tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114419542024-03-05T14:05:46.640+00:00Coffee SnobOccasional musings from various cafes.Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-34378415383778155322011-12-30T21:28:00.003+00:002011-12-30T21:32:15.915+00:00Restaurante O Zé Magala, Lisbon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg60l6MWg4IdsoYtWgcOx4inCIFcN5oXxXhzWnXpIV23MOTSnLqDS6eLu0878CIStbcR6MVB_vR_0WDNxmZW0XEebZNiwRGTlqW6rNn5qgOkAi8ezPUipZX5KAEaVSs-1CkoAqWmQ/s1600/IMG_1449.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg60l6MWg4IdsoYtWgcOx4inCIFcN5oXxXhzWnXpIV23MOTSnLqDS6eLu0878CIStbcR6MVB_vR_0WDNxmZW0XEebZNiwRGTlqW6rNn5qgOkAi8ezPUipZX5KAEaVSs-1CkoAqWmQ/s320/IMG_1449.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
This isn't where you usually come for breakfast, when you're here. You usually go to a bigger place down the hill. But last night your friend asked you to "support the local economy" - meaning "go to the cafe closest to the flat." In a city full of independently owned and run cafes and restaurants, you are taken with the very specific geography of this idea of 'local business'.<br />
<br />
It's smaller than your 'regular' place, but seems busy from the four or five customers who are here already. The proprietor greets you on his way back from one of the small blue tables to the stainless steel counter that runs along most of one wall. Once behind the counter he asks you what you would like.<br />
<br />
You half-stand at your table to place your order; the room is so narrow you don't need to cross to the counter to speak to him, but it would feel rude to stay seated. As is so often the way in Lisbon, your breakfast is then on your table before you're properly settled, before you have properly established your territory. Café cheio, good, strong, the cup branded with the cafe's name rather than with name of the coffee it contains. Unusual, you note.<br />
<br />
You realise that the cafe seems busy because in sitting to face the street, you have your back to the empty half of the room. By the time you order a second coffee and, breaking with tradition, a bolo de arroz, all the other customers have left, and you are alone in the cafe. Even the owner is out back. The TV, which no-one was paying any attention to anyway, plays silently to the empty room.<br />
<br />
By the time you are ready to leave, though, four more customers - regulars you guess - are all standing at the counter with their coffees, juices and cakes. And this is the moment that you realise that you have left your wallet back at the flat, in your coat, you were just popping over the road after all, and that you only have 4 euros in your pockets.<br />
<br />
It's an honest mistake and you could be back in two minutes with the cash. But you don't have the language to explain that.<br />
<br />
So you start to make some expensive mobile phone calls.<br />
.Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-67113729576384487892011-06-30T23:12:00.001+01:002011-12-30T21:31:52.599+00:00Confeitaria Pampulha<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi8Hb2hmZwqYUkwIbgz9w3072MGSuk3UA5wU6u2i470ocU-zBmP3WjjARTJGgXnZ1A1aJwCAp56OA8Qdeqx2D9xySVfxZ6pZx9PJl3osRF5qLDgydfmo3v_QOSZanzwLuYzxJevQ/s1600/DSC01713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi8Hb2hmZwqYUkwIbgz9w3072MGSuk3UA5wU6u2i470ocU-zBmP3WjjARTJGgXnZ1A1aJwCAp56OA8Qdeqx2D9xySVfxZ6pZx9PJl3osRF5qLDgydfmo3v_QOSZanzwLuYzxJevQ/s320/DSC01713.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">A moment of the English uncertainty when taking a seat in a cafe in another country. It isn't full, but the guy behind the counter is getting on with stuff and the three or four regulars all seem to know each other, even though they are all standing, or sitting, apart. Will the cafe staff, y'know, notice that you're here?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Of course they do. And presently a waiter (which feels like the wrong word, but what would the right word be?) appears at your table, having just deposited breakfast at an adjacent one. Café abatanado, sandes queijo and pasteis de nata appear almost instantly. How do they do that?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">You quickly find yourself having several unnecessarily expensive text message conversations, and have to actively put your phone down in order to concentrate on breakfast. <i>Stop, for a minute. It's okay.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The coffee is medium-strong with a bit of bite. A second is swiftly ordered.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-89434087519509568312011-04-04T23:08:00.000+01:002011-04-04T23:17:30.796+01:00Clearly Food Kitchen, Sheffield<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi393E3LSGsPhgQ9K8cL35ysgZDK0_jloHq4D4SF0gJXQMW-20DyMM-jcT5FDY012iUDSGALwUm0270IlY726XIHYzEMKMksetrjm3wh5eyAZefxKAvSE8duSOcLV26shTfa0e7aQ/s1600/DSC01510.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi393E3LSGsPhgQ9K8cL35ysgZDK0_jloHq4D4SF0gJXQMW-20DyMM-jcT5FDY012iUDSGALwUm0270IlY726XIHYzEMKMksetrjm3wh5eyAZefxKAvSE8duSOcLV26shTfa0e7aQ/s320/DSC01510.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591854133825675442" /></a><br /><br /><div>One of those cafes that has actually been many different cafes in the years that you have been coming here - in fact, didn't it used to be a chip shop? Yes, a good one.</div><div><br /></div><div>But this is your first visit to it in this incarnation. You have a twenty minute gap between getting off the bus and your appointment, and this place is kind of on the way. Well, not in the opposite direction, anyway.</div><div><br /></div><div>All of the coffees available are offered in just one size. This is either a Good Sign, or a Bad Sign. So you order an espresso - not trusting them, on this first visit, not to charge you for two if you order a double - and eggs on toast. Well, you've got twenty minutes.</div><div><br /></div><div>The espresso comes lungo, and tastes great. The eggs on toast are perfect. You can actually see the neat, dark brown spot appear on your mental coffee map.</div><div><br /></div>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-36269550692846088172010-11-16T14:20:00.001+00:002011-12-30T21:33:19.924+00:00Cafetaria Doce Doce, Lisbon<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirbMI0pPiPcUC-qxQqnaKRTkiH65ytUWNgAeICdINfjt2F7dPrwDTvE-_4boJw_YnsYQ2a9xKo1XVOSRsi_aG-xHCufQUd9nmub90Fi0LSlfmGY0cfaNj-4Jh2LtJ8Wis1SyZ7Qg/s1600/DSC01151.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540152507438275970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirbMI0pPiPcUC-qxQqnaKRTkiH65ytUWNgAeICdINfjt2F7dPrwDTvE-_4boJw_YnsYQ2a9xKo1XVOSRsi_aG-xHCufQUd9nmub90Fi0LSlfmGY0cfaNj-4Jh2LtJ8Wis1SyZ7Qg/s320/DSC01151.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; height: 240px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<br />
The small café directly opposite the door to your flat. You had already found it the last time you were here, but this time it has been recommended. You've been here twice already on this trip, but this is your first visit alone.<br />
<br />
The four staff seem to have barely enough room behind the counter, but the service is unfailingly efficient and friendly. Every customer is greeted, engaged in conversation and bade farewell, often by all four members of staff.<br />
<br />
During a brief lull, the one guy who works here, who has previously established that you are English and who has explained that he was a student in Winchester, comes over to check that your typical (you think) Lisbonese breakfast of <span style="font-style: italic;">café abatando</span> and 2 <span style="font-style: italic;">pasteis</span> are okay. Perhaps because he didn't get to serve you himself, today.<br />
<br />
"Is everything in order?"<br />
"Yes, great. Obrigado."<br />
"Do you like Portuguese food?"<br />
"I like <span style="font-style: italic;">pasteis de nata</span> very much."<br />
"Do you know what I miss most, from being in England?"<br />
<br />
You misunderstand the tense of his question, and are about to explain to him that you can get <span style="font-style: italic;">pasteis de nata</span> in England, only they are not the same, nowhere near as good, but he continues:<br />
<br />
"Baked beans!" He indicates a large plate with his hands. "A proper English breakfast! You can get baked beans over here, but they're not the same."<br />
<br />
A discussion about the proportional cost of posting tins of baked beans from the UK to Portugal begins, but is interrupted by the arrival of new customers. Your friend goes back behind the counter, and you get your order in for another <span style="font-style: italic;">café</span> whilst you have the chance.Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-24293306047730277092010-07-09T21:11:00.000+01:002010-07-09T21:17:29.345+01:00Cafe Silvia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPTIrguMJiqnyijPDe6OEqGjlSNbHFV18tXgZpswpVODloJ54dHUW18jzi9oGtv2MnyQGwx7LdvOR3I96jEB7cOn25N3pKLbeSAoIhjX4KtpFsoM1kuiStbqYmImMRZEhk57hZMQ/s1600/DSC00840.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPTIrguMJiqnyijPDe6OEqGjlSNbHFV18tXgZpswpVODloJ54dHUW18jzi9oGtv2MnyQGwx7LdvOR3I96jEB7cOn25N3pKLbeSAoIhjX4KtpFsoM1kuiStbqYmImMRZEhk57hZMQ/s320/DSC00840.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5492002455836864770" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Some confusion in the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">arrangements</span> today. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Café</span> choice No.1 turned out to be closed when you arrived, choice No.2 open, friend late, text messages lost in the ether, food order placed before new information received. Consequently you have had lunch in one <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">café</span> (choice No.2) and are now on coffee in choice No.3. Your friend has still not arrived at any of them.<br /><br />Perhaps this has worked out for the best though – at least in terms of lunch and coffee. And cake. The pleasingly brusque waiter deposits a perfect looking cafe <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">cheio</span> and pastel <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">nata</span> on your table.<br /><br />Your friend arrives.Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-91308485837368530422010-06-27T15:30:00.000+01:002010-06-27T20:46:24.260+01:00Aeroporto de Lisboa<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDZ9KMYkhbz7MHc4V8tONET4KzUNlGUj3AHW2DLpfXykPkneyBGhC07n8geIqNDzt0KC0qiglCIgeytW1qBHQMtGhzksJUaIriY-vvTwXu2ycOua2mrIin45h_Uo3oiBBLOiScA/s1600/DSC00768.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDZ9KMYkhbz7MHc4V8tONET4KzUNlGUj3AHW2DLpfXykPkneyBGhC07n8geIqNDzt0KC0qiglCIgeytW1qBHQMtGhzksJUaIriY-vvTwXu2ycOua2mrIin45h_Uo3oiBBLOiScA/s320/DSC00768.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485605502473552802" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />You are here ridiculously early. Some issue with the taxi company wanting to collect you earlier rather than later, and today is a public holiday about sardines.<br /><br />But it means time for a leisurely breakfast before checking in. You order your coffee long and decide to risk two pasteis de nata, knowing full well that they are only good when made on the premises in a pastelaria. You choose a seat to people-watch from, near the top of the escalators.<br /><br />A guy with a good, real, tan, and cut off jeans, faded t-shirt and a battered cap comes to a tentative halt near your table, looking at the escalators with concern. He has his bag on a trolley, and an enormous cardboard box – bigger than himself and originally for a flat screen TV? – which is flapping open at the top, full of holes, and badly held together with peeling gaffa tape. It has an address in New Zealand written on it in black marker pen. You do not feel optimistic for its contents.<br /><br />The guy perches at the edge of the café seating and checks his laptop.<br /><br />The pasteis are, surprisingly, fantastic – clearly freshly cooked on the premises. But the coffee is too long – although you must accept some share of the responsibility for that.<br /><br />The guy from New Zealand puts away his laptop, and drifts off, away from the escalators, looking worried.Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-4706616516607380842010-06-23T15:32:00.000+01:002010-06-23T15:32:00.490+01:00Pastelaria Orion IIA different seat this morning but, once again, the only free table. The waitress appears almost immediately. She’s still wearing the shades, even though today is overcast with drizzle.<br /><br />“Bom dia,” she greets you.<br /><br />You order your <span style="font-style: italic;">cafe abatanado</span>, your <span style="font-style: italic;">sandes queijo</span>, and, er, <span style="font-style: italic;">tres</span>…<br /><br />“…pasteis de nata,” she finishes your order for you, smiling. Does she remember you from your single visit the other day, or is it just that that pasteis are the one thing that customers regularly have to think about exactly how many they want?Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-49791381896430399362010-06-22T15:25:00.000+01:002010-06-22T15:28:22.790+01:00Pastelaria Bernard<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha-BU4vSUF1TFmQihQ7Yo4uAi7v9ECS24aEX1fCSH8EZQ4DwLvmgGmmPsdQatJBa622D-g0HuiK5tONAezYkCh3bDFULeKFhT4qhJNQAs7X3gg6NTBSom7ukl_U0dBVWhsqlfksQ/s1600/DSC00708.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha-BU4vSUF1TFmQihQ7Yo4uAi7v9ECS24aEX1fCSH8EZQ4DwLvmgGmmPsdQatJBa622D-g0HuiK5tONAezYkCh3bDFULeKFhT4qhJNQAs7X3gg6NTBSom7ukl_U0dBVWhsqlfksQ/s320/DSC00708.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485604529085533682" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A confusing range of payment options. Outside, on the street it is table service, and there’s also a take-away window. Once inside, though, you are directed from the service counter to the pre-payment till opposite it. When you place your order there, the woman perched on the high stool asks if you want to sit at a table or stand at the counter. You say table and she indicates that you should just sit and someone will take your order at the table. The back of the room, it turns out, is Restaurant Bernard. Once seated you see that in the corner of the room there is a glass door leading to Restaurant Salandeclia.<br /><br />You order your lunch, water, and a <span style="font-style: italic;">café cheio</span>. You’d like the coffee now, before your food, yes, thanks, which is why you are ordering it now, and they (the waiter in particular, but the Portuguese in general) think this is weird. During this negotiation the waiter is of course talking to you in English, and around you you can hear English tourists who haven’t even bothered to learn <span style="font-style: italic;">obrigado</span>/<span style="font-style: italic;">a</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">por favor</span>. But you soldier on, using your minimal but well practiced café-ordering Portuguese.<br /><br />So you order your café cheio for before your meal. And you will order another one after your meal, just to keep your waiter happy.Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-38519563207160883692010-06-13T20:36:00.000+01:002010-06-13T20:52:36.194+01:00Pastelaria Orion<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkUPxd9ASwVR5y-7D4-EeWAIfmCW8-Chns_p1ncqciudQur_NQBEQO41GH1lV0BhbMEQbqv0qNKd3EYKLsg_eGU82oAndzEDR0GEQYPtWziyzSvStj4w7M6H4Ezdhtv-aBBMaBg/s1600/DSC00700.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilkUPxd9ASwVR5y-7D4-EeWAIfmCW8-Chns_p1ncqciudQur_NQBEQO41GH1lV0BhbMEQbqv0qNKd3EYKLsg_eGU82oAndzEDR0GEQYPtWziyzSvStj4w7M6H4Ezdhtv-aBBMaBg/s320/DSC00700.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482344919066548210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />You have had to walk through Lisbon from your accommodation to find the end of the power cut that the room you are staying at has been caught in. You know from experience that you are not just looking for a café - a snack-bar - for breakfast, you are looking for a Pastelaria. You find Pastelaria Orion at the top of the hill, near the upper entrance to Elevador Bica, and at the edge of the power cut.<br /><br />It is pleasingly familiar inside, even though you have never been in here before: a counter all along one wall, regularly laid out square tables filling the rest of the rectangular room, window seats to your left.<br /><br />Your English uncertainty flickers briefly, but the waitress, despite her very dark sunglasses, has seen you arrive and is at your table to take your order almost instantly. You don’t have much Portuguese, but what you do have is well practiced: sandes queijo, dois pasteis de nata, café abatanado. Por favor. The waitress nods, and returns moments later with a laminated yellow card, bearing the number 150, which she leaves without explanation, and doesn't remove when she brings your order.<br /><br />Initially you sit to look back out at the street, but a beer fridge blocks all of the nearest window, so you turn round to face the room. Most of the other customers have arrived alone. 5 or 6 have chosen a table like you, but a similar number are standing at the counter. Watching the room you realise that the yellow number card is your bill – to be taken to the counter when you are done. No need to mime writing on your hand, eyebrows raised, at the waitress when the time comes.<br /><br />The waitress is, naturally, brilliant, despite the indoor shades. Busy but calm; cheerful and efficient. You think, as you have thought before, that going for a coffee in Portugal isn’t just a visit to a café, it’s actually a visit to quite a different lifestyle. Many of the customers seem to know both each other and the staff, just through being breakfast regulars. And even though it is normal to stand and eat at the counter, this isn’t a sign of hurry sickness – it’s a social thing.<br /><br />You’ve been here about 30 minutes, and the clientele has changed completely, apart from you; but it’s just as busy, and with the same atmosphere. You’ll know you'll be back, but for now, it’s yellow ticket time.Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-28386020346044939182010-05-31T19:04:00.000+01:002010-06-01T10:07:19.415+01:00Eastleigh<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2Ae5BISqYCa4E12Q5iIN_cGyjSq-2_A8kBpjDvk50_rBuWnWpKaYrUAcj36UYXJckWZqkE4xTsxcv3rccejaaTp3fIBOeSYZD12ypyXqOeFsr2BWaTx5Pwe0X8f7fhJEmvwOpg/s1600/DSC00597.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2Ae5BISqYCa4E12Q5iIN_cGyjSq-2_A8kBpjDvk50_rBuWnWpKaYrUAcj36UYXJckWZqkE4xTsxcv3rccejaaTp3fIBOeSYZD12ypyXqOeFsr2BWaTx5Pwe0X8f7fhJEmvwOpg/s320/DSC00597.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477496881586899026" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A well known branded chain of coffee shop. For a person who professes to prefer independent cafes, and, indeed, tries to seek them out, you certainly carry a lot of coffee-chain loyalty cards.<br /><br />It is the first day of the year when sitting outside to eat has felt like a realistic option. But you don't take it, instead opting for the halfway-house of the table closest to the propped open double doors, facing the street.<br /><br />You haven't had a coffee since breakfast, but you are giving yourself a proper lunch break - in order to do some work on your laptop - so you opt for double espresso, followed by lunch and a cold drink, followed by another double espresso. Catching up, as it were.<br /><br />After trying to entice you with pastries, the girl on the till asks you if you would like to buy just the extra shot in your doppio using your loyalty card - as that's all you can afford in points. You decline. You're saving up for a whole one.Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-20388221100410083612010-05-01T19:13:00.000+01:002010-05-01T20:53:50.460+01:00A Cafe in Bruxelles<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghwJiaMxoc-B_1vGLBwTC2MJpE5Xps_lHp8VevfXIPL97T9r2AM9AIFerpKezde7-uM3lmtFEzbKmbFzXaBWvaEGYDD6TG8VJs8tqJAKBA2t1OgY_iMZeGc7mFCXiysP-kowYYIA/s1600/DSC00144.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghwJiaMxoc-B_1vGLBwTC2MJpE5Xps_lHp8VevfXIPL97T9r2AM9AIFerpKezde7-uM3lmtFEzbKmbFzXaBWvaEGYDD6TG8VJs8tqJAKBA2t1OgY_iMZeGc7mFCXiysP-kowYYIA/s320/DSC00144.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466366912808004418" /></a><br /><br /><div>You know that you could just speak English and be understood, but the girl calls "Bonjour" to you as you walk in, and so you commit, to yourself, to trying to speak French.</div><div><br /></div><div>The girl tells you something in French, pointing. You nod, planning to take a look at whatever she is pointing at just as soon as you have taken your coat off. She tells you again, more insistent this time, as you are putting your coat over your chosen chair. She is pointing, you see when you look up, at a row of coat hooks on the wall. You stutter a "Merci" and hang your coat up.</div><div><br /></div><div>You look at the menu and plan the task of ordering an espresso and a bagel in French. Simple. But when it comes to carrying out the task it seems that the few words of French that you do have are now all mixed up with the even fewer words of German and Portuguese that you've got, in a single compartment in your brain marked 'Ordering in Foreign Cafes'. You start by thanking her (very much) in German, then asking her for an espresso and er, where am I, please, in French. She smiles at you. Or is it a gentle laugh? </div><div><br /></div><div>Look back at the menu. "Bagel." "Nature." OK. Cream Cheese is written "Cream Cheese" on the menu. What is "with" in French again?</div><div><br /></div><div>She asks you, in French, if you would like more time to look at the menu. You really wouldn't. Come on. Avec. </div><div><br /></div><div>"Bagel, nature, avec, Cream Cheese."</div><div><br /></div><div>"Just?" she asks.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Yes, just," you sigh.</div><div><br /></div><div>When the espresso arrives it is pretty extravagantly presented. And the bagel, the simple, humble bagel, is heavenly.</div><div><br /></div><div>Your friend arrives. </div>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-69378417374333010102009-04-09T20:19:00.000+01:002010-05-01T22:36:35.958+01:00On the way from Zurich to Zurich Airport<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRsZG1f9fxnjgbv9l-qXTrgKEXDZzl7n1CUAVOH0WyGILnK0UVrx03K5Yv262hzePVvHcTyQDLeAsocAVYHr_Y_foeQ0BKjbQ_qiH3p0uvWmD6rY2NjgoTIUqnzLDD76iFkLiFXg/s1600-h/Photo278.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRsZG1f9fxnjgbv9l-qXTrgKEXDZzl7n1CUAVOH0WyGILnK0UVrx03K5Yv262hzePVvHcTyQDLeAsocAVYHr_Y_foeQ0BKjbQ_qiH3p0uvWmD6rY2NjgoTIUqnzLDD76iFkLiFXg/s320/Photo278.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322774055591548850" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>These Swiss trains are brilliant. The coffee is very expensive. But good.</div><div><br /></div><div>You love travelling alone (although you do it too much at the moment). Your own schedule. A lifelong fascination with train stations, motorway services, airports, and particularly the cafes in them).What is it about these places? Everyone is temporary. Everyone on neutral ground. No one more at home than anyone else. You must feel there is an equality in this, of sorts. You, certainly, are comfortable.</div><div><br /></div><div>When you are in these places you only have what you can carry. Relatively unencumbered. Only what you need at the moment. So much left to do back at home, back at work. Piles of things to deal with, to be sorted out. Boxes of stuff that have been waiting to be sorted for months, if not years. The last time you woke up in the morning (it was a Saturday) and wondered what you were doing that day, and realised, with a jolt, that you had nothing planned, nothing you had to do, nothing that had to be dealt with - the last time that happened was years ago, and you were away from home. So you went to cafes.</div><div><br /></div>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-29282832066564278092008-10-21T09:57:00.000+01:002010-05-01T22:36:47.340+01:00Hotel Shirak, Yerevan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKkdqn5oeqWadMRrMLNS6OeYCj5dgNUKAWV3dNYtgWJ-BwF0is1Tq-NoH4XRYmBuAr8rZpO0E2YPaPa6URb0uxZ8PPNPiQH_rAIYLzDWT0QVDJoHGjB91aEZJEPd2el9hejYt-w/s1600-h/Photo167.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKkdqn5oeqWadMRrMLNS6OeYCj5dgNUKAWV3dNYtgWJ-BwF0is1Tq-NoH4XRYmBuAr8rZpO0E2YPaPa6URb0uxZ8PPNPiQH_rAIYLzDWT0QVDJoHGjB91aEZJEPd2el9hejYt-w/s320/Photo167.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259528904538407698" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>This is the furthest from home you've ever drunk espresso. </div><div><br /></div>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-84147914679825751212008-09-06T23:26:00.000+01:002010-05-01T20:56:09.065+01:00Sheffield Midland Station<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8vzrZotLI_U9XGjzAXwPkW4pqv5BykaqDnonofKCgVYuxvX6Z81s_E0nCjGn4cmib4WUhAn3zSi4Pl0kEPmy-5fgiZTF5iZ1PdcB9_xN9gkakc5r7oNevQUl_0BZ1TXKi65nKIw/s1600-h/train+station+coffee.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8vzrZotLI_U9XGjzAXwPkW4pqv5BykaqDnonofKCgVYuxvX6Z81s_E0nCjGn4cmib4WUhAn3zSi4Pl0kEPmy-5fgiZTF5iZ1PdcB9_xN9gkakc5r7oNevQUl_0BZ1TXKi65nKIw/s320/train+station+coffee.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243038684150273298" /></a><div><br /></div><div>What is it with these chain coffee outlets? Not that you frequent them out of choice, but if you are traveling by train, at certain stations, the choice is limited.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why can't the people who work in these places take a bit more interest in what they are serving? What can't they understand that there is something in between a double espresso and a small americano (a.k.a. watery piss)? With a double espresso they don't even fill up the cup - it's too short, even for you.</div><div><br /></div><div>You have tried so many ways of asking for something in between. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">A half full americano, please. A double espresso, please, but can I have it in a bigger cup topped up with a bit of extra water. Please. A small americano with only half the water you'd normally make it with. A third of the water you'd normally make it with. No, I only want it half full please. Yes, a quarter of the water you'd normally make it with.</span> </div><div><br /></div><div>And all of these requests have resulted in a small americano just 1cm less full than normal. Or exactly the same as normal. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">I just let it run through to fill it up. Is that okay. Sorry I forgot. Any cakes or pastries at all?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div>And once<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">: Are you sure you wouldn't like to upgrade that to a medium?</span></div><div><br /></div><div>You know from experience that you are unlikely to get a good coffee. Yet you keep trying. On this particular occasion because you have a free coffee from a 'loyalty' (ha!) card to use up. Eventually the scalding bucket of watery piss will cool down enough to sip. You have realised recently that with the right train network, it's better to get your coffee on the train itself. But when you find yourself 20 or 30 minutes early for that train, what can you? You can't sit on the platform without a coffee, can you?<br /><div><br /></div></div>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-40677701792950104142008-09-01T12:57:00.000+01:002010-05-01T22:32:30.630+01:00Cherry Tree, Sheffield<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHjLorAj8X9N18-Uwm72b-8KW3N1wT9DE8rgRo7KxFQnh9tzDY9IGkLg4RC8YEQSdrms3zlT7ZyqFPao0sWKrkvSLQqY6x8eUbrAThPgndY4IWJMgXxHoPIwCF04z2hnQaap89eQ/s1600-h/cherry+tree+coffee.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHjLorAj8X9N18-Uwm72b-8KW3N1wT9DE8rgRo7KxFQnh9tzDY9IGkLg4RC8YEQSdrms3zlT7ZyqFPao0sWKrkvSLQqY6x8eUbrAThPgndY4IWJMgXxHoPIwCF04z2hnQaap89eQ/s320/cherry+tree+coffee.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5241020985992668610" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">On the way to work. There are seats outside, but it's a bit too chilly. You sit in, but facing the window, naturally. Here you usually order a black coffee, which you know gets you a good, strong americano. The guy who runs this place used to make the coffee at <a href="http://coffee-snob.blogspot.com/2008/07/cafe-9-sheffield.html">Cafe </a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; font-family:'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://coffee-snob.blogspot.com/2008/07/cafe-9-sheffield.html">#</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: normal; font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://coffee-snob.blogspot.com/2008/07/cafe-9-sheffield.html">9</a>, so you're in safe hands.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A man walks past outside. Late 20s? He has two bags, both over the same shoulder - a large rucksack and a smaller bag that you can't see so well. His 'free' hand holds a cigarette. You've never really understood people smoking whilst walking down the street, but they probably have to do it more these days.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">He has the air of a man leaving. He's looking around as he walks and you imagine that he is leaving the city, taking in the familiar surroundings as he goes, knowing that he is not going to see them again for some time. If ever. You imagine that he has decided to walk from his house or flat - near here you guess - to the bus or train station, just so he can look at these places he knows and bid them farewell.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">You see this guy for 10 seconds at the most. What is it about his demeanour that suggests all of this to you?</span></div><div><br /></div>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-15656867578613913602008-08-03T19:46:00.000+01:002010-05-01T22:34:31.524+01:00Olivia Cafe, Barcelona<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQPEK3kiJJCsilPoO-F8YgTvTtludYsiAnFmHgdg-_V7D23QJcPMswLgpLgMxHKSWwBBn4k4dVVb1Ds1Dw4pqlgEJ_EkOVtcAkEZ5wp-aX6Cw7Wjz9jw12RCAbe50R9Cu7Gn5gg/s1600-h/Photo056.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQPEK3kiJJCsilPoO-F8YgTvTtludYsiAnFmHgdg-_V7D23QJcPMswLgpLgMxHKSWwBBn4k4dVVb1Ds1Dw4pqlgEJ_EkOVtcAkEZ5wp-aX6Cw7Wjz9jw12RCAbe50R9Cu7Gn5gg/s320/Photo056.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5228887697404977922" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">Somewhere off the Ramblas, on the way to work. It's lunchtime but you're looking for breakfast because you were working 'til gone 5 this morning. You want coffee and cake. You want to save your Patatas Bravas joker 'til later in the day.</span></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><br />The coolness of the cafe as you step in from the heat of the street is remarkable. There's a single row of wooden tables along one wall, and a single counter along the other. An espresso machine. Cake. Just two other customers at the moment. One of those functional, 'does what it says on the tin' cafes that they do so well "on the continent." You immediately feel that you could stay here all day; that you will be back tomorrow.*<br /><br />You don't speak much Catalan, but you can say "un cafe doble." The woman behind the counter asks "Doble..." indicating a small cup with her fingers "..?" or "Doble..." indicating a large cup with her fingers "..?"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 0, 0); line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">You say "Doble..." and indicate a small cup.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 0, 0); line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">She says "Doble..." bends her arms at the elbows, clenches her fists and vibrates slightly "...grrrr?"</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 0, 0); line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">You smile: "Si."</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 0, 0); line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">You sit at a table facing the door. The coffee arrives. It is marvellous. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 0, 0); line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">A father comes in with his daughter. She is three? Four? You're still not great at estimating children's ages, though you are getting better. The woman behind the counter plays with the girl, peering at her through the jars of cereal in the counter. The little girl is delighted with her chocolate milk. Everyone is smiling. You miss your little girl. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 0, 0); line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">The father glances through the paper. They finish their drinks and are gone. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 0, 0); line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">You finish your coffee. You look in your (unfortunately) Spanish (rather than Catalan) phrase book and find the word "outro."</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">*You won't.</span></span></span></span></div></div>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-47797438665236333282008-07-30T19:47:00.000+01:002010-05-01T22:37:17.856+01:00Lyon Airport<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmrOWBbbYtr_2MOye8lmMiL4vT9O0KD8Q8f49aUrpdd2MZckCUxWpQkjHPWdtUaFjCr-k3lDiYnC8V9no7XTvFekzTXfG8EDQhEoCNI6lcpQsqKYoXhpU1jQNkS-g9TvDRsyByTg/s1600-h/Photo048.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmrOWBbbYtr_2MOye8lmMiL4vT9O0KD8Q8f49aUrpdd2MZckCUxWpQkjHPWdtUaFjCr-k3lDiYnC8V9no7XTvFekzTXfG8EDQhEoCNI6lcpQsqKYoXhpU1jQNkS-g9TvDRsyByTg/s320/Photo048.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5228883463846537650" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">The two women on the table next to you are having an earnest conversation. Events and opinions are being related that are </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style=""><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">amazing</span></span></span></i></span><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">. </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style=""><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">Shocking</span></span></span></i></span><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">. The tables are only small and you are very close to them. Have they just not noticed you? Or, given that you look very English, have they assumed that you don't understand anything they are saying in whatever language they are saying it in? If the latter, they are right, of course. Which is a shame, because you would really like to know what they are talking about.</span></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#330000;"><br /></span></div>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-35187805937497368672008-04-30T19:43:00.000+01:002008-08-03T20:37:45.353+01:00Bottelino's, Bath<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family:'Trebuchet MS';font-size:13px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">Overheard from the next table:</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:georgia;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">1.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">"Penne Arrabiata?"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">"Yeah? What's that in English?"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">2.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">"Penne Piccante?"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">"Yeah. That's mine. I like my meat! Way-hey!"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">3.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">"Got any ketchup?"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">4.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">"Black pepper anyone?"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">('Comedy' French accent) "Black pepperrr? Black pepperrr? Luverrly jubberrly!"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">You don't stay for an espresso.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;">[originally posted back in 2005]</span></p></span>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-86195047180890746382008-04-30T19:38:00.000+01:002008-08-03T20:37:07.870+01:00Adventure Cafe, Bath<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family:'Trebuchet MS';font-size:13px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">You are here looking for breakfast. The Adventure Cafe pavement blackboard proudly boasts that it only uses Illy coffee, and that it was voted 12th Best (!) cafe in the country by The Independent. Your expectations are, therefore, high.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">One of the waitresses greets you in a way that makes you think you've met her before. Wishful thinking perhaps. You think you recognise her tights... but then realise that's just because they're that diamond pattern that's so popular at the moment.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">In fact, the three dark haired waitresses all look like they just got up, pulled on the nearest clothes (aren't skirts short these days?), bundled themselves off to work, and still managed to look fantastic. It's a bit distracting, to be honest.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">Double espresso and a bagel, to start with. Double espresso nearly perfect. (Not quite enough cream cheese with the bagel - but it is served in a seperate little pot, so you can ladel it on yourself, which is As It Should Be). Good enough to risk ordering a simple black coffee next, as you settle back with the paper. Sure enough, it comes long and strong, not the Watery Piss that often passes for a lungo or americano in English cafes.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">Time to leave. The tips jar has got a sign on it that reads 'Good Tippers Make Better Lovers'. You smile to yourself. It's only 11.30am and the jar is half full of quids already.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;">[originally posted back in 2005]</span></p></span>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11441954.post-54248871032693495712008-04-30T19:35:00.000+01:002008-08-03T20:36:09.329+01:00Cafe #9, Sheffield<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family:'Trebuchet MS';font-size:13px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">You feel safe here. You know from experience that this is home to The Best Coffee In Town. There's no one behind the counter. The only other customer tells you that "he (the coffee maker, presumably) has just popped out". Strangers. Talking to each other. You survey the variety of tables and chairs available. Virgin newspapers laid out on the biggest table. They photocopy the crosswords here, so everyone can have a go. There's a dictionary in here, too, somewhere, nestling in amongst the chess and scrabble. You like it best when it's quiet here - but you want them to earn money, too, so they don't close. </span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">An hour later Cafe #9 is gratifyingly busy. The big tables mean sharing with other people. You pay when you leave. Continental. You can feel the caffeine barging round your system, like you're shivering inside, very, very fast.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">[originally posted back in 2005]</span></span></p></span>Coffee Snobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09528047275140891472noreply@blogger.com