Business is fine. A little up from the week before, and this past week has been super-hot (95*F+).
I am so tired of people assuming that the customer in question, or any customer for that matter is an idiot. Did he behave like a lunatic? Yes. Was he treated with respect and given a chance to avoid this series of events? Not so much. I personally enjoy throwing a few shots on ice and sipping them until they are gone. Does it make me a stupid customer? I say no. I find iced americanos to be too light and watery for my taste, and some cold press to be to heavy, so I ice espresso, or iced americano, no water, that is whatever I have to say to get the barista to deliver 4 shots in a cup full of ice. I trust my taste buds and my mood to dictate what I order, just as I will make a Raspberry white mocha with extra white chocolate and sell it fo nearly six dollars if someone orders it, I need to put money in the register! I certainly tease my regulars who need "Extra Cream" or "Four splendas" and myself for "bastardizing espresso" when I ice it. The culture at my shop lends itself to this sort of banter, and to me splenda is about the worst thing you can do to coffee or espresso. But the first time I see anybody my goal is to create a new regular customer, and educate them on what it is we do here. SIMULTANEOUSLY!! It is not an either, or. I would rather have them feel good about the experience, and confident the next time they come in, versus threatening arson and spreading ill will. I beleive specialty coffee should focus more on inclusion and less on how cool we think we are for being specialty.
All of this publicity can only increase awareness of the company in question and its' owner.
It's the rest of the community that suffers because of the way this situation was handled.
my replyYour right about the espresso over ice! Its a fairly common coffee myth that pouring the shots over ice changes the chemical composition or makes a change in the acidity. They usually say it shocks the espresso. There is no such thing! The chemical composition stays the same. The acidity stays the same and the flavor stays the same.
When I pull the shots directly over my gelato I always want to say "LOOK SHOCKED! Come on please look shocked" but it never does! Affagato (gelato drowned in espresso) has been around for ever.
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Perhaps it is not the espresso that changes, rather your taste buds...
Its pretty well documented that the perceived sweetness of something drops as it gets really cold. If you turn down the sweetness in your perfectly balanced espresso shot, what are you left with?
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