At The Coffee Shop

[darniem]

I'm a barista at the coffee shop on campus. We make all manner of drinks, French Press, drip coffee, espresso drinks, Italian sodas, shakes, and fruit smoothies.

I was curious...when you go to your local (or commercial) coffee shop, what do you tend to get? If it's something custom (not normally on the menu) what is it and how is it made?

I just wanna get some insight and possibly some inspiration for new drinks.

[vampyroteuthis]

Espresso or plain black coffee.

Edit: Guess that's not very helpful. Hmm. If I were to make a custom drink I'd love to have an espresso cup filled with soy coffee foam with a spoon.

[Arcanist]

Quad Americano.

[MikeAZ]

Skinny vanilla latte hot

Back in the day they corrected me if I ordered a large, "oh you mean a grande". Apparently there was a memo and English is OK now. :)

[Majom]

A chai latte - basically milk and spices/cinnamon (no coffee)

Or if I feel like a coffee I get a flat white - similar to a latte To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[Osmobot]

Venti cappuccino from Starbucks. I would prefer it if they skipped the foam, and topped it off with espresso instead. I feel like the foam is only there to justify them not filling the cup up all the way, but still charging me for a larger size.

[vermeer]

Caffè mocha / Bicerin
Sometimes Irish Coffee.

[Typhon]

Double espresso with a bit of milk
Cappuccino
Café au lait

[plotthickens]

I'm a Supertaster, so am sensitive to bitter tastes. Thus things like alcohol and coffee are usually incredibly nasty, and tea (real tea*) has to be made carefully. For some reason Americans make tea with very hot water and then let the tea bag sit in that water. Bleackh!

Here's the fact rundown:

Caffeine is water-soluble (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts._properties_and_biosynthesis), and an acid (such as tea or coffee) activates it.

Once you've got color in the water, you've got caffeine.
Leaving the teabag in the water for a long time merely leeches out the nastier, tannic, acidic, bitter flavors. Unnecessary. You don't do that with coffee, right? Okay then.

There are three types of drink which use hot water and a leaf or other plant part:

DECOCTION: where the plant part is boiled 2-60 minutes. Makes a very very strong, usually medicinal drink.
TEA: hot water plus Camellia sinensis leaves, other things may be added
TISANE: hot water plus other plant parts, no caffeine

The more water you use in any hot drink (especially coffee) the more bitter it is.

O Alton god of gustatory goodness, show us yer stuff (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)!

Salt removes bitterness. No really (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.).
It is therefore completely unnecessary to use water above 160 degrees farenheit to make tea, and I let it steep for about 30 seconds -- certainly less than a minute. Just until the color is dark enough -- opaque would be way too much. The idiotic current standard is to use 180+ water (acceptable for coffee) and let it steep for 5 minutes, and so many people have no idea there's another way!

Here's a test to see what you really like: take four tea bags and 160 degree water. Set up four cups. Pour the water into a cup, add a teabag, wait 1 minute... do the same to the next cup, and the third, and the fourth. Remove all teabags at once. Sweeten/cream all evenly as is your normal habit. Then taste test the 4-5 minute tea VS the 1 minute tea, starting with the 1-min. Notice flavor and fragrance differenes. Now taste them all. If you like the longer steep, you may want to try 180 - 200 degree water, but it's not mandatory.

All of this leads to: I ask for 12 oz of tea in a 16 oz cup with 2 ice cubes in the bottom. Add a small shake of salt, sweeten barely, and add cream. Magnificent.

[blackbangs]

I usually get a plain cup of Americano. Otherwise, I ask for milk tea (Earl Grey, soy milk, a little bit of vanilla and honey).

[Uriel]

At The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf I noticed that they put two scoops of that powder in every drink, so I asked them to put one scoop of vanilla and one scoop of mocha (or is it chocolate?) in the drink. The result is vanilla-mocha ice blended.

[Distance]

Dark, dark roast or very rarely, latté. Even espresso straight. No sugar or sweeteners. Full coffee flavour with as little distraction as possible.

[Frosted]

I don't visit coffee shops often. Too poor to spend $6 on a latte. $8 buys me a can of coffee that will last me 3 weeks.

[Dancingqueen]

120 degree, whole milk cappucino (I know it's a bitch to froth the milk but the shot is perfect at this temp)!

[kari]

i am also a barista! a lot of my favorite drinks are things not really on the menu, just concoctions ive made during my shifts. i grew up on skim milk and it took me a good couple of years working at a coffee shop to try something breve...once i did i never went back. its really amazing how delicious breve can make a drink....of course its more fattening and more expensive though (well more expensive for others, for me its free haha). a lot of my favorites are based on menu drinks, just with slightly different proportions. i have a few go-tos though:

-spice chai chiller, sometimes with a shot of espresso (reminds me of tiramisu for some reason)

-white chocolate raspberry frap

-cafe carmel (thats caramel, cream, and a house blend which i would substitute for a dark roast)

-mint mocha latte (with white chocolate substituted for regular)

-mocha cream (coffee, espresso, orange and vanilla extract, hot chocolate powder, with steamed milk...the orange creeped me out at first but its sooooo good)

-irish cream frap or latte (irish cream and white chocolate)

-iced fudge ripple (a blend of swiss mocha almond and german chocolate coffees brewed together, with fudge and a lot of sugar, then pour over ice with some cream)

a top seller at our shop was a black and white frap or latte (dark and white chocolate)

once at a coffee shop that wasnt the one i worked at i had the most amazing drink. they called it a yellow card latte (it was a cafe inside an indoor soccer arena). i forget exactly what was in it, but it was very sweet, which i like. it obviously had espresso and steamed milk, but there was banana, vanilla, chocolate syrup, and i want to say something else, maybe coconut? i dont know but it was AWESOME.


haha my list could go on and on, basically i like it all as long as it has some flavor in it. im glad i got a job as a barista too, before i did i couldnt even tell you what went into a latte or anything.

[Ravendicon]

Earl Grey. Hot.

Oh wait, no, that's when I go to the replicator.

The only time I drink coffee or tea is in the winter, and its pretty much exclusively mocha lattes or, if I'm nearby my awesome tea place, I'll get some of their hard-to-find blends.

[Moxiie]

I used to be barista. Some of the more popular drinks we served (unique ones)

Orange macchiato: add a sliver of orange peel to the doppio before you place it under the espresso.

Orange Mocha: see above, but a mocha (mad, mad delicious too)

Italian Chocolate: unsweetened chocolate, sugar, two shots of espresso, couple tablespoons of milk. Thick semi-sweet chocolate drink - like a thick chocolate drink served in a demitasse

Candy Cane Hot Chocolate: chunks of candy cane mixed in with hot chocolate

[John01]

12 oz double americano w/cream
or
16 oz triple americano w/cream
or
whatever dark roasted coffee they have brewed (preferably Indonesian or Mexican grown).

[LeslyS]

A venti iced caramel macchiato with soy (for protein). I like to try anything new for just to find out if I might make it my new favorite.

[Warrior]

Whatever the normal, brewed coffee of the day is. Just about everything else costs more and has a lot of empty calories in it.

[ricearoni]

Small coffee

[darniem]

Wow these are all great. Plotthickens, I've never learned so much about tea until this morning. Thanks!

The chai & espresso soy latte mix is popular here. We call it a Dirty Hippie.

My barista skills are not where I'd like them to be. We're a small town (800 population) cafe and there's not much in the way of formal training. I've been watching stuff online to learn better techniques. We get our coffee direct from Sunergos (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.) in Louisville. It's pretty tasty!

For comparison's sake...

16oz cup of house blend costs $1.50
16oz Mocha Latte: $3.50

[plotthickens]

Wow these are all great. Plotthickens, I've never learned so much about tea until this morning. Thanks!

Glad to be of service. Overheating coffee does the same thing, brings out bitter chemicals. For more on "perfect" tea, including iced tea, America's Test Kitchen did a great science-y thing a few years ago. Can't find hide nor hair of it now.

Also about 7 years ago there was a fad for mixing tea and coffee. Wonder if others would like it...?

[Winklepicker]

If money were absolutely no factor... I like to mix it up every time, especially if/when I think the barista thinks he/she knows what I want.

-regular coffee with some kind of flavored syrup
-caramel macchiato
-hazelnut mocha

...those are the first that come to mind

[Zodd]

I don't drink coffee. But I like coffee candy and a White Russian (1/3 wodka, 1/3 coffee liqour, 1/3 full fat milk). Apparently cold coffee (or espresso whatever that is) mixed with ice and other stuff is also popular. At coffee shops I mostly order hot chocolate milk with whipcream on top.

[Fujimoto]

I'm also a barista. When I go to other coffee shops, I usually keep my order simple - iced mocha with whip, something along those lines.

Here are some suggestions for drinks you can try out on your own or with co-workers:

- Scorpion Shot. This is a shot of espresso poured onto a couple drops of hot sauce. Nothing else. :) Swirl it gently to mix, then down the son of a bitch.

- Hot Shot. Get a little 4 oz sample cup, put 2 oz of cold milk in, add a pump of chocolate syrup (white chocolate is even better), stir it in, then float a shot on top of all that. To float a shot, hold a spoon right above the surface of the milk, concave side up... it'll catch the espresso and distribute it over the top of your milk. Then drink the shot quickly and steadily, but don't gulp it all at once. What you should get is the hot bitter taste of the espresso first, followed by the cool, sweet, soothing chocolate milk. It's a great experiment in taste and texture.

[deconspire]

Americano. Black.

Or iced coffee, black as well.

[darniem]

I'm also a barista. When I go to other coffee shops, I usually keep my order simple - iced mocha with whip, something along those lines.

Here are some suggestions for drinks you can try out on your own or with co-workers:

- Scorpion Shot. This is a shot of espresso poured onto a couple drops of hot sauce. Nothing else. :) Swirl it gently to mix, then down the son of a bitch.

- Hot Shot. Get a little 4 oz sample cup, put 2 oz of cold milk in, add a pump of chocolate syrup (white chocolate is even better), stir it in, then float a shot on top of all that. To float a shot, hold a spoon right above the surface of the milk, concave side up... it'll catch the espresso and distribute it over the top of your milk. Then drink the shot quickly and steadily, but don't gulp it all at once. What you should get is the hot bitter taste of the espresso first, followed by the cool, sweet, soothing chocolate milk. It's a great experiment in taste and texture.

Scorpion Shot sounds amazing. Thanks for the idea! I love those chocolate bars made with cayenne pepper in 'em, so I'm sure a touch of chocolate syrup in this kind of drink would be amazing too.

[Kricket]

At the coffee shop in my work building I often order a London Fog:

Recipe

16 oz of milk. (2% or whole)
1 shot of vanilla syrup per 16 oz of milk
1 bag of Earl Grey tea
1/2 cup boiling water

Procedure

Brew a small amount of Earl Grey tea. Add about ½ cup of boiling water to a mug along with a bag of Earl Grey. The result is an Earl Grey tea concentrate. Let steep for 2-4 minutes to achieve optimum flavor.
Heat up milk. Access to a steamer is preferred.
Add the vanilla syrup. (adjust according to taste)


They also have a "Jack the Ripper" version that includes a shot of espresso, but that tastes weird.

[Malkavia]

Venti cappuccino from Starbucks. I would prefer it if they skipped the foam, and topped it off with espresso instead. I feel like the foam is only there to justify them not filling the cup up all the way, but still charging me for a larger size.

If you dont want the foam you're ordering the wrong thing. You can just order an expresso (no foam) or expresso machiatto (very, very little foam).

I'm a barista and have actually loved all the barista training I've been able to go to. You learn so much about coffee, tea, and all sorts of drinks.

For me I get a mocha with soy milk when its available with two extra shots of expresso. Taste just like cocoa puffs.

[Aurelia]

I used to be a barista as well... What I drink depends on what I feel like for the day...

Caramel macchiatto
Vanilla chai tea lattes
Raspberry white chocolate mochas
Espresso con panna with a little bit of caramel sauce on top
Cafe au lait

I guess I tend to go for the sweet stuff! I usually alter the drink to use non-fat milk and use less pumps of syrup.

[Amphorian]

Mocha frappe or tea.

[Samoan Corleone]

I usually get a long black before school or work, which is similar to an Americano. Sometimes I have sugar (yes, go scoff you snobs), but never milk. I love Turkish coffee also.

[Merle]

I used to always drink Flat Whites; but no-one seems to know what that is here (the US)... is there another name for it here that I'm just not aware of?

It's similar to a latte, but usually much shorter and so stronger, it only uses the liquidy foam and not the stiffer foam, and the milk is only heated to about 150 degrees.

[Fujimoto]

Depending on the place, the baristas can custom-make a surprising variety of non-menu drinks for you.

I used to work for the evil green giant. We would sometimes blend apple juice, strawberry puree, and melon syrup together with ice. The result was amazingly close to a Jamba Juice.

[Still Standing]

I've never been a coffee shop regular. The only drink for which I've been to one specifically is hot apple cider. It was an instant mix (they even sold it in cans) and they added a cinnamon stick.

[Uncle Mort]

I always ask for tea, it doesn't 'alf upset them.

[Dung]

Cà phê sữa đá!!!

YES!

[katatonic]

Venti cappuccino from Starbucks. I would prefer it if they skipped the foam, and topped it off with espresso instead. I feel like the foam is only there to justify them not filling the cup up all the way, but still charging me for a larger size.

I don't think you know what a cappuccino is. It's 1/3 foam. If you get it from Starbucks, it's more like 1/2 foam. It sounds like what you think you should be paying for is a latte. A latte from Starbucks has about a 1/4" of foam on top and the rest is milk, plus 2 shots for a grande/venti.

I was a barista at Starbucks for a few years. So my default Starbucks drink is a triple grande six pump toffee nut latte. Or a double tall four pump. I've found that the ratio of syrup to shot is perfect for me at 2 to 1. When they have pumpkin spice, I get that. If I go to another cafe I just get an Americano.

[jjm0401]

Coffee shops are very overpriced, but i enjoy an occasional cup. I've never found interactions with baristas to be good ones.

[darniem]

From what I understand via internet commentary and personal experience, some baristas can come off rather rude/snobbish to customers.

I've had a group of 98 Franciscan Friars staying at the school this week and we have had the best of interactions as their barista. I've managed to take care of them when they all pour in during their session breaks from their conference...this means taking multiple orders, making them in a timely fashion, making them right, and presenting them in good spirits. They've all been very happy with their drinks and have started to applaud me in the morning when I begin opening up. One of them even tipped me with a $20 bill.

I think some baristas are under the impression that their job is to make good coffee drinks and that's it. A barista also needs to be amicable since the average joe isn't an expert in coffee and feels a lot less like a moron when the barista is giving them helpful advice instead of sneering when they ask "Can you make a chocolate frappe thing like at McDonalds?" Your advertising success is in the hands of the last customer walking out with the drink you made him and the experience of interaction with you as his barista. If you're a jerk, he'll let everyone know.

[INTJRyan]

Quad iced latte. Boring.

[katatonic]

I think some baristas are under the impression that their job is to make good coffee drinks and that's it. A barista also needs to be amicable since the average joe isn't an expert in coffee and feels a lot less like a moron when the barista is giving them helpful advice instead of sneering when they ask "Can you make a chocolate frappe thing like at McDonalds?" Your advertising success is in the hands of the last customer walking out with the drink you made him and the experience of interaction with you as his barista. If you're a jerk, he'll let everyone know.

Yes to all of this. I was a barista at Starbucks so maybe the snob factor is lower, but my store was awesome to everyone. I was a shift lead for a few years and it was my goal to have the best customer service. Half of our store was return customers. We had their drinks ready before they got to the bar, they would bring us presents on holiday's. I think it's very important to have that type of relationship with your customers.

[Subtle]

Dark, dark roast or very rarely, latté. Even espresso straight. No sugar or sweeteners. Full coffee flavour with as little distraction as possible.

Ah, the pleasure of pure coffee! This is me to a T.

[bobabrowncoat]

The darkest roast they have. A packet of Splenda for every two ounces of coffee. (What? I like it sweet.) Maaaaybe the tiniest bit of creamer.

I rarely order frou-frou drinks.

[Silverity]

Yes to all of this. I was a barista at Starbucks so maybe the snob factor is lower, but my store was awesome to everyone. I was a shift lead for a few years and it was my goal to have the best customer service. Half of our store was return customers. We had their drinks ready before they got to the bar, they would bring us presents on holiday's. I think it's very important to have that type of relationship with your customers.

Aww *blissful memories* when I was a barista it was like this too, our regulars would come by and bring us treats, and since we worked in a giant shopping complex they would also flag us for deals or hold special items for us under the table.

I think a lot of people disdain the job as simple and easy to do, but to be a good barista you have to work pretty hard. At least, I think so. From being able to read your customers, listen sincerely when they want to talk, drawing little hearts on their lattes when they are upset, etc, little things, makes all the difference though.

Anyway!

I like experimenting with flavours and what-not, and I find raspberry lime Italian sodas, and smoothies, to be delicious and refreshing.

Also, well, I called it an Oriental Mist (parody of a London Fog) but a Chai tea with steamed milk and ginger syrup is yummy.

[Othesemo]

I love coffee shops. They're one of the few public places that I'm entirely comfortable. I recently become fond of Cafe Americano (1/2 double espresso, 1/2 boiling water)- not too bitter, and it will keep you up for hours. If I want something sweeter, I'll get chai.

I'm not fond of places (like starbucks) that seem to think that you can stick a dessert in a cup and call it coffee. I come to the places to drink coffee, damnit, not caramel.