Michael Freire

At Dead Man Espresso, customers make bets on the origins of Michael’s accent. No one ever gets it right, because they don’t know that this barista has a history of travelling the world from when he was one. An eternal explorer and adventurer, Michael turned up in Melbourne in late 2009 with just a backpack and a desire to learn more about coffee. We wanted to put a stop to all the silly betting so pinned him down to get the lowdown, once and for all, about his mixed accent.

I was born in the States, which people always find funny because I have an odd accent. My Dad is from Spain and was always travelling and met my Mum in Colombia. My identical twin brother, Brian, and I were born in Iowa and then about a year later we moved to Spain. We lived there for around four years, and then moved to Colombia until we were about nine, at which point we went back to Iowa.

We stayed in Iowa for many years; I went to school and college there. I had a semester of studying in Turin,  Italy, and it was so much fun. I got the travel bug, hung around for a year, and visited Spain.

Brian and I always loved motorbikes and wanted to race them. So after Italy I went back to the States and we started a racing team. We travelled all over the place to race, but it became so expensive to keep the bikes maintained, to travel to different places, and to pay for hotels. I realised I could stay in the States and focus on this passion for motorbikes or I could start moving around the world and exploring.

Brian and I are very close. Two years ago we hiked from Mexico to Canada – the Pacific Crest trail. It took us five months, one week. It’s the most amazing trail, you’re in the middle of nowhere for most of the time. You’re so isolated. There’s nothing out there, it could be two weeks before we saw another person. You have to carry enough food and send supplies ahead to the next place. Life is simple. I realised on that trip how little I need to be happy. One evening, we were invited in to someone’s home. My brother and I ate and slept there and the next morning we were driven back to the trail. I saw the green of the trees and it felt like going home.

We’d never had beards before that trip, but at the end of it after not shaving for so long we thought they were pretty cool, so kept them.

When we were hiking we passed through Portland and thought “this city rocks! This city is amazing!”. Brian wanted to move there to explore coffee in a whole new way. He has worked in coffee from around the age of 19 and was always talking about it. Through him I was learning bits and pieces but I only got in to coffee in a big way two years ago. I started to experiment, and went to Portland. Brian took me around, which was a lot of fun. Portland is a mecca for coffee in the States, they’re pushing the envelope. It reminds me of Melbourne, so many little pockets and neighbourhoods that are progressive and chilled out, a lot of quirky people. A very cool place. It rains a lot in Portland, which kind of acts as a filter – keeping away the beach goers and attracting the creative types.

I came to Australia three years ago for a five week holiday. I went to Cairns and drove to Sydney along the cost and fell in love with it. That holiday made me realise I would like to live here for a bit. I wanted to experience it properly, to live with Australians. I think if I like a place the only way I can enjoy it is to live there for a while. There is so much to see, it’s not fair to come just for a holiday. It was the same in Rome, I wanted to live as a Roman and so I spent a long time there.

When I first got to Melbourne I started roaming around. I love to explore so I was just wandering, checking out nice places here and there. When I first saw Dead Man it was closed. I was standing at the top of the road looking down the street at it. The sun was setting and the rays were hitting the wood and it looked so cosy. I thought  “I want to work there, it looks so lovely!”. I imagined how cool it would be to work there, and now I work there full time as a barista. I love the wooden interior, the indoor/outdoor seating.

I think Melbourne is up there in terms of third wave coffee, there’s a hunger here for the art of coffee. People are asking “How can we make it better?” I’m still learning this every day and never want to stop.

I know my heart is in Rome, but it doesn’t mean I want to live there forever. When I daydream, it’s the place I go. I don’t think I could live there forever. It’s chaotic, it’s a bit dirty, things are falling apart and it wears you out. But I love the antiquity. Even when I see something falling apart, it’s sad but there is still something beautiful about it.

I just love showing up and exploring. I’m an explorer by nature. I love looking at the details – the people, the buildings. I’m interested in the little things. I love taking photos and noticing them. My next stop will be NZ for a year. I’ve never heard a single person talk negatively about NZ, so I’m pretty much expecting to see unicorns and mermaids! I’m excited for NZ. If I can live in these amazing places around the world and learn about coffee at the same time then it’s a win-win situation.

Tagged as: australia, cafe, coffee, deadman espresso, melbourne, south melbourne