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Permalink Reply by Bryan Wray on September 10, 2009 at 3:02am

Jared Rutledge said:

ninth street does an 8 oz. cappuccino, for whatever reason. but after looking at the cremaware, i'll probably do the six ounce.

Brady said:

I like where you are headed. To me, a 12oz double latte/"triple" americano is perfect, as is the 6-8oz double americano. You lose me on the 8oz capp though. They are by definition a 5.5-6oz drink... so I think you are really missing an opportunity to do it by the book. I say go with 3oz, 6oz, 12oz ceramics.

Good luck on the to-gos... nothing useful to add there. You could maybe roll with an 8oz for the capp.... topless if you can't find lids. Lids are for the faint of heart... smelling is most of tasting!

I just wouldn't want to pour into that mug, it's my shallow love for the trend latte art.
-bry

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Permalink Reply by Joe Marrocco on September 11, 2009 at 7:23pm

Jared,

Hey man! I really like your ideas. Everyone on here is going to give you a different piece of advice. You really need to do what works best and you feel the best about. Traditional drinks are amazing, and I am a huge fan. Yet, don't let sticking to tradition get in the way too much. I do not think that you are bastardizing the cap by putting it in an 8 to go. I think that there are much worse things that you could do to it. You are definitely not going to get a unison backing of support on all of your business decisions here. What you will get is a lot of passionate people who have a lot of different perspectives who are very sound in their reasoning. At the end of the day though, it's you shop. On BX there is a huge variation from one company/region/shop/barista to the next. So don't feel like you are doing something wrong if you go against the grain. Likewise, don't feel like you are doing something RIGHT if you follow a barista's advice. I am not usually a relativist, but in this area I do think you have to do what is right for you.

Here's what we do at Kaldi's Coffee Shops in St. Louis. (Once again, I know that people have strong disagreements, and that's totally cool. I may have some too, but I am very proud of the trail blazing that Kaldi's has accomplished in the mdwest.) We have a "traditional menu" which we differentiate from a to go menu, or "Popular Menu". On the trad menu we offer a 5.5 oz Cap., 10 oz Latte, double espresso, and macc. We have a more expensive price tag placed on these items to help us educate our customers and indicate quality. We then offer to go sizes 12, 16, and 20oz bevs. We also have a 12oz latte in ceramic. All trad. drinks go in ceramic as well. This is what works for us. This is what our market calls for. But in St. Louis, we are the only ones who do traditional sizes. Most people do not understand quality outside of quantity here. In another market it may be suicide to offer a 20oz skinny sugar free Raspberry Vanilla latte. I understand that, appreciate it, and hope it is the future of coffee here.

Long story short: do what works, have fun, and remember that serving coffee comes down to sharing what you love with your local friends.

Joe

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Permalink Reply by Jared Rutledge on September 15, 2009 at 12:59pm

i just got two sengware 8 oz. cups in that i ordered, going to take them to a local place i work sometimes and make a double cappuccino in them to see. they look great but seem like they might break if put to the test.

and thanks for the advice joe, my shop is going to be in an area of town where people enjoy real coffee, thankfully. it's a hip little area where people drink microbrews and like local stuff, so i think for the most part i'll be ok. i'm gonna make my own caramel and vanilla syrup but not advertise it much, in case people demand it.

on a related note i'm sold on the difference between a 12 oz. double latte and a 10 oz. the 10 oz. is just out of whack flavor-wise, the espresso is just a touch much for the way i want a latte to taste. the 12 oz., if made properly, is really creamy and in balance.

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