This morning, I decided to school myself on the different kinds of coffee. It struck me as I stood in line, waiting to order a regular cup of coffee, just how painfully igornant I was to the different kinds of coffee-based drinks. As a pretty regular coffee drinker, I realized this morning that I never really strayed too far off the path in terms of what I ordered. Call me a creature of habit but I never really felt inclined to order anything other than a regular cup of coffee or a latte.
I decided to change that this morning. I actually looked at the drink menu this coffee cart had to offer and decided to go with an espresso. Recently, due to Starbucks and other mainstream coffee chains, the espresso has sort of become synonymous with “energy shot”. I had almost forgotten that people actually drink these tiny little concoctions from those ridiculous looking cups. Just like most mass-produced, over-saturated things that flood our ever quickening consumer society, the art and craft associated with the espresso has been lost.
My espresso was created within a few seconds and then I was left in an awkward position. I had no idea how one actually drank an espresso. This was a tiny coffee cart so they didn’t have the resources to serve their espressos in a demitasse. I held in my hand a regular coffee cup filled about 1/4 of the way with a thick, reddish brown liquid. It seemed awfully empty. I decided to add some skim milk and also a bit of brown sugar.
I knew I fucked up after I took a sip.
Never having had a straight espresso, I some how knew there was something terribly wrong with what I had done. I came back to the office and got on Google, looking up “How to drink an espresso.” Oh man.
Coffee reference:
Espresso – a concentrated coffee drink created by forcing hot water over finely ground coffee, different from regular drip brewing process. Usually served in a warmed demitasse (small 2-3 oz cup.)
Latte – an espresso drink made of a shot of espresso and steamed milk, topped with a thin layer of foam.
Americano – an espresso drink made of a shot of espresso and hot water.
Cappucinno – similar to the latte but equal parts espresso, steamed milk, and foam.
Macchiato – a small amount of milk or foam is spooned onto the espresso. The macchiato you find at Starbucks is more a latte macchiato, which is basically an inverted latte where the espresso is poured into the milk.
Mocha – a latte blended with chocolate.
2 Comments
June 30, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Coffee seems to be evolving…
June 30, 2009 at 8:47 pm
LOLLL wow talk about sophisticated. All I know how to drink is a frappuccino and those iced coffee things. I think im starting to get dependent on coffee…