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7 Coffee Drinks You Should Never Order, According to Baristas
(NYPost.com)
Huff Post consulted coffee experts around the country to reveal the seven coffees you should never order because they aren’t as good as social media makes them seem.
Caramel Macchiato
Starbucks’s notable “caramel macchiato” isn’t what you think it is. Although the drink is described online as “freshly steamed milk with vanilla-flavored syrup marked with espresso and topped with a caramel drizzle,” it’s actually not a caramel macchiato. The drink’s name, macchiato, means “marked,” as in marking the top of an espresso shot with a splash of milk and foam, Stephen Power, a former Starbucks employee who currently serves as the lead barista of Meanwhile Brewing Co. in Austin, Texas told the Huff Post.
Power revealed that “Starbucks has used the word to mean that the espresso marks the top of the milk [instead].”
Mocha
Every sip of mocha is a moment of bliss unless you order it moments before closing. “Let’s say that [a shop is] closing at 5 p.m. and someone comes in at 4:59 p.m. and orders a mocha, then that becomes a slight inconvenience because it requires using the espresso machine and multiple ingredients, followed by more cleanup,” said Adam Keita, co-owner of Daughter in Brooklyn, New York.
Curating a mocha requires a long process of brewing espresso, steaming milk and adding chocolate and other ingredients, which can be a headache for baristas at the end of their shift.
Holiday lattes
For those who fall in love with the fa la la lattes, you should ease off the sugared holiday drinks. “The recipes are too sweet. I don’t like to ask for ‘less sweet’ or other modifications because the [original] recipe is how the drink is meant to taste,” said Chuck Wylie, general manager of Jo’s Red River in Austin. “I want to taste the coffee, not the sugar!” Unlike holiday lattes, a traditional latte is made up of one or two shot of espresso, steamed milk and a layer of frothed milk on top,” explained the Nescafe website. Experts deem lattes as one of the “safest” drinks to make no matter where you order it from.
Lavender lattes
Although lavender lattes are a popular drink for many people seeking wellness benefits such as calmness and relaxation, too much of the flower flavor can become overwhelming. “The floral flavor can be very strong and not as pleasant as it reads on paper,” admitted Camille Pardoe, a barista at Crew Coffee and Cremerie at Lido House in Newport Beach, California.
Olive oil lattes
Another barista no-no is olive oil lattes because adding oil to a latte “will dominate the whole drink,” said Kirstine Gjerding Grøn, head of people and barista education developer of Ole and Steen in New York City.
“Shaken” espresso
The shaken beverage is made with espresso “then shaken, chilled and mellowed with sweetness and a touch of milk,” the Starbucks website read. However, once the hot shots of espresso are poured over the ice, it begins to melt, diluting the coffee flavor.
“A shaken espresso would dilute the coffee, resulting in a pretty wimpy flavor,” explained Jordan Deleon, barista at Mañana Coffee in Austin, Texas.
Vietnamese iced coffee
Don’t bother ordering a Vietnamese iced coffee if the beans aren’t grown in Vietnam. “Unless the business is using coffee beans from Vietnam, I would not order this,” urged Sahra Nguyen, founder of Nguyen Coffee Supply.
Nguyen shames establishments that sell inauthentic Vietnamese coffee beans. She claims they are “appropriating cultural cachet for profit. Companies must focus on authenticity and the unique qualities of different coffee beans rather than simply capitalizing on cultural trends without regard for the communities that created the culture.”
Link: https://nypost.com/