Ask The Barista... (Coffee girl, to you)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

We have a winner folks!

Ok, first you take a double espresso shot, and mix in it(to taste) some sweetened, condensed milk(just stir it in the metal cup), then take your cup, fill with ice. Simultaneously pour said espresso shot and Mocha over ice.

Stir, drink!

THis was the mainstay for years of school. I drank them morning, noon and night. The name originated in my hometown, as a reference to Jack Tripper, not what it does to your mental faculties.

It’s sister drink, served hot, is…

THe Roper of course! :slight_smile:

-Sam

22

Around Miami, one can buy a “cafe con leche” for a buck, two bucks tops. What it is is a shot of espresso in about three quarters of a cup of hot milk. Plus some sugar. What would Starbucks call such a thing and why do people pay $3.50 for it?

23

**
[/QUOTE]
Ok, first you take a double espresso shot, and mix in it(to taste) some sweetened, condensed milk(just stir it in the metal cup), then take your cup, fill with ice. Simultaneously pour said espresso shot and Mocha over ice.

Stir, drink!

THis was the mainstay for years of school. I drank them morning, noon and night. The name originated in my hometown, as a reference to Jack Tripper, not what it does to your mental faculties.

It’s sister drink, served hot, is…
THe Roper of course! :slight_smile:

-Sam
**
[/QUOTE]

Sounds fantastic! I will try it tomorrow!!

24

Okay… It could be a number of things… First of all - Starbucks would call it a latte… Unless you just told them ‘cafe con leche’, in which case they’d insist you meant a cafe au lait - the french translation for ‘coffe with milk’… thus the semantics game begins. Most people that want “cafe con leche” want espresso and milk, and and have had exposure to a hispanic culture, whereas those who want “cafe au lait” are either a-snobby, b-nouveau riche, c-french or d- have been exposed to a french-type lifestlye or individual… Then the latte people, well, they run the gamut. You’s do better to ask for a latte, unless you find someone who has the experience that lends them to the understanding. As for why people pay so much for it - I have NO IDEA… Go figure… I can’t find a place that will make me cuban coffee without a big fuss, so I understand completely!!

25

Is there any amount of flavoring you can put in coffee to make it palatable?
I have tried and tried to drink it, but even with flavoring, milk, chocolate syrup, nothing.
It still tastes horrible to me.
But it smells wonderful.
Okay: question: is it really shipped from overseas?

26

Vanilla: Coffee can only be grown around the Equator.

Barrista: Did your café serve fair-trade coffee? Was there pressure for it to do so?

27

OH MIGHTY BARRISTA:

I use the tip jar in my local coffeehouse basically as a place to discard my unwanted pennies. My questions are:

A. Do you guys notice this type of behavior, roll your eyes and mutter “cheap bastard” under your breath?

B. Where do you guys get off expecting tips anyway? If you don’t BRING me my goods, if I have to walk to the counter myself to get and pay for my stuff, then no tip.

C. Isn’t the term “barrista” a little pretentious?

28

Heh… I always had a good laugh when we got to see the money sheets. It’s amazing the profit that’s taken in on a cup of coffee.

here are some answers for y’all:

Tongo:
answer to a: Naw, even though pennies are a pain in the ass to roll, they’re still money.

answer to b: Funnily enough, we don’t actually expect it. In our store we once tried an experiment. We took away the “tip” jar. People still left their change on the counter (we’d ask if they wanted it, and the answer was always “no, you can keep it”). I think people like to think their well of, so they go and pay $4 for a coffee and then throw away another $1.50 to be “cool”. Weird huh? If you don’t want to tip, don’t do it! It isn’t expected! Of course, the extra couple hundred bucks a month is nice.

answer to c: Sure is! It’s part of the mystique. Starbucks wanted to be different, you see. Employees are also not called employees, they’re called “partners.” I guess it makes sence 'cos everyone gets stock options.

Matt_mcl
By “fair-trade” coffee do you mean coffee that wasn’t aquired at the price of fucking over the people who grow it? If you do, then yes, Starbucks was quite good about it. They paid (this is what they told us, anyway) above the average amount for the coffee, and they made sure to enter into long-term contracts with the growers. This did two things. One, it kept the competition away from the growers, and two, if there was a bad crop, the people who grow the coffee still get paid, regardless of what they produce.

Vanilla
Coffee isn’t something that really tastes good on its own. It’s more a matter of getting used to it. If you want to have it taste as good as it smells, try ordering a latte with only half a shot of espresso in it. Adding almond or vanilla will help to. The small amount of espresso give the nice smell, and the loads of milk and the sugar in the syrup give it a nice taste.

Hope these answers help! Any more?

-niggle

29

[QUOTE]
**
Belive it or not, Starbucks has some fairly strict rules so far as how hot the milk can be. You see, it tends to burn (the milk) at 170-180 degrees. This is why if you like your drinks really hot, you’ll find the “textbook” 150 degress just luke warm. This is also why you’ll probably always find it luke warm unless you give a target. According to the textbook, 160 degrees is “hot”. Give 'em a high number and you’ll get what you want.

-niggle

[QUOTE]

Thanks for the tip. I figured it was a holdover from the McDonalds lawsuit that I now can’t get a hot drink, hot soup, or sandwich heated all the way without a special request.

I’ve always been amused that the Starbucks hot drinks are suitably hot in the downtown Washington DC stores, but lukewarm in the suburban ones. Real lobbyists burn their tongues, I guess.