Is That Really a Cappuccino?

[lisper]

I made a brief foray into coffee snobbery about three years ago. I quickly got lost in all the permutations of espresso machines, grinders, roasters, beans, etc. and so I decided I should get myself a baseline of what a "proper" espresso should taste like. Fortunately, at the place I worked at the time we had a (supposedly) top-of-the-line espresso machine and several resident coffee geeks, including one who was actually from Italy. I asked their advice and obtained a bag of what were supposedly the best beans in town, and brought them in to the office.

To make a long story short, several hours and I don't know how many batches of espresso later, none of us had managed to make even a single cup that was remotely close to being drinkable. So I got a $100 Keurig machine, and never looked back.

Still, when I'm in Italy, I can go to any coffee shop and get an espresso that is absolutely delicious. So the Italians definitely know something I don't.

[Schwolop]

Grind, pressure, volume. Keep two of those constant and you can tune the third. It's really not as hard as coffee snobs pretend it is.

[mc32]

Has it gotten that bad that we care about what coffee dispensers and drinkers believe to be a true cappuccino or not? Not for nothing, but this frothy fluff. Who cares, serve what you like and drink what you like, but please don't make it out to be anything more than superficial preference.

[djfergus]

People don't pay that much money for caffeinated frothy fluff - they pay for the whole experience (consciously or not), and part of that is the belief that what you are drinking is authentic...

[kbatten]

My espresso machine was one of the best purchases I have made. I can have straight espresso or any variation of frothed milk and coffee that I can imagine. I use store brand coffee and milk and it is delicious. Its worth investing in if you care about it and I drink coffee almost every day, so something I think is worth investing in.

[tesseract]

A proper cappuccino is 2 parts gin to 1 part vermouth... hang on, that's a martini.

[dagw]

Surely you mean 12:1

2:1 is the ratio for a gin and tonic :)

[switch007]

In the UK, a cappucino has cocoa sprinkled on top. Except for "artisan" coffee shops, that's the biggest difference to a cafe latte. Basically if you want a small, strong, milky coffee from any of the big chains (e.g. Costa, Starbucks, Nero) you need to order a flat white; and probably pay more for it.

[tomlock]

Same in Australia.

[toolslive]

I'm going to get flagged for this, but there are plenty of recipes named incorrectly in the US. Just ask for a pepperoni pizza in Italy, and see what you get.

[srean]

Or imagine the surprise if ordering a "Latte" gets you a glass of milk.

[tomlock]

>>The new enthusiasm for the flat white, a drink made of espresso and milk that seems to have originated in Australia or New Zealand, is particularly nettlesome to Mr. Nye. “You put 10 people in a room who claim to be an authority on the flat white, you’re going to get at least five different opinions on what it should be,” he said. “People are trying to make the whole process intimidating to the consumer.”

What the bloody hell is this drongo talking about? Flat whites are the most average drink in Australia. Flat whites in Australia intimidate no-one. We're intimidated by single origin long blacks and cold drip.

[amatix]

Getting a flat white in the UK is truly painful (as a recently emigrated NZer)

[uhwhat]

It seems like most coffee shops (..that I've tried along the pacific coast) have no idea how to pull an espresso shot and will instead just brew a very bad strong shot of coffee.

Ordering a cappuccino has generally been interpreted as a pile of light milk bubbles on top of "less milk than the normal latte".

[gaspar]

On the one hand food in US is just amazing, because you have so many options (I miss though my home country's food and ingredients). On the other hand though, coffee here is just so so bad and I don't understand why.

[jpittis]

When going to a coffee shop and ordering an espresso and frothed milk, most prefer a certain texture and taste. It would be useful to have an agreed upon language to describe this preference. The current language we use seems to have very inconsistent results.