Oh great. Now I’m picturing the counter crew at the cafe in red berets holding AK-47s over their heads.
:rolleyes:
My understanding is that some of the founders of Starbucks went over to Peet’s when Starbucks started moving in a different direction.
It seems to have been accepted as fact that there is an epidemic of snootiness among Starbucks baristas. I can’t ever remember being treated rudely. Of course, I’ve never tried to order something in the form of a condescending rant like the good ol’ dude in the OP.
I don’t see how choosing to name a shop after a favorite literary character is undeniably pretentious. In any case, it’s not the complete explanation for the name.
Um, sure. A latte in Italy is the same as a cafe au lait in France: dark roasted drip (or sometimes filter) coffee with a little bit of milk. It is definitely not 1/3 espresso and 2/3 steamed milk.
According to Wikipedia, at Cafe du Monde, which serves the most famous cafe au lait, it’s equal portions coffee and milk, not “a little bit of milk.”
New Orleans coffee is an entirely different animal. It is cut with chicory root, a holdover from the days when real coffee beans were too expensive. 50% milk is one of the ways you make chicory coffee drinkable.
Outside of New Orleans, pretty much no one drinks chicory coffee, and as such, a cafe au lait in Paris ain’t 50% milk.
You’re right. I don’t care. I was merely responding to what I understood to be the assertion that “latte” means something specific to most folk. I knew it was some combination of coffee and milk/cream. I don’t see too many folk drinking milk in restaurants, so I guess it does kinda surprise me that folks would be buying drinks that are over 1/2 milk. And I would think that adding that much milk would significantly impair one’s ability to appreciate the quality of the coffee.
And what BTW is a cappucino? More expresso than cream?
I’ve had expresso (or espresso?). Even used to own an expresso maker (and steamed my own cream!) But in addition to the caffeine buzz, I enjoy the taste and act of drinking coffee. So I prefer several large cups of strong joe, over small shooters of higher octane. And to my pedestrian tastes, the extra effort and time to make expresso was not worth it.
And - complete disclosure - when in NO, the wife and I enjoyed the coffee au lait and beignets at Du Monde.
And once last summer, when I had been given a Starbucks gift certificate, I got some large frozen mocha frappacino or something with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. Man - this caffeine fiend thinks that sucker should have a warning label on it! I could imagine a little of lady stroking out after downing one of those. Whoo-ee!
Those mochafrappazapatas have close to a day’s worth of calories in them. I actually think you were feeling the sugar rush more than the caffeine.
My gym is right next door to a Starbuck’s and my trainer is always complaining bitterly about how his clients accuse him regarding why they aren’t losing weight fast enough but right after their session he’ll see them walk next door to Starbuck’s and order what basically amounts to a very large milkshake.
A latte is a third (or less) espresso and the rest is steamed milk, with milk foam on top. (A flat white is the same thing but with no foam.) A cappuccino has the same proportion of espresso, but the milk is half (or more) foam. A dry cappucino is just espresso and lots of foam.
All right - as I’ve said, I drink my caffee black. But if someone wants milk.cream, how much do the different ratios you describe affect the drink? How different is milk foam on top from simply milk? And how long does the foam last (when made “to-go”)? Realistically, what is the difference between a latte and a flat white? Does one cost more than the other?
This gets to what I kinda consider silly (if not pretentious). I guess if people have such specific preferences as to the amount of dary product in their coffee and the specific form that dairy product takes, and are willing to pay for it, that’s their prerogative. But I wonder if - in addition to their actually preferring it one way over another - they kinda get a kick out of the process and attitude involved in even learning these distinctions, let alone developing a strong preference for one over the other.
But, to each his own. Anyone is certainly entitled to be a snob/connoisseur/informed consumer, whether the subject be coffee, wine, beer, hanburgers, rice, salt, cheese, etc.
True that. While my preferred form of coffee is straight espresso–which is why I usually patronize an independent shop where I can get the stuff in a proper ceramic cup; espresso served in paper cups is an abomination unto the lord–I do loves me the occasional venti white mocha w/extra shot…and even though I always refuse the whipped cream, I always feel like I might as well be eating a pound of fudge.
I don’t understand this question. What is milk.cream?
Milk foam is created while steaming the milk by injecting lots of tiny bubbles into it. It’s basically dry, fluffy, hot milk that’s partly air.
I’ve never let a cappuccino sit around long enough to find out, but it’s not like a draught head that just chills out. It’s milk with air injected into it–it’s not like the air escapes. I’ve never heard of anyone experiencing foam loss on the go, and personally I only drink lattes, cappucinos etc. if I’m sitting down in the cafe for a while.
The foam has a different texture from the wet milk, but the difference is mostly appearance since (at most places, anyway) there’s no foam in the latte, just on top as a garnish.
I can’t say for sure, as I’ve never known anyone to order one and AFAIK nobody’s ever ordered one where I work; it’s not on the menu, either. There’s so little foam in a latte, though, that it would probably cost the same.
Well, some people argue fervently over whether a rum and coke should have bitters and/or lime, and whether there should be lime juice in the drink or just a lime garnish, or both. Some people insist ketchup has no place on a hamburger and refuse to eat one without mustard. Some people like mayonnaise on their burger. It’s like anything else, really–each person has a different preference. But–speaking as the guy who takes the orders and makes the drinks–some people really do just get a kick out of having a favorite drink with a million little specifications. I’ve always thought this was a way for people without much else to identify with, to create an artificial identity for themselves. One of my customers always gets a pot of a certain kind of tea with a specific number of Splenda packets in it, and the same sandwich cut into fourths and then heated up in the convection oven for a specific amount of time (different from what we normally put that sandwich in for), and the whole shebang served on a specific tea platter that she wrote her name on. You can tell when she describes the ritual to someone new that she’s really proud of having a unique process dedicated to her–we even have her convection oven settings written on the side of the oven. It’s a bit of a sad spectacle, but it brings her back and it makes her feel important.
Other people have a regular drink that has to be made in a specific order with a specific set of oddball ingredients. One of my customers takes an iced green tea latte where the matcha concentrate is added first, then cinnamon is sprinkled on top of that, then the milk is added and then the ice, then caramel sauce (or some such thing, I can’t remember) on top. I guess I see it as a less irritating way of doing what the customer I described in the OP endeavored to do.
Biffy, I’d rather eat the pound of fudge, which is why I only order their green teas. Drinkeable calories are the bane of my existence-I get more satisfaction from chewing. It’s why I’ve given up even social drinking. I’d rather have an extra appetizer.
That said, Tim Horton’s and Second Cup (at least SC from when I can remember them) have sold their souls to the devil because those places both manufacture straight up crack in a cup. Fortunately Second Cup isn’t in the US yet and Horton’s isn’t in California as far as I’m willing to drive. Whenever I go back to Montreal I always make sure to have at least 1 drink from each place before coming back to the US.
I’m probably missing some nuances here, but isn’t this getting somewhat nigh to pretension/posing?
Looks like it to me, Dinsdale, but I’m pretentiously Philistine. I’ll even drink store-brand instant with generic powdered creamer.
FTR, I drink it without milk and enjoy it. You can even buy instant chicory coffee at Indian grocery stores.
Fair enough. I take my Greek/Turkish coffee with no sugar at all, a flavor that Turks save for funerals. To each his own.
I’m not disputing that chicory coffee is less common, just saying that it’s not yet slipped into total obscurity. In fact, I noted tonight at Price Chopper there was a brand of chicory coffee for sale among the conventional coffees. Maybe there’s a secret cult of chicory drinkers out there, probably with a median age of about 88.
I’ll bet that Starbuck’s never sells a chicory coffee drink, however.
I’ve never understood why people think Timmie’s coffee is so amazing. I’m a big fan of Timmie’s myself, mind. If I’m out and about and want a coffee, I’m mentally searching my route for a convenient Tim’s. But it’s not truly superlative. It’s just consistently very good. Very consistently very good. I’ve never once had a bad or even mediocre cup of coffee from Tim’s, something I can’t say about any other coffee vendor. Probably has something to do with it never having been made more than 17 seconds before being poured into the cup, I guess.
In what world does “some people” mean “everyone who drinks lattes”? You’ve never met a guy who takes pretentious pride in ordering a complex drink at the bar, or knowing every item on the secret menu at In-n-Out?