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.