Coffee and The Squiz go together like a coffee and every morning of our adult lives. Which is why we’ve asked regular Squiz’er and Merlo Coffee founder Dean Merlo to tackle this week’s Three Minute Squiz.

How and where do you Squiz?
Every morning online. How else can I learn everything I need in three minutes! Great job, keep it up.

Be honest. How many coffees do you have a day? And how do you take your coffee?
I am conscious of my health so I plan to have no less than four coffees a day. It’s a healthy organic product after all! I enjoy a strong stovetop espresso made on my Bialetti at home after my morning exercise. I like a mezzo mezzo (piccolo latte) in the morning moving to a macchiato in the afternoon or after lunch. If I am working late, I enjoy an espresso late afternoon, and if I am going out, I enjoy an espresso after dinner.

What was the first album you ever owned?
Electric Light Orchestra.

At the risk of racially typecasting, did you have a nonna who loved to cook and feed? If so, what was your favourite of nonna’s dishes?
My nonna made a killer pizzoccheri from buckwheat she bought from Sydney by the sack.

What’s your guilty TV-watching secret?
PGA Tour Golf – I watch it religiously.

Your company is based in your hometown of Brissie which is much-maligned as a food/coffee destination. What’s the biggest misconception about the northern capital?
Brisbane is growing daily in European sophistication thanks to the Italians and Greeks moving here from other states and in particular, Victoria. And there are international migrants flocking to Queensland as their dream destination. This necessarily brings a wonderful diversity of culture and cuisine. Brisbane will rule this space.

Name four people – living or dead – you’d love to sit down to dinner with.
Pope Frank, Tiger Woods, Leo Da Vinci, Queen Elizabeth.

Your favourite book?
Victor Kiam’s”Going For It! How To Succeed As An Entrepreneur” – it inspired me to always focus on the customer.

What skill or talent do you not have but wish you did?
The ability to read minds.

Apart from one of your stores, in which city in the world do you think they serve the best coffee?
Milan, Italy.

An Italian would never drink a cappuccino or latte unless it was at breakfast time. Does the milky-coffee-at-all-hours here in Australia trouble you at all?
Not at all. I like milk in my coffee. We have a wonderful dairy industry here.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?
I don’t know about ahistorical figure, but my good dad always had pearls of business gold for me growing up. My favourite was the harder he worked, the luckier he got!

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Patience as I have so little of it, I have to overrate it!

You’re a business owner: what’s the one thing governments could do right now to turbo-charge business in this country?
Abolish payroll tax. It seems a business should not be penalised with a success tax for employing more Queenslanders.

What would you say is the most currently overlooked news story we should know about?
This question should be about the most overcooked news story which clearly belongs to Barnaby Joyce – 11 days on the front page really?