I bloody hate (Part III)... Coffee pretentiousness

Just to make matters worse of course when ordering the skinny-mocha-latte - one must have a D4 accent (or down here it's the Rochestown accent (not the Legoland side))

...... does anyone else (besides me) not ask for a cuppa tea with a cream slice anymore!
 
Just to make matters worse of course when ordering the skinny-mocha-latte - one must have a D4 accent (or down here it's the Rochestown accent (not the Legoland side))

...... does anyone else (besides me) not ask for a cuppa tea with a cream slice anymore!

I just looooove cream slices ! Would that be the Mahon side of Rochestown Road Rahndabaht accent or Douglas side occent ?
 
I just looooove cream slices ! Would that be the Mahon side of Rochestown Road Rahndabaht accent or Douglas side occent ?

ha..... well being a northsider you see, my ears wouldn't be that finally tuned to differentiate.... so they both sound the same to me..... but hey lets meet up in Costa Coffee loike :rolleyes:
 
Apart from the preteniousness....the cost is crazy over here. I was charged €3.95 for a cappucino which was pure milk! In Italy, it will normally be about €1 to €1.30 (unless you decide to sit on St Marks Sq., Venice & take in the music....I know someone who was charge about €25 for coffee, a cake & music).
 
I was never a latte person myself, I would scour the menu looking for plain / black coffee and be completely baffled. About 2 years ago I realised that Americano is black. But I still say black. Ordering an Americano would make me sound as if I wished I was in New York or something, which I do sometimes but usually I'm happy enough to be where I am and ordering a black coffee. Have you ever had coffee with someone who ordered a latte and then remarked about the incredible number of calories it had?
 
Italy was one place I found where the waiters constantly referred to black coffee as Americano.

Yup, if you order a "cafe" in italy you get an italian coffee which is a short expresso (by irish standards). If you want a "longer" black coffee (that you can add milk to) - you need to order an Americano (or perhaps "un cafe lungo" but Americano is clearer).
 
You forgot the "Make it so" :D



Starbucks have managed to do the impossible which is to make coffee which has absolutely no taste of coffee


Absolutely agree with that - tastes like warm ditchwater. Had to laugh the other night though was in Starbucks getting a hot chocolate for the little sis and this girl gives the longest list of coffee requirements I've ever heard, you know can I have a venti, skinny, double frappachino with a shot of expresso, shot of vanilla caramel cappuchino etc etc and just when I thought she was finished she says - oh yeah can you double cup and sleeve that please :confused: Just like being in New Yawk!
 
Italy was one place I found where the waiters constantly referred to black coffee as Americano.

That's because it is an Americano. After the Second World War the GI's posted in Europe were not able for the strength of the coffee that they were given so the practice of topping up the espresso with hot water became common. Because it was one for Americans it became known as an Americano. This is the drink that Irish people incorrectly refer to as a regular black coffee. Latte, cappuccino and espresso have been around for a long time. Just because we didn't know about them does not make those who drink them pretentious.
That said I'm partial to a regular black coffee myself, or an espresso after a meal. ;)
 
Fair enough and interesting about Italy, but who in Ireland ever referred to a black coffee as an Americano? I find the cafes themselves more pretentious about this than the customers - having a coffee menu where you can't find normal coffee on it. I guess us old farts will just have to move with the trendy times.
 
Fair enough and interesting about Italy, but who in Ireland ever referred to a black coffee as an Americano?

I've being doing so for at least a decade. I've found it to be the only way to avoid being pawned off with stuff that has been brewing away in a percolator possibly for hours on end. There is a big difference in many cafes between black coffee and americano.
 
. . . it became known as an Americano. This is the drink that Irish people incorrectly refer to as a regular black coffee . . . That said I'm partial to a regular black coffee myself, or an espresso after a meal. ;)

Don't you mean you're partial to an Americano ?

And by the way, why do you claim that Irish people 'incorrectly' call something a regular black coffee ? I wasn't around back in the late 40s, but I don't think the coffee houses of Dublin (as if such a thing existed other than Bewleys) were over-supplied with American soldiers unable for the strength of the drink.

z
 
What about renaming black coffee to 'cafe sans bainne' ?
Gives it a bit of an Irish twist .. :D
 
Latte, cappuccino and espresso have been around for a long time. Just because we didn't know about them does not make those who drink them pretentious.

I agree and I've no problem with the above mentioned.

It's the multisyllabic silly hybrids, obviously invented 'in house', that seemingly must be ordered with an array of qualifying prepositions/adjectives that annoy me.

The pretentiousness is further revealed when different cafés use different terms for the same thing.
 
Was in Venice recently and when in a cafe i asked for a latte, the waitress asked me was I sure, I said I think so. imagine my surprise when she dropped me down... you guessed it.... warm milk! serve's me right for not asking for coffee!
 
Was in Venice recently and when in a cafe i asked for a latte, the waitress asked me was I sure, I said I think so. imagine my surprise when she dropped me down... you guessed it.... warm milk! serve's me right for not asking for coffee!

Reminds me of the one the neighbour told, when a penniless student on interrail with her friend, ordered the cheapest thing on a menu somewhere in Europe, waiter said, are you sure? She said of course. And she got ......now how do you eat a bowl of cream, exactly !
 
Don't you mean you're partial to an Americano ?
Yes, hence the ;)

And by the way, why do you claim that Irish people 'incorrectly' call something a regular black coffee ? I wasn't around back in the late 40s, but I don't think the coffee houses of Dublin (as if such a thing existed other than Bewleys) were over-supplied with American soldiers unable for the strength of the drink.

z
I don't think they were selling small, regular or large coffee either.
 
In all the posts I've read through, nobody seems to mention the macdaddy of coffees, the old Italian chippers, like the Roma in Dundalk, and their "white coffees", good god it was standard all over Ireland and so so good, and now in Croatia you can order a white coffee but it never seems to be quite the same.

I was home in January and found the price of coffee and tea outrageous, as well as attitudes to it. I was at a certain spot in the south city centre (won't name it for legal reasons) and I was seated next to a bunch of R'OCK's wannabes who spoke about coffee as if it was some sort of mystical substance - I wanted to slap each one of them and tell them that REAL Arab coffee (as opposed to arabica) tastes and smells like Jeyes fluid. Bring back Bewleys!
 
This morning I was in a local sandwich bar, and asked for a coffee. The waitress said Americano, even though "coffee" was on the menu!
 
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