While the “ghetto latte” reason is fairly compelling in and of it’s self, even learning that Q. What’s wrong with “espresso over ice?”
Answer: Espresso is a fairly volatile thing, and when it hits ice, it seems to go through a chemical change that we can’t fully explain (and I haven’t seen a good explanation within our industry quite yet). It does appear to have something to do with ascorbic acid, but when we make our iced americanos (espresso + water + ice), we pour the shots into room-temperature water before adding the ice. Believe it or not, it does make a difference. Pouring espresso over ice creates unpleasantly acrid flavors.” Would have made me want to try both methods to discover for myself.

In the end, what I think the best part of all of this is? The sound bite, or the poster.

“Hey man. What you’re about to do … that’s really, really Not Okay.”
I could hear the capital letters in his voice, could see the gravity of the situation in his eyes.

Great stuff haha

The Stumptown in the ace hotel is in Portland - but the Stumptown in Seattle has just as good coffee at least.

If you are heading down there anytime soon (or anywhere for that matter) and want a list/addresses of some places to check out email me or write a comment and we’ll be happy to share all the goods.

Coffee (as much as we hate to deny it and there is some validity to the denials) is a commodity which people consume multiple times per day. As much as the barista wants to maintain quality control, it’s a consumable product that has been bought and paid for and the consumer should be able to prepare it as they see fit.

Also, let’s just call it what it is… pretension, very annoying pretension. Enjoy your customers that order drinks in the way you agree with, but also serve the others happily. Life is too short to bicker over this stuff and retail business is too hard to be turning away customers.

“Some coffee shops pride themselves on their consistent quality. If they choose not to allow poorly made coffee to pass their counter top, that should be respected.

You don’t ask a sushi chef to put ketchup on your nigiri. You don’t ask a fashion designer to embroider minnie-mouse on your shirt, just because that’s ‘how you want it.’ You’re offending them and their standards. Some view making coffee as an art, just like photography, cooking, writing, etc.”

I agree. Though, with coffee, being as ubiquitous as it is, your always going to run into customers who don’t understand this kind of quality control. There’s millions of places all over the world who will give you what you want, however you want, it’s no surprise a customer would react this way.

But, I had read both of these last night, and it seems like a collision of lameness. On the one side, there apparently is signage saying that Murky doesn’t do espresso over ice, or something to that effect. Asking for it in that context really is asking for it.

On the other, the barista is nothing more than an emo policy thug. Instead of explaining why the policy was there, all he could do is be a moralizing inarticulate jackass to the customer. There’s a reason behind the policy, but he couldn’t articulate it because he was too busy condemning. Then we have the Murkys response from Nick, who musters the finest vintage emo ennui to respond, and finishes with schoolyard finesse. His followup post explaining the reason behind the policy is actually interesting, but it’s undercut so badly by his childish reply that it doesn’t matter, in the end.

I had something like this, though far less intense happen at O Cafe a few years ago when I was still pretty new to any kind of decent coffee, where the owner flipped out on my head over a request for a long shot. He wouldn’t explain why, he just kept almost-yelling that it was wrong. Finally I got him to explain why, he did, I agreed, he made what he thought would be good and by god, it was great. But I didn’t need the frantic clown show to convince me.

Thank god there are baristas who are able to communicate and explain things, and even be helpful and friendly about it though that last part is rare, with many preferring to looking brooding and intense about their craft. Good coffee without good service is just technically good coffee, lacking soul or connection with the people it’s made for. That this is lost on more than a few baristas is kinda sad.

Saves a lot of time.

I will take your word for it, as that makes infinite times more sense than “meal”.

While I was writing the blog I found it translated as meal on a few sites though for some reason. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mahl

so it’s gindking

We did a bit more of a side by side test, Anfim vs. Mahlkonig. Here were the parameters:

18g’s of Espresso, 1.7 ounces, in 28 seconds, we shot 2 different espresso’s, 3 times, on each grinder . Every puck was weighed precisely to make sure it was an even test. The results have me quite confused, and un-decided. I’m going to comment just about the extraction and taste.

The Anfim allowed a much cleaner, and more precise mound, as I could dose in a much more controlled style. We used a naked portafilter, and the extraction out of the Anfim was flawless. No channelling, rich, beautiful striping, and generally looked good. Looking at the crema, it was nice, not notably impressive but, definitely a good pull. On all three shots using Nero Profundo, the taste was at best a 7/10. The three shots, all had a very bright finish, and left a mix of tastes in my mouth, most of which I was un-impressed with. However, it was a good shot, but I was being very