Cappucino Considerations

Finding a joint that knows how to make a proper cappiccino is like taking your Subaru in for service and getting a loaner car whose radio won't tune in MPR. Who do they think they are kidding?

I think it has something to do with America's taste for the bland. Budweiser is bland and weak. Pop music is bland and repetitive. Chain restaurants like Noodles & Company and Applebee's are bland. Movies and actors are bland copies of other movies and actors. So you go to the coffee shop and your espresso drink is bland, like a glass of warm milk with foam. I heard another coffee snob say once that Startbucks is not in the coffee business, they are in the milk drink business. Milk with chocolate, milk with sugar, milk with caramel. Milk with flavor shots. Anything but coffee.

In a good cappuccino, you should be able to taste the coffee. Part of the problem, I suppose, is that at 20 ounces the whole milk plus froth plus espresso equation doesn't really work out. The froth doesn't stand a chance. A 20 oz cappuccino, which is the size of the Starbucks "venti," should have 7 oz of froth. By the time you're one third done with the drink, the froth has reduced to liquid. At that point, you're drinking just milk and espresso.

The local chain Dunn Bros is the only place I've found that consistently makes good cappuccinos. They use more espresso and sometimes they even ask me if I like it "wet" or "dry" (more espresso or more milk). I'm not a big fan of coffee jargon, but at least they care. I think I'm going to switch to ordering small sized drinks. I like to have a big one to carry around with me and the caffeine never really affects me, but maybe I'll find the taste to be better.