# What is/was "Boston-style coffee"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** coffee\ **Created:** [June 4, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722 "2004-06-04T22:41:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/1 "2004-06-04T22:41:39Z")
Mr. S and I had lunch today in a diner with a long history – it had in each booth a copy of the original menus from 1937. Pretty entertaining reading. The priciest item on the menu was steak for $1.00. There was also Heinz turtle soup, several flavors of phosphates, and daily plate lunches for 35¢. One item had us flummoxed: Boston-style coffee, 10¢. Regular coffee was 5¢, so there must have been something mighty special about the Boston-style version to double the cost. Anybody know what it was? Googling yielded no information. Thanks much! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/2 "2004-06-05T00:00:07Z")
Made it Boston baked beans, of course. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/3 "2004-06-05T00:12:24Z")
There was a brand of coffee called “Woods Boston Coffee” in the teens and later. I can’t say that this has anything to do with your question. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/4 "2004-06-05T00:58:22Z")
Coffee made with cream. Make it with tomatoes and it’s Manhattan coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/5 "2004-06-05T01:01:53Z")
**Postcards** has it right. Walk into a Boston area Dunkin’ Doughnuts, ask for a regular coffee, and you’ll be given one with milk in it. If you want it black, you’d better ask for it “black.” Whether that’s what the menu meant, I couldn’t say. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/6 "2004-06-05T01:22:04Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Coffee made with cream. > > Make it with tomatoes and it’s Manhattan coffee. And SDMB style coffee… Coffee all over your monitor. Thanks for that one, **postcards**! ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/7 "2004-06-05T10:01:24Z")
Coffee with extra cream ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/8 "2004-06-05T10:35:21Z")
That’s it, huh? Surprising. Didn’t _everyone_ have cream in their coffee back then? (Not a big dieting culture, everything fried in lard, etc.) Perhaps it was a Depression-era thing that cream in your coffee was special? And here I had been thinking that it might be “Irish” coffee, with a shot of booze; Boston = high Irish population. The place did offer a variety of bottled beers at the time. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/9 "2004-06-05T13:17:19Z")
Geez, and I was just making a clam chowder joke! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/10 "2004-06-05T14:23:05Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Geez, and I was just making a clam chowder joke! “Chowdah! _Chow- **dah**!_” ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/11 "2004-06-05T14:42:49Z")
I think in New York a “regular” coffee is also with cream? So what’s with the “Boston” thing? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/12 "2004-06-05T14:53:52Z")
I first read the expression “Boston Coffee” in a guidebook for Brits coming to the USA. In the years I lived in Boston and drank coffee, I _never_ heard the expression. I think it’s one of those foods like “English Muffins” that are unknown in the place they are named after. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/13 "2004-06-05T15:39:46Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > I think in New York a “regular” coffee is also with cream? So what’s with the “Boston” thing? In New York, “regular” coffee is with milk and sugar. (Assuming you don’t mean regular to mean non-decaf or non-flavored.) ---
**Author:** ![twinqtsdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@twinqtsdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twinqtsdad)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/14 "2013-01-09T17:57:35Z")
🆒 I agree with the Coffee with extra cream, not milk. I learned this “style” serving coffee about 40 years ago at White Castle. I was instructed that it was not only extra cream but half coffee and half cream. The customers that ordered it said it not only sweetened the coffee it cooled it down as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/15 "2013-01-09T18:06:06Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I think it’s one of those foods like “English Muffins” that are unknown in the place they are named after. What’s strange is that American Cheese is not one of these. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/16 "2013-01-09T18:10:59Z")
> [@Papermache\_Prince](#): > > Walk into a Boston area Dunkin’ Doughnuts, ask for a regular coffee, and you’ll be given one with milk in it. I’m not so sure that’s true anymore. It was true maybe 30 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/17 "2013-01-09T18:40:41Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I think it’s one of those foods like “English Muffins” that are unknown in the place they are named after. I was surprised that London Broil is not a dish known in London England. Maybe it came from London Ontario or some other London though. I don’t drink coffee, so I have no idea what a Boston style or regular coffee in Boston means, but I’ve heard that ‘regular coffee’ varies by region. ---
**Author:** ![Delta-9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@Delta-9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delta-9)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/18 "2013-01-09T18:44:08Z")
I worked in a small coffee shop in a local department store while growing up here in Chicago-istan, and when a customer ordered a Boston coffee, it meant they want lots of cream. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/19 "2013-01-09T18:59:00Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m not so sure that’s true anymore. It was true maybe 30 years ago. Or maybe 9 years ago when this thread was started. ---
**Author:** ![mark24c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@mark24c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mark24c)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722/20 "2013-01-09T19:00:23Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I was surprised that London Broil is not a dish known in London England. Maybe it came from London Ontario or some other London though. > > I don’t drink coffee, so I have no idea what a Boston style or regular coffee in Boston means, but I’ve heard that ‘regular coffee’ varies by region. What on earth is London Broil? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-boston-style-coffee/248722.md?page=2)