It seems a sad and confusing world, full of disappointment.
I mean, this is one of the things though. New Zealanders are actually really good coffee-wise. We train people well and we do a good job. Even Starbucks here is only mediocre, and not actually bad. I think New Zealanders who go overseas are somewhat amazed at how bad the coffee can be, from what I've heard. And yet it seems like such a simple thing!
Deb if you want to order it, ask them to make a coffee with no cream or foam. If they look at you going WHAT? ask them to play a spoon in the pout of the jug and pour it from high up enough to pour but not create bubbles as it goes into the cup. That will create a flat white--although usually there is a tiny wee bit of cream with it at the end to create the classic heart as we bring down the jug from the height to finish up the drink.
I agree Anne. I don't understand how people muck up coffee fulls top! Well actually, I do know--but its called checking your coffee before you give it a customer. *stops the barista rant*
(btw Hello Annie! How ist you?)
NZ is well known for reasonably good coffee-and we actually have NZQA standards to obtain to make coffee, especially if you are hired in a chain of cafes/restaurants. Maybe it doesn't happen in other countries?
I am going to print this off as a card and laminate it and carry it with me wherever I go. Question though. How much actual coffee are we talking? Is it a double espresso shot? What are the quantities involved?
The thing is that so many places just don't seem to get it, so the coffee tends to be average at best. I suspect the training here is not up to par. You sure as shit can't get a qualification in it!
It depends on their sizes, but I'll use our store method.
Double shot=400 ml cup usually. Its simply a double shot which is.. 12oz I think? (Patti?) and then milk on top. Probably best to ask when they are not busy because it is SO easy to miss the cup at that height. *giggles*
Its probably the training--I'm currently at my new store and OMG. *shudders* The new people taught have not been taught properly. Thankfully they get a good shot and then they go and fuck it up with the milk. *facepalm* On a side note, I love training people on coffee :)
Want an explanation on *why* it could be average to leave it? :D
Ooh, the unemployment blues. :o( Could you volunteer somewhere? That can help with the not having anything to do. Or call in your brother and see if he'll take you on at the cafe, thereby killing two birds with one stone!
I'm working (hah) on it. It is actually tempting to get Tom to teach me properly, but it's not very fair on him, specially if I suck at it, poor thing. I'm looking into stuff. Possible admin job at a pathology lab, doing data entry and stuff.
*hugs* If something doesn't come up, could you get some work experience with your brother? Even better--if you could get some work experience in the admin side of the cafe?
I do not think I have so much pride that that may not become an option, even if it's begging Tom to take me in one weekend (his shop's in the bottom of an office building, so it's not open weekends) to teach me how to use a machine. But I shall see?
Cappucinos! They're OK, but they're just not a Flat White.
New Zealand is probably one of the top places for coffee, up there with Italy. (Who also don't have flat whites, but they do have macchiatos, so I'll forgive them.)
It is astonishing how bad coffee can be, especially in England and the US. I have found a chain that do adequate coffee, but yeah. Sad, confusing, disappointing. Actually someone tipped me off to a decent indy coffee bar in Bath the other day. I must check them out.
It makes me a bit sad that people miss out, but on the other hand I know how to make plunger/french press coffee, and I know a lot of friends don't really (it is so easy, I do not understand. Grind beans. Put in french press. Add boiling water. Press. Seriously people, it's not rocket science).
No, I get struggling with it, because it's one if those things that's instinctive when you know how, but I don't think I even know what a french press looks like. And how many beans do you grind? Do you press straight after you add the water? How do you know when it's done? Oh wait. Is a french press the same as a plunger? See? Ignorance!
Aha! Now when people talk about french presses I will know they mean plungers! My knowledge has increased today!
It so easy once you know what you're doing. I don't think I could tell amyone how to make macaroni cheese anymore, because it's so instinctive - you about that much butter, and add flour till it looks right...
Sounds like someone who asked me how I made the satay chicken. (Family dinner.)
"Well.. I fried the chicken, added veges into it then made the peanut butter sauce and stirred it in into it was cooked and mostly soaked through into the veges/chicken."
"How do you know the peanut butter sauce is not to clunky and why those veges instead of the ones recommended".. Um it looked right? :)
That being said, I have never made macaroni cheese in my life.
*laughs* Italy is one up on us here with the macchiatos- seriously, a lot of baristas do not understand fully what it is. Even I am a little unsure--just how much foam to you use to spoon on? (I tend to go with what looks right.)
THANKYOU ANNE. I seriously never knew a french press=coffee plunger. I was imagining like.. I don't know? Almost a sandwich press and couldn't understand how it could do coffee.
One question though, how do you grind the beans? Do you buy a grinder, or do you have ground-beans?
And I agree with Deb's questions! Especially since I am used to expresso coffee.
I knew what a macchiato is, but I didn't realise how much foam on top--its says a "dollop" of milk and foam. And GUH. Sounds like its latte milk then. And a teaspoon.
Huh. I am presuming the big commercial grinder I'm thinking of is NOT what you buy. *goes browsing*
You can get little grinders, benchtop ones. Ours is super old (as in, we've had it for as long as I can remember, and I remember it in my childhood), but this is it (please excuse the state of it's cleanliness. It's clean inside, but yeah, not so attractive on the outside, I know):
Ahaha, you're welcome. It is weird though, most New Zealanders call it a coffee plunger, but yeah, that's the 'technical' name, I suppose.
I bet, I just bet that that's what Jack would think too. And Ianto left to clean up after that little conversation.
We have a grinder at my house, but that's mostly because we don't have coffee all the time, and the main issue with preg-ground coffee is that it goes stale much more quickly. On the other hand, if you buy beans and then store then correctly you can grind them fresh every time, and that makes your mornigns happy times for all :D
Yeah, I recognise it as coffee plunger. It is currently $9.90 at my shop. *grins*
Ooooh yes. I always love at that. People buy 1kg of beans thinking its a bargain, and they leave it in the cupboard. *grins* They last three days at most.
*nods* Now that explains why people buy *whole* beans for it. Or plunger beans is another options.
Do you know what expresso/stovetop beans might be at all?
I FELT SO SMART! Someone was asking about them last week and I actually knew what one was. Before the Starbucks people. GO ME!! (and it's all because of you guys talking about them)
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You get the odd place that does them, but basically they don't have a clue here.
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A life without Flat Whites is a tragic thing, Annie!
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I mean, this is one of the things though. New Zealanders are actually really good coffee-wise. We train people well and we do a good job. Even Starbucks here is only mediocre, and not actually bad. I think New Zealanders who go overseas are somewhat amazed at how bad the coffee can be, from what I've heard. And yet it seems like such a simple thing!
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Deb if you want to order it, ask them to make a coffee with no cream or foam. If they look at you going WHAT? ask them to play a spoon in the pout of the jug and pour it from high up enough to pour but not create bubbles as it goes into the cup. That will create a flat white--although usually there is a tiny wee bit of cream with it at the end to create the classic heart as we bring down the jug from the height to finish up the drink.
I agree Anne. I don't understand how people muck up coffee fulls top! Well actually, I do know--but its called checking your coffee before you give it a customer. *stops the barista rant*
(btw Hello Annie! How ist you?)
NZ is well known for reasonably good coffee-and we actually have NZQA standards to obtain to make coffee, especially if you are hired in a chain of cafes/restaurants. Maybe it doesn't happen in other countries?
*shudders* I'm glad I don't like coffee.
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The thing is that so many places just don't seem to get it, so the coffee tends to be average at best. I suspect the training here is not up to par. You sure as shit can't get a qualification in it!
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Double shot=400 ml cup usually. Its simply a double shot which is.. 12oz I think? (Patti?) and then milk on top. Probably best to ask when they are not busy because it is SO easy to miss the cup at that height. *giggles*
Its probably the training--I'm currently at my new store and OMG. *shudders* The new people taught have not been taught properly. Thankfully they get a good shot and then they go and fuck it up with the milk. *facepalm* On a side note, I love training people on coffee :)
Want an explanation on *why* it could be average to leave it? :D
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I'm not the best, but it's the unemployment blues, and I am in a much better position than a lot of people, so I can't really complain.
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Hope something works out for you Anne!
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Thanks hon :)
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Awesome at being at the bottom of an office building. Now that is what I call a strategic lease. *grins*
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New Zealand is probably one of the top places for coffee, up there with Italy. (Who also don't have flat whites, but they do have macchiatos, so I'll forgive them.)
It is astonishing how bad coffee can be, especially in England and the US. I have found a chain that do adequate coffee, but yeah. Sad, confusing, disappointing. Actually someone tipped me off to a decent indy coffee bar in Bath the other day. I must check them out.
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I get that, totally, I guess it's just that once someone shows you once, it's not that hard? But still.
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It so easy once you know what you're doing. I don't think I could tell amyone how to make macaroni cheese anymore, because it's so instinctive - you about that much butter, and add flour till it looks right...
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"Well.. I fried the chicken, added veges into it then made the peanut butter sauce and stirred it in into it was cooked and mostly soaked through into the veges/chicken."
"How do you know the peanut butter sauce is not to clunky and why those veges instead of the ones recommended".. Um it looked right? :)
That being said, I have never made macaroni cheese in my life.
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THANKYOU ANNE. I seriously never knew a french press=coffee plunger. I was imagining like.. I don't know? Almost a sandwich press and couldn't understand how it could do coffee.
One question though, how do you grind the beans? Do you buy a grinder, or do you have ground-beans?
And I agree with Deb's questions! Especially since I am used to expresso coffee.
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You get your own grinder and grind your own beans, or you can buy ground beans.
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Huh. I am presuming the big commercial grinder I'm thinking of is NOT what you buy. *goes browsing*
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NOW that makes sense.
Sorry, I was imagining a commercial one and I just couldn't see how it would work. *grins*
Thankyou love.
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I bet, I just bet that that's what Jack would think too. And Ianto left to clean up after that little conversation.
We have a grinder at my house, but that's mostly because we don't have coffee all the time, and the main issue with preg-ground coffee is that it goes stale much more quickly. On the other hand, if you buy beans and then store then correctly you can grind them fresh every time, and that makes your mornigns happy times for all :D
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Ooooh yes. I always love at that. People buy 1kg of beans thinking its a bargain, and they leave it in the cupboard. *grins* They last three days at most.
*nods* Now that explains why people buy *whole* beans for it. Or plunger beans is another options.
Do you know what expresso/stovetop beans might be at all?
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Thankyou for the coffee lesson lovie!
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When is fandom or conversations ever not impromptu?
Sorry for hijacking your journal Deb!
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