interview with Leigh BellinganThis interview originally appeared in the Coffee Magazine
Originally published in Issue 47 of Coffee Magazine, read full Issue here
Leigh took all of the photos below.
And we assume flasks are a necessity? :)
And does the coffee taste different?
What water are you using?
We work very long hours at sub-zero temperatures. Many of the team spend hours working outside in the cold and the icy winds, whilst others work through the night in the machines to prepare the skiways and runways. Our large cargo delivery is often in the wee hours of the morning, and the team manually offloads a few tonnes in very exposed conditions. So the fuel of coffee is needed!
And yes, flasks are definitely a necessity!
Antarctica is a polar desert, so water is made by melting the snow, or in rare locations is collected from glacial run-off lakes so the water is extremely pure. Black coffee tastes the same I would say, but we have upgraded to long-life milk, from powdered milk (which can be pretty grim) - so if you take milk in your coffee it's a little different.
People bring all kinds of weird and wonderful coffee contraptions - one of the guys brought a version of an AeroPress their friend had made to use when in a workshop - and you use an electric drill to operate it.
My favourite thing is seeing how all the different nationalities prepare and share their coffee in different ways. Creature comforts are few and far between down there, so someone making you a coffee is like an Antarctic love language!
Are there lots of tour operators?
The polar gear helps a lot with the cold, and also the fact that a lot of the work is very physical, so you're moving all the time. On the colder nights it does take a little bit of psyching yourself up to get changed into frozen pj's and slither into a freezing cold sleeping bag though!
The constant sunshine is very weird at first, but you also get used to it - my bestie gave me a molded sleep mask to cover my eyes - which really helps - or you just pull your beanie over your eyes. The one plus is that when you finish up a workday late, you can still head out for a hike or a toboggan at midnight.
Mostly, it's the people I have met and worked with that are my favourite part - you form such a beautiful bond when you rely on each other so much.