"... The big reason why coffee sucks in the US is that the Italian immigration wave hit before the espresso machine was invented. It hit Oz afterward. ..."
Excellent observation, I'd never thought of it that way.
But Italian migrants did continue to go to US right through to the late 60s (indeed most Aussie Italian families I know have a tale of a great uncle/aunt in Canada and a couple more somewhere on East coast of US or in Chicago)... I'm intrigued by the theory though...