Here is a great video from CHOW (an online food / drink magazine) with a barista, Arno Holschuh, from Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco. In the video Arno Holschuh talks about what makes for good coffee and espresso drink creation. And here’s a nice video that shows you the difference between a wet and dry cappuccino. They have a bunch of other videos about coffee on the CHOW YouTube page.
Psyd Absolutely spot-on about the coffee, but the wet vs dry controversy rages on. The reason that it does is that no-one wants to standardise terms like ‘cappuccino’, ‘latte’ or ‘wet’ in the US ‘third wave’ community. There are just as many shops in the top-end of espresso making that will refer to a standard Italian version of a cappuccino as a ‘dry cappuccino, one with less milk in it, and a *$ twelve-ounce Grande (or is that 16oz?) that has a doppio drowning in ten ounces of foamed milk as a ‘wet’ cappuccino, or one with more milk. Leading to embarrassing situations like the one that I encountered on Linden St.’s Blue Bottle hole in the wall. The barista and I went ’round and ’round for a coupla seconds, until I told her call it whatever made her happy, and I’d order it as such. Th trick is to know what your barista uses for terminology, and to use that to describe what you want. I’ve given up, and just quote the recipe for the drink that I want, and let them tell me what it is. “I’ll have a doubleshot in about four, or five at the most, ounces of micro-foamed milk, please.” Yeah, there are a few baristi that get a bit spitty at having me tell them how to make my drink, but it’s usually a lot easier than trying to arrive at a common lexicon if there is a line behind me. ; > 0 Reply August 31, 2009
Bill hey, you said “baristi”! That’s correct! I’m studying Italian here at my fave cafe in RI (They fresh-roast their coffee!). I wonder how many people have given you grief for “baristi”! And if any of you are in the area, this cafe is giving away the juice!!! http://www.taylorslanding.net/FreeCoffee.html IF u r in RI! 0 Reply September 2, 2009
Psyd Italian, Latin, all pretty similar. Even Portuguese is close. OTOH, ‘baristas’ is acceptable English pluralization (although not half as fun), as is ‘cappuccinoes’. IN Italy, if you were to refer to a barista and another barista as ‘baristas’, they’d probably spit in your cappuccinoes. 0 Reply September 2, 2009
Tom Maegdlin Blue bottle has a money Siphon bar. They had a 4 burner bar that was just insane. I am a firm believer in siphons after testing them for a month or so with every sample I could get my hands on. I am a true believer now. I have a NP Kenya coming in that is knock-out in the siphon. 0 Reply September 2, 2009
