A word about coffee, café, and Kaffee

As an American who consumes enough coffee to deserve his own coffee plantation, I feel the need to comment on the various levels of coffee I've had the pleasure, or disgust, of consuming over recent months.

We all know that I was on the frequent flyer plan at Starbuck's, which had it's perks. As much as I enjoyed playing for the Pogue Mahones (Starbucks football team), I was pretty thrilled to leave a Starbuck's environment and find myself in a land where EVERY café is espresso. Fenomenal.

Cortados and café con leches in Espania. Hmmm. The prices are always reasonable (ie. they don't charge an extra 1.95 for hot milk), and the quality is almost always above average. Sure, it is possible to have the rare bad cortado, but since it doesn't cost all that much, it's not that big of a deal. Besides, as you'll see below, I'm not so pretentious as to be unable to take this in stride.

Take Germany for example, where espresso is consumed a bit less. The drip coffee isn't nearly as good as espresso, but still drinkable. At my office, there are Kaffee pots everywhere, and loads of mugs about. It reminds me a little of Cafe Brazil coffee, if I need to offer a comparison to a Dallas location.

Though I haven't spent too much time I Frankfurt just yet, there do seem to be quite a lot of little cafe houses around, and I'm quite sure that many of them are espresso bars. I'll certainly know more in a few weeks.

Now, after a few days in England, I can comment that the coffee experience in England is simply different. In the workplace, you can spend 20p for a little plastic cup of coffee or tea that is far from delicious. Drinkable, yes, (says the guy who drinks just about anything), but a delightful experience, I think not.
However, it's the experience that makes the reward. Three guys standing around the vending machine in the canteen drinking some hot liquid out of a little plastic cup that looks like what I used to submit a urine sample to my doctor when I was a child. It's a hard visiual to get out of the head, and the warmth of the cup itself doesn't help matters.

Coffee in restaurants and bars really isn't that much better, though you normally get served with a proper cup or mug.

No complaints from me, really, it's just that I notice the differences. Of course, if that's the kind of remark you'd expect from someone who just slipped out at lunch to have a quick pint in the pub, then snarfed a plate of chips and sausage roll on the way back to the office, eh?

there you have it

keep the faith
bryan