Comments on: Cappuccino as conflict

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:24:51 +0000

From a consumers point of view milk is a necessity for high volume sales of coffee and can make a coffee exciting. I’m thinking of of the “upside down” latte where the the milk and espresso can be seen floating on each other in a clear glass. Without the milk this drink wouldn’t have happened.

A watery milk kills a great tasting cappuccino, I think it is important that the espresso is thick and strong and the milk fresh organic full cream milk to blend with the espresso. This is all from my coffee lovers point of view.

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By: Rich W

Rich W — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:50:44 +0000

To clarify – a 2-shot cappuccino AS a signature drink.

We’ve seen really basic stuff before as sigs (B. Wilson’s single origin shot). It’s time for the 2-shot capp. And I wouldn’t mind hearing whomever decided to do it throw a bit of criticism of the format in with the presentation…

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By: Eamon

Eamon — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:28:56 +0000

A recent article published in ‘cafe culture’ magazine stated that as much as 95% of all espresso coffee consumed in aust is milk based. The comments were made by Lance Brown. Lance Brown is an employee of the biggest Dairy company in Aust (National Foods) which is also the biggest milk supplier to the cafe industry. Incidentally, the dairy company is owned by a Japanese brewing giant – Kirin.
If it were not for milk i think espresso coffee consumption/popularity/culture in this country, and many others, would be significantly lower. Milk is the only reason espresso coffee is so mainstream popular today. Milk is the very vehicle that allows the mass consumption of Espresso coffee. It’s the conduit between the masses immature palletes and the esoteric world of espresso coffee.
In the cafe that I work in espressos would account for 1-3% of all coffee sold.

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By: Joshua Furlow

Joshua Furlow — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:25:52 +0000

I’m not against coffee with fruity/sweet characteristics, but I find they never work well in a cappuccino. They are too contrasting and don’t seam match up together. I still don’t think you should use overly dark roasted beans so it “cuts through”. I use more of the term what does work well rather what cuts through, since this seams more of a positive choosing the right coffee to work with the milk, so they can support each other. I find for more self any south American, or an Ethiopian coffee works best in a milk based drink. If its not cutting through what your doing wrong is using to much milk, if you can’t taste the flavour then for that particular coffee maybe it needs a larger dosage and or if that’s not possible then use less milk so that you can taste it. Okay admittedly people will have cream with a fruit desert such as a crumble, but its never been something I would do, so maybe this is a personal opinion.

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By: Mike McGinness

Mike McGinness — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:31:08 +0000

It’s not about making all cappuccinos tasting the same per se’, but rather giving the customer what they want and expect. If my customer wants a traditional tasting cappuccino I use my Delirium blend. On the other hand I give them options, currently running “Kaldi Bomb” and Kenya Kirinyaga PB in SO grinders. Kaldi Bomb is an Ethiopia blend of 2 WP and 2 DP Ethiopia each melange roasted City and City++, it’s an “Hawaiian Punch” fruit bomb and makes a phenomenal cap’, but not if expecting a traditional cap’. Same goes for the spicy citrusy Kenya.

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By: Michael Brown

Michael Brown — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:22:50 +0000

I think one of the best parts about your blogs is the dialog it opens up.

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By: JT

JT — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:45:08 +0000

If we all try and make caps that taste the same, then why not just get a food scientist to make a flavouring to add to steamed milk? As baristas are we not supposed to showcase the variety of flavours coffee has to offer? Why would this change with the adding of warm milk?

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By: Peter G

Peter G — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:55:34 +0000

I agree with you, James, that the treating of milk as a distasteful adulterant (some baristas do this) is a problem and that the terminology that espresso has to struggle against milk (“cut through” it) is a problem.

Let’s think about the interaction between milk and espresso coffee, though. This is really a flavor pairing; matching two flavors and blending them for positive culinary effect. Milk is often used in our cuisine to blend with other flavors. By far the most common pairing for milk is with what food scientists would call “browning reaction” flavors. The most common, of course, is chocolate. Milk chocolate and chocolate milk are so commonplace we forget they are actually blends of two ingredients. Other famous browning reaction-milk combos are vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream, caramel custard (dulce de leche, flan, etc), milk caramels, etc. etc. etc. For some reason, there is a natural culinary affinity between browning reactions and dairy. The cappuccino, of course, is the mother of all coffee-and-dairy pairings, and it is a classic marriage of browning reactions in coffee with milk. Coffee flavor itself is dominated by browning reaction flavors- sweet brown caramel flavors emerge in “full city” type roasts, and as roasts get darker, bittersweet fully caramelized flavors emerge. Both are traditionally paired with milk all over the culinary landscape. Therefore, I feel it is fair to say that the “classic” cappuccino flavor is a browning-reaction centric coffee paired with delicious, creamy milk.

I strongly agree with you, James, that there is room to elaborate on this classic. Although much less popular, fruit-flavor (fruit flavors are associated with enzymes and with acidity) paired with dairy is also popular: lemon posset as you state, strawberries and cream, strawberry ice cream, etc. etc. It’s not quite as popular as browning-and-dairy, but it occupies a legitimate culinary space. I agree that there is room for exploration here, but we need to address the simple reality that if people are expecting sugar-browning and milk and get fruit-with-milk, they might justifiably dislike it. As Amber points out, walking the consumer through the process is the key here. Just yesterday, I had a delicious confection made for me by a student at the Culinary Institute of America. It was a passionfruit and vanilla cream ganache, enrobed in bitter chocolate. It was a delicious balance of creaminess, bittersweet browning flavors, and fruit. My brother tried it without explanation of what it was, and he hated it. I had been conditioned to expect this unconventional pairing and loved it. That’s the way it goes.

As for the competition, I have always seen the cappuccino course as the exercise of “classic”. It’s like an imaginary steak contest: cook the perfect simple steak, prepare a classic steak bernaise, and then for the final course, prepare a creative signature dish based on perfectly cooked steak. There are rules about bernaise sauce, and the addition of other ingredients would be unwelcome in the French orthodoxy. I feel that many judges have this idea of “classic” in their minds when they evaluate cappuccinos, and this means browning-and-dairy flavors. On the one hand I agree that we should be open minded about allowing some experimentation here, but on the other hand I really personally celebrate a barista who creates a perfect, sugar-browning style cappuccino.

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By: Ville Nummela

Ville Nummela — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:53:59 +0000

A consumer’s view.

In the world of Port wine, there are two big “schools”. Vintage Ports aim for power and balance; Tawnies prefer subtle nuances. Each Port lover has a favourite; for example I’m definitely a Tawny guy, while my father is more into the Vintages.

As a coffee consumer, I’d really really like to be offered a choice. Some of us prefer their milk sliced. Fine. I’ve always enjoyed the soft and the delicate, with or without milk. Usually with.

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By: Lance

Lance — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:22:07 +0000

To offer a different slant on the debate I want to champion Robusta a little. Whilst Arabica offer acidity generally and persistence robusta can add some chocolate notes and body with ease. Robusta does drift away on the palate quite quickly whatever the grade. Many people shun robusta because their experience of robusta has been a bad one. Historically robusta has been added to save money but the finest washed robustas from India and Java are much more expensive than your average Arabica. By washing robusta the woody nature vanishes and both fragrance and chocolate come into play. Starbucks roast their coffee very dark to try and maintain coffee flavours in such huge drinks as they use only arabica. By roasting their coffee darker they actually reduce the acidity of the bean and arabica acidity is important in milky drinks. Many 100% arabica espressos can get lost in cappuccino unless the correct milk coffee ratio is used. I would say most cappuccino in the market place using robusta is not that good but try to hunt a good one out? Washed robusta from the Kaapi Royale estate in India is a good starting point and you maybe suprised. I used 30% of this coffee in my cappuccino for UKBC semis 2009 and is was rated 6th out of 24 so it cant be that bad.

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