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Nobody likes a coffee snob. Except another coffee snob.
When I worked at the Starbucks in Koko Marina Shopping Center in Honolulu, one of our regular’s drink order was a “decaf vente vanilla breve extra hot with whip latte.”
One day I asked her, “would you like to try it with ristretto shots?”
Like most people would, she asked, “what’s that?”
A typical Starbucks espresso shot (back in the day at least) has a pull time of 18-23 seconds. With a ristretto shot, we stop it at 15 seconds. The best, the purest portion of the coffee is extracted within the first half of water passing through the portafilter, then gradually, what’s left comes out. Supposedly a ristretto shot has a purer coffee taste with all of the caffeine compared to a regular shot (although to be honest I could never tell the difference). I explained all this to her (except for the parts in parentheses), then said, “besides it would give me a chance to write something in this last box here, pointing at the coffee cup with 5 of 6 boxes filled out.”
Her new regular drink became a “decaf ristretto vente vanilla breve extra hot with whip latte.” And none of my fellow baristas appreciated that…
Giving a shout out today to the Starbucks in Myrtle Beach off Loyola Drive! Because of Covid restrictions they didn’t have any indoor seating today but the shift supervisor allowed me to plug my Microsoft Surface in inside the store while I waited outside. Their electricity made today’s Java Jaguar strip possible.