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The Corruption of Coffee, cont’d

November 2, 2007 in Places, problems

Can somebody tell me where I can get a real cappuccino within walking distance of St. Paul’s in London? Or freaking anywhere besides Peets and Quebrada? Or what one might get, if lucky, by intercepting and patiently guiding the actions of a barista at the likes of Starbucks?

I mean… Jeez.

So i was just at the coffee counter at the office building where I’m working right now, where I asked for a “dry short double cappuccino”.

“Right. A cappuccino”, the barista said, and began to ring up the order. “One pound seventy five”.

“That’s for your shortest?”

“A cappuccino”.

“Can you make it dry?”

“Okay”.

So he made it with skim milk. The result was yet another 12-ounce cup filled with a lot of milk topped by a tiny bit of foam and tanned by an ounce of espresso — roughly replicating every cappuccino I’ve had since I got here on Monday… from Starbucks, from Costa, from Paul… all too much milk and too little coffee.

So I tested my phone’s camera for the first time and produced the above.

23 comments

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November 2, 2007 at 4:56 pm

JM

Maybe try and get in touch with these guys:

http://www.squaremilecoffee.com/

James is the World Barista champ and I think he’d have a good idea where to get a good capp in London

Flat White in Soho is supposed to be wonderful -
http://www.flat-white.co.uk/
17 Berwick Street, Soho, London, W1F 0PT

November 2, 2007 at 6:41 pm

Steven

Among the coffee chains you might stumble across in London, Caffe Nero does the closest thing to real coffee. HTH.

November 2, 2007 at 7:08 pm

steve clayton

Doc

Flat White – not in walking distance of St Paul’s but stunning coffee. Ask them for a flat white and I think you’ll enjoy it.

Coach and Horses is good for a pint too…you may find MacLeod hanging out there!

November 2, 2007 at 11:27 pm

Mark Wahl

Try asking for an “Espresso Macchiato”.

November 3, 2007 at 3:22 am

Sasha Drummond PHD

Coffee puts the system under the strain of metabolizing a deadly acid-forming drug, depositing its insoluble cellulose, which cements the wall of the liver, causing this vital organ to swell to twice its proper size. In addition, coffee is heavily sprayed. (Ninety-two pesticides are applied to its leaves.) Diuretic properties of caffeine cause potassium and other minerals to be flushed from the body.

All this fear went away when I quit, and it was a book that inspired me to do it called The Truth About Caffeine by Marina Kushner. There are five things I liked about this book:

1) It details–thoroughly–the ways in which caffeine may damage your health.

2) It reveals the damage that coffee does to the environment. Specifically, coffee was once grown in the shade, so that trees were left in place. Then sun coffee was introduced, allowing greater yields but contributing to the destruction of rain forests. I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else.

3) It explains how best to go off coffee. This is important. If you try cold turkey, as most people probably do, the withdrawal symptoms will likely drive you right back to coffee.

4) Helped me find a great resource for the latest studies at CaffeineAwareness.org

5) Also, if you drink decaf you won’t want to miss this special free report on the dangers of decaf available at http://www.soyfee.com

November 3, 2007 at 4:41 am

Doc Searls

Thanks all, especially (at the moment) Einar. Because I see that Manon is a short walk up Fleet Street from here.

[Later...] Well, I couldn’t find it. Too bad.

November 3, 2007 at 8:07 am

Adriana

I agree with Mark Wahl. It seems that machiatto might be closer to what you want. Even coffee chains should manage that. :)

November 3, 2007 at 1:36 pm

Daithi

Agreed re machiatto – especially in non-Starbucks places in this part of the world (UK/Ireland), this is served as a generous espresso sealed in by foam but not too much. Good luck and enjoy London!

November 3, 2007 at 8:12 pm

jambamkin

in Starbucks they will serve you a latte machiatto and not an espresso machiatto, you can get the latter in Neros

November 3, 2007 at 9:25 pm

Doc Searls

Well, there are many definitions of a macchiato. In my experience macchiatos are just as variable as cappuccinos.

As for Nero’s, I gave it a try today, at the one by the St. Paul’s station in London. I asked for a small cappuccino. The girl stuck a shot glass under one side of the portafilter’s split channels, and my cup under the other, then pushed the button to begin the extraction process, which filled the glass shot glass to the brim (basically, close to two ounces), while channeling an equal sum of over-extracted coffe into my cup. I winced as I saw the machine extract clear water, far past the point where it was done extracting crema. She then filled my cup with foamed milk. It was terrible.

As Nero himself might have said, Thumbs down.

November 4, 2007 at 7:35 pm

Bradley Allen

Doc,
You probably don’t remember me, but after my time at Technorati, I got into the ‘3rd wave of coffee’ roasting/barista scene. Guess what? We’re international, baby.

I roast. I hot-rod espresso machines. Now trust me, okay? Enough with messing around at Nero’s, etc. and talk of ‘dry’ milk… this is not the 80’s. ;-)

Get thee to Flat White Espresso Bar:

7 Berwick Street (near Broadwick)
London W1F OPT
UK

A bunch of Kiwi’s there. Lovely, wonderful people. Order a flat white, which is as close as you’re going to get to a left-coast cappuccino.

You can also go to Monmouth Coffee House (where Flat White gets their beans):

27 Monmouth St
London WC2H 9DD
UK

There is a reason these two places are on my iPhone contacts. Have a good trip. Namaste.

November 5, 2007 at 1:33 pm

Daniele Muscetta

i have never had a decent cappuccino while being at a greater distance than 100km from rome, even in italy… :-(

November 5, 2007 at 3:01 pm

Doc Searls

Daniele, I’m with ya.

The best coffee (including espresso and cappuccino) I’ve ever had was in Rome, and I’ve been looking for that same quality and experience ever since.

January 16, 2008 at 10:16 am

simon

also, Progreso coffee tends to make a good coffee (depending on the barista). They have one shop in Covent Garden inside a small shopping mall just off of Earlham Street and another shop on Portobello road. http://www.progreso.org.uk/

January 16, 2008 at 1:02 pm

Crosbie Fitch

A few years ago it took me several weeks to track down something resembling cappuccino near Victoria station:
Cafe Rapallo, Fountain Square, 123 Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria

4 out of 5 cappuccinos were worth drinking – this is a very high score for the area.

November 18, 2008 at 11:26 am

Guru's (Utah cafe)

Reminds me a lot of the coffee here in Utah. Most places (especially the mainstream god Starbucks) just fill up a cup with milk, caramel, or whatever else they have in stock, and then put a tiny shot of espresso to top it off.

March 20, 2009 at 3:26 am

Ashok

If you need one in future, Dose espresso is a short walk up from St Paul’s:

http://www.dose-espresso.com/

Tiny, but good.

August 4, 2009 at 6:26 pm

Jacob Smith

Sigh, tell me about it. Sometimes Starbucks really astounds me. They’re supposedly the biggest coffee chain in the world… Yet they can’t make a simple cup of coffee without overdoing it on the milk? I suppose the US’s recession hits everyone hard.

Nice picture with your iPhone, though!

August 29, 2009 at 10:59 am

magic power coffee

lol… don’t the baristas in london get any professional training?

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