At some point, I was going to have to voice my objection to the state of espresso in this country. And it was the advent of a really good cup of coffee that finally prompted me.
So, It’s bad. It’s bitter. You’re not supposed to have to dump sugar in coffee to make it palatable. I’ve even tried some of the best SF places (to remain unnamed) and one tiny sip is all it takes for disappointment and resignation to set in. Followed by enough sugar to counteract the bitterness. I’ve sometimes wondered if the white sugar multi-nationals are plotting some world wide conspiracy to addict the world’s population and ultimately bend them to their sugary will. But I digress. People have written at length about the state of bad coffee, they’ve imported complicated and expensive systems from Italy, but I just decided to give it up.
But this morning, I found myself at a Starbucks in Seattle of all places (at 185th and Aurora, of all places) and instead of my usual tea, or chai tea latte, I thought, what the heck and ordered an Americano. It took me a minute to articulate just how small a cup I wanted.
Me: I’ll have a small.
Barista (pointing): That’s tall.
Me: Don’t you have a really, really small, child’s size cup?
Barista (digging deep under the counter): Oh, you mean short.
Right short. I mean six and maybe eight ounces. And it was delicious. Not bitter. So, I just want to shout out to my new friends at Starbucks for doing it right and especially those Northern Seattle baristas. You girls have got to go national.
zoe finkel 