[noirbot]

I think this misses the point of all of this by making any sort of objective statement here. There's nothing inherently wrong with tradition and stability of a style like Italian espresso. Someone who grew up on it may very well hate an espresso made in a different style with a different roast profile and bean origin and that's quite fine.

The issue in my mind is the dogmatic orthodoxy of people who enjoy French or Italian espresso saying that anything else is borderline immoral, or at best "pretentious". I happen to prefer more modern espresso styles, but there's also joy in a good traditional Italian shot.

[thomassmith65]

What set me off is... well, it's easiest to share some memories:

1970s, early 1980s in America: nowhere to get espresso except for fancy restaurants or italian neighborhood

Late 1980s in Pacific NW, America: quirky little Starbucks chain pops up. Ambience emulates a SF hippie coffee house, but they serve Italian-style cookies and espresso.

1990s, 2000s: Starbuck becomes gigantic corporation. Coffee culture fad spreads. Average American now knows what 'biscotti' are.

Today: "Italians make bad espresso"

And in a plausible future...

2050s: espresso fad long dead in America. Italians carry on same as ever, since coffee there, for generations, has meant 'espresso'

[noirbot]

Sure, I get it! Maybe it is all just a fad that will pass. I don't hold judgement for people who enjoy a more classic espresso, but as I mentioned elsewhere in the thread, I was in Europe most of 15 years ago and you'd essentially get "oh, you're one of those people" looks if you wanted anything but a dark roast espresso. The OP of this thread would likely be as annoyed by trying to get "a cup of coffee" in Italy as in any pretentious city in the world, assuming he doesn't happen to like dark roast espresso.

Both sides can be pretentious. Dogmatic attachment to tradition can be pretentious just like overzealous modernism. I certainly wouldn't order an espresso in Milan and then be upset that I dislike it, but I would find it annoying that it's difficult to find a cup of coffee I do enjoy, just like my British friends find it difficult to find a cup of tea that meets their preference, which I also think is a sub-par way to prepare a drink.

Plus, the espresso fad is kinda already long-dead in America. Sure, there's Starbucks, but no one's really getting a black coffee or espresso shot there. If anything, America's contribution to coffee that has persisted for decades is drip coffee and more recently handbrew pourovers (though Japan and others also contributed a lot there). There's a reason the Americano is essentially just espresso made to taste like drip coffee.