The Coffee Shop…
Down on Main Street…
Two men walk in to the cafe, taking a stool next to each other at the counter, as they continue their conversation…
The waitress comes over, addressing them by name and asking if it’s just coffee today?or are they going to be eating something…” “just coffee” today they respond, returning to their conversation… the coffee arrives, the bottom of the cup never runs dry…
The coffee shops back then were usually on Main Street, and were the cafe or diner where you got coffee, breakfast, lunch, pie or just coffee…
Today’s “Coffee” Shop
Today, most coffee shops are stand alone and in my opinion are a far cry from just coffee… not that their is anything wrong with them… but that they have evolved… ALOT
Oh you can still get “just coffee” but to get to the cup of coffee there are questions you need to answer…
Hot or iced…
What size
Drip, pour over, or French press
What type of roast? Light, medium or dark
Caffeinated or decaf
Do you want cream or half n half with it?
Some still use actual ceramic cups and will ask if you want it in a mug or to go cup…
Now that you’ve answered those questions, you get your coffee…
The Menu…
Deciding the more technical route, you approach The Menu…
It’s like approaching the base of your first 14’er… standing there in awe, your jaw drops, and your eyes widen as they keep scanning the massive bulk of granite and forest in front of you… speechless, your senses are overwhelmed…
You hear a voice in the distance… “are you ready to order?… You stare as if in a dream… it’s almost surreal… the barista trying to be kind, tells you to take your time…
Being a Midwest farm boy, where we eat corn bread and chicken… with the coffee coming either from mamas percolator or the cafe’s pot, I thought, I should ask her what time they close, cuz it might just take me that long…
Ordering
A barista worth his or her salt will notice the perspiration on your face, the “deer in the headlights look” on your face and will walk you through the “technical difficulties” of ordering “the drink” in order to reach “the summit” to actually enjoy it… puns totally intended…
Finding yourself in a coffee shop without a “seasoned guide”… uh barista…your brain feeling like it was just processed through a meat grinder… you clear your throat, shoulders back, and boldly approach the counter to make… the order…
I’ll have a latte please, thinking in the back of your mind that it looked pretty safe…straightforward… then it begins… the questions…
Hot or iced?
What size?
What type of milk option would you like…????
How many shots…? Of espresso…!?!
Cold foam, a lot of foam… or no foam?
Do you want any flavoring in that?
After all of that you are definitely ready for the brew…
The Other Side of Ordering
The previous part, describing people new to the world of coffee creations and my first time encountering, as my friend put it a “real” coffee shop…
Today though, there are a whole new side to the people who are ordering in front of you…
They are the seasoned customers who know exactly what they want and order their drinks with skilled perfection…
Beginning, they with well rehearsed instructions provide what they expect for their orders… the complexity and rhythmic flow would make most great orators jealous…
Even the most seasoned barista’s are challenged to keep up at times… let alone how to ring it up…
This is just one I found on the internet, I’ve been behind others customers that have their own complex creations…
It goes something like this…
“I’ll have a venti quad-shot half-caf ristretto upside-down caramel macchiato with extra decaf split into two cups—one with almond milk and one with oat milk, both steamed to precisely 138 degrees.”
Missing Ingredients
The final piece I find amusing, yet disappointing really, as I think about the big picture, is the response at times when a particular ingredient thats been requested is not available for whatever reason…
Just to illustrate, I’ll share one recent experience while waiting in line behind a customer ordering their complex creation…I was speechless at the scene that unfolded…
Presenting their well rehearsed order, the voice rising and falling with perfection, the barista listened patiently, carefully logging the order… upon completion she smiled, informing them they were temporarily out of a particular ingredient and offered to substitute it…
After a brief pause, and look of disgust the customer erupted into a raging verbal onslaught, leaving the barista speechless and in tears at which point the manager took the customer aside to find a solution for their disappointment…
Pausing to give her a minute, I then ordered “just coffee” with heavy cream… still visibly shaken, the barista nervously tells me they were out of heavy cream…
She paused, as if anticipating another tongue lashing… smiling, I told her it was no big deal, accepted half n half, thanked her and told her to have a nice day…
Enjoying my coffee and reading a book, I paused after a few moments not being able to forget about the scene a few minutes before…
Understandably, it is disappointing when you are anticipating something only to find out it isn’t available…
But, when we as a society have reached a point where all sense of decency is lost and verbally assault an innocent employee when circumstances beyond their control are presented… it seems we have lost our way…
A Return to Main Street…
While we do have several excellent modern coffee shops, offering great coffee, selection of food and drink, along with customer service… some days I “just want coffee”…
There is still one small cafe here doing just that… decorated in themes of the cafes of yesteryear, they offer up the same down home excellence of the past… and most mornings the line of regulars are waiting outside for the doors to open…
The beans are ground fresh, just finished brewing and waiting to be poured… with a smile, they fill the cup with “just coffee” and the bottom is never seen…
While it’s not on Main Street, it still offers the same excellent service, quality food and coffee you might expect… so sit on down and rest a bit… and enjoy “just a cup of coffee”
Until next time my friends,
Raj