The Carmen Miranda

Remember that Portuguese-Brazilian phenom Carmen Miranda with that big fruit-stuffed thing on her head? Let's pick up on the fruit theme. Starbucks has 3 regularly available fruit syrups. So I shot the moon with them all in a non-fat misto (my very first misto).

One pump each of orange, raspberry, and melon and I really liked it. The orange and raspberry combined to give a subtle chocolate flavor. I'm not sure I picked up the taste of the melon so much. I only wish they had all the flavors from Carmen's headdress. I will order this again, perhaps in a latte next time.

Americano the proper way, and a revelation

Yet another Americano drink. I apologize up front for my obsession. But there is a notable twist with this one. While visiting family in Amherst we popped into a classy-but-hip coffee shop. There I found an unexpected treat. The menu actually listed their preparations as containing ristretto shots. Wow. I seldom find coffee shops that even know what they are, much less advertise them front and center. Naturally with such a uncommon offering I had to go pure yet again and have a ristretto-based Americano with extra room. It was the closest drink I have had to a long black since New Zealand. Awesome. The crema was amazingly dense and about a quarter inch thick and it lasted at least half of the way down.

This experience made me realize that all the fancy extras I've tried this month is not doing it for me as much as I had hoped. The simple joy of this drink was evidence of how good well made coffee can be all on its own.

Iced Chai Latte - Yum & What's your donut month

Yes, I do love the Iced Chai Latte at Starbucks; it's great for taking on a walk or just sitting and enjoying.

Right now, I'm at the Starbucks in the Rockville Town Square. A new place opened next door...Fractured Prune - The Donut Shoppe. The name of the place is based on the original shop's land location in Ocean City MD which was formerly owned by a woman named Prunella who competed in men's sports but was often injured.

Anyway, that's not why I'm writing about it. The shop's hook is that it has different donut glazes and toppings that you can mix-and-match, much like your drink at Starbucks or your favorite coffee shop. I had a Chocolate Covered Cherry donut (a cherry glaze with chocolate chips). It was hot dipped and VERY messy but still strangely intringuing. Like the Starbucks - there are pre-named items like the Resse Cup (Peanut butter glaze and chocolate morsels), French Toast (maple glaze, cinnamon sugar) AND the Creamsicle (orange glaze, powdered sugar!). I wonder - How well would a creamsicle donut go with a creamsicle latte? hmmmm.

If you're instinct tells you that it's only good hot...

you probably should follow that instinct. So, I thought I would try an iced latte with a shot of irish cream....Obviously, this is a classic hot coffee drink (alcoholic and sans alcohol). I thought that since I'm obsessed with testing drinks hot and cold that I would try it as a cold drink. BIG mistake - yuck! A simple drink-completely ruined.

I hate to admit this, but I do keep going back to my black unsweetened ice tea and chai lattes in between these "test" drinks. This experiment is expanding my drink list, but I'm finding that my old standards fit my tastes quite well. I realize now that my taste in black ice tea isn't simple either. I have always been picky about my ice tea. I won't drink just anything and will go out of my way to get the ice tea from some place I know does it well (not bitter and fine without sugar). Perhaps, in a future posting I will go into more detail about what I think of ice teas at different establishments. Perhaps some of the contributors (Sarah? :) with more refined tea tastes could post on some of those as well (hot and cold of course).

For now, I'm going to sit back and enjoy my chai latte from Murky, a local coffee joint in Arlington....mmmmmMurky!

Almond Joy

Yeah, you should try this one. Tall non-fat mocha with one-pump coconut, one-pump almond. I might add a second almond as it was perhaps too subtle. This was more like a Mounds. Quite tasty. I have concluded that the coconut flavor is fairly realistic (at least it tastes a lot like the sweetened coconut you get in the candy bars).

Sweet, but not too sweet

Well, if Eric feels that "people are more evolved and have advanced coffee creativity [than me]," then I must be at the amoeba level of coffee ordering evolution.

For all of grad school, James and I spent countless evenings at the Starbucks near our apartment at the time studying...or avoiding studying. I think I only ever ordered one of two drinks: a tall black ice tea unsweetened or a tall vanilla skim latte. I guess you could call it a simple taste....or dull in comparison to the drinks I hope to begin ordering by the end of this month. In recent months I have "expanded" my repertoire of drinks to include skim chai or vanilla chai lattes (hot and iced). I have a long way to go...

Personally, I'm interested in the drinks the group likes most - especially if it is different by
hot or cold drinks. I'm also looking forward to ordering the drink James was told is a French Vanilla latte (a latte with vanilla and hazelnut syrups) as an iced drink. I wasn't that pleased with it as a hot drink, but I'm 1) determined to see if all baristas will recognize the drink and 2) determined to test all drinks hot and cold.

Tonight, I ordered a tall skim latte with one shot each of vanilla and caramel. I thought it would be too sweet, but I liked it more than a regular vanilla latte. Sweet, but not too sweet.

If it's Sunday...

...it's read the Post with a very large coffee. The paper had a lot of interesting stories today so it took longer than normal. Several items to tell friends about.

The coffee was interesting too. Half-caff Americano as the base (still on that theme) but with 2 toffee-nut pumps and a pump of orange. Yep, Orange. I would not use any more orange than that in this mix as it could have led to orange-soda-meets-coffee-roastiness-unpleasantness. But I did like the overall flavor of the ratio. I tried the toffee-nut from Dan's recommendation. I concur that it has great potential. I think I need to experience a pure toffee-nut cup to fully understand the flavor before blending again. I like where this is heading. I also think an orange and vanilla "creamsicle" combo is worth a try.

Cinco de Mayo

Over at the Dan, Sarah, and Harry's house I had some French press coffee with a small dollop of Mexican caramel ice cream. Yummy. But hard to get at the local coffee bar, no doubt.

More coffee, hon?

The Tastee Diner is the best spot in town for breakfast. Real people, real cooking, real grease. Don't bother asking for them fancy drinks there. They'll serve you a funny look instead. The coffee is always the same and they brew it by the gallons. It is a little on the "brown" side but better than Dunkin'. It does justice to my Saturday mornings without fail. The waitresses have been there for years and make frequent rounds with fresh pots to top off your cup. They sometimes add a nice "more coffee, hon?" too boot. You don't get that at Starbucks. Still, I need a little more roast, a little more...something.

C-Complex

Late flight and the airport Starbucks was all but closed. No espresso, only the remains of the drip. I asked the barista what syrup flavors were the least popular. He thought about it, looked them over, and named coconut and almond. Coconut was no surprise but I was not expecting almond. I was about to order a coffee with both but thought that a mocha would be better for that combo--a la Almond Joy. That will be another drink. I went with coconut and caramel and added a small touch of half and half. So that made it coffee with coconut, caramel, and cream. I later dubbed it the "C-Complex." Kinda silly but I was tired.

I was skeptical of coconut and coffee but it was not mismatched. I suppose they do grow in similar climates, after all. What that has to do with anything I don't know. Sounds good, though. Some playing around is needed. Like I said, mocha is a natural next direction for the coconut.

Open the mind

Not at Starbucks today but at Uncommon Grounds, a favorite local spot in Albany. I ordered a half fair-trade-organic (FTO), half decaf-du-jour drip with a splash of cherry flavor. Part of me was curious if a coffee and cherry combo would border on cough syrup. It was surprisingly pretty good. I see that I should have been more open-minded all along. There is some irony in that statement.

The modest degree of cherry was just enough to be detected without hammering the tongue. I think the cherry fruitiness accentuated the subtle fruity notes of the coffee. No, really, I mean that.

There are more syrup flavors at this place than at Starbucks so I will take advantage of that later on.

Americano with some bling

Still half-caff but add a squirt each of vanilla and almond. I am starting with single pumps of any flavor and will work up to more as the month moves on.

My Nana used to make these fantastic cookies that had roughly equal parts almond and vanilla extracts. They were my favorites and I ate a whole lot of them every Christmas. This drink was an attempt to recreate the taste. The verdict: not bad. It was quite good, actually, and indeed reminiscent in flavor to Nana's cookies. No dairy in this one. It didn't need it.

It did get a little sweet toward the end but perhaps I should have mixed it up first. I would order this one again.

Day 1, afternoon. The fix is in, sort of

My first new drink. I was in for a chocolate fix and envisioned a mixture of regular mocha and white chocolate mocha. It sounded like a cool idea and I ordered the drink asking in a way that implied it was unusual. Without blinking the cashier nodded and said they call it a "black and white" and a guy just a minute ago had one too. I then realized that I have not been letting my imagination go when it comes to beverage consumption. My inner coffee child needed to be set free. Clearly other people are more evolved and have advanced coffee creativity. So I quickly amended my order with a shot of mint just to feel a little different.

The taste. So-so, surprisingly. There was something slightly medicinal about the mint in the mix, and not altogether pleasant. It got better midway through the cup but I will probably not order this one again any time soon.

Day 1, morning ritual deconstructed

May Day. (Yes, this is a belated post). I started with a baseline reference of my tried and true: the straight Americano, no sugar, no dairy. Espresso and water. Glorified coffee, to some. More expensive than drip, to all. I started taking mine half-caff a year ago so that I could have the super size without all the jolt. I love the morning ritual of the big coffee lasting until lunch but as years pass I find all that caffeine to be a bit too heavy. I still crave a little kick, just not that hard. The flavor has never seemed unacceptably far off from the full-caff anyway.

The Americano is a highly enjoyable drink, slightly cleaner than just coffee, I think. The crema on the top makes the first few sips pure heaven. You don't get that with plain drip. As a bonus, it is also flexible. If I want a stronger flavor I just ask for less water (a.k.a. "more room"). If I want a longer sipping experience, fill it to the top, please. Either way, I am getting all the bean nectar that I paid for.

That is my baseline. I can drink it every day. My new drink should be that good or better.

Onto a sidebar discussion:

When I visited New Zealand last year I quickly discovered that an Americano was commonly called a "long black." But I could not tell that from the first coffee menu I read. All I could discern was that there was no Americano on the menu. I kinda expected that, of course. A slight snicker from the barista when I timidly floated a call for an Americano and the fact that she made the drink without needing a definition quickly tipped me off that I had something to learn. Either that drink concept was foreign to them but commonly asked for by American tourists or they had their own name for it and understood the variations from around the world. Silly American. There was no "caffe New Zealander" on the menu. Naturally it would not be that simple. Rather than ask what the translation was--if there was one at all--I decided to figure it out for myself. So right there was a little instance of seeking a beverage adventure way back then before this current quest. It was probably unconsciously prompted by being on a larger, very, very cool vacation adventure. The long black on the menus everywhere were suspicious partly because there was always a sibling drink called a "short black" to be found with it. I eventually ordered a long black, pretending to be a pro, and watched the preparation. The riddle was solved. Long black is indeed the parity to Americano.

The national rugby team of New Zealand is the All Blacks. The New Zealand people wear a lot of black clothes, they really do. The coffee drink names are indeed quite fitting. And, by the way, a short black is on par with a regular espresso.

A little Googling after my trip revealed that a proper long black is made stronger than a typical Americano. It may also be made with what are called "ristretto" shots. A ristretto is a short espresso shot with less steam passed through the grounds--something around half the amount. Basically, start the shot and pull the little glass before the normal amount is reached (30-45 ml vs. 60 for a double shot). You get the very best love that the beans have to give, so the idea goes.

Unfortunately, all the Starbucks baristas I have asked back here have never heard of such a thing but they can easily do it when you explain it to them. Maybe it was the New Zealand water or better coffee (or maybe it was just being on vacation in such a fantastic place such that even burnt Maxwell House would taste divine) but I must say the long black tasted a tad better than my beloved Americano here in the States, even when I have it stronger than normal. I wanted to start a popular movement and ask for long blacks instead of Americanos when I visit Starbucks. The problem (there may be a few) is that asking for a "long black" here kinda sounds like, well, let's just say something that you could expect associated with "adult entertainment." Cue that funky 70's music, Mr. L.D. Silver, and pour me some of that espresso and hot water, please.

Off we go

What is my drink? Have I ever thought about it seriously at all? Here now is a challenge to break from the predictable and embark on a great quest. This adventure will take me far...all the way to the far ends of the block to my local Starbucks. My personal undiscovered country of java joy awaits me on this a beverage adventure. I am glad I have good friends to journey with me.

Will my drink be hot or cold? Will it be an exquisite melange punctuated by many flavor additives or will it be a single, hitherto ignored syrup that takes me to sipping nirvana? Will it have dairy or will it be a classic story of forced steam meets roasted bean, end of discussion...sorry, cows?

Will my drink be a complex harmony of flavor? Will it dance on my taste buds as sublimely as the Kyrie of Palestrina's Pope Marcellus mass does on my ears? Will it even be based on taste? Maybe it will be about the name itself--a juxtaposition of words flowing so poetically that Garrison Keillor could read it on his Writer's Almanac. Maybe it will be something where a snickering pleasure lies in making the barista have to think about the 2 dozen syllables I mutter when I call out the order.

Or maybe the glitz and glory of fancy names, special preparations, milks, syrups, whip, sprinkles, drizzles and all that will lead to hollow satisfaction. The winning drink could be strictly minimalist like my long standing preference, the Americano. Maybe, as for Dorothy, the answer will have been there all along...close my eyes and sip three times from my current cup and I'm home.

Here's a challenge: can I find this drink without over-analyzing the task? Nope. Too late. That is just not my nature. Should I set rules? A likely yes to that. If I intend to find a drink I will order with regularity, I want to avoid excessive fat and artificial sweeteners. I'll still try variations with whole milk (even soy and luxurious cream), but odds are I'll want to stick to non or low fat and small doses of real sugar. It occurs to me that the flavored syrups behind the coffee counter may be ladened with high fructose corn syrup. That would be a turn off...must inquire. See, I am over-analyzing again.

Enough discussion. Off we go. Let's find these elusive new coffee drinks we seek. My friends, this fellowship now sets out on the fantastic journey.

French Vanilla

I ordered a two-pump vanilla two-pump hazelnut latte yesterday, and the Barista said, "that tastes like French vanilla." She was right of course, it did taste just like French Vanilla. My next stop is to try one pump of each in a regular coffee or an americano. I think that would be more appropriate. I am finding that the nut syrups (almond, hazelnut) taste a little off in a latte. But if you are a French vanilla fan, I recommend trying the vanilla/hazelnut combo.

I've also noticed that the Baristas are more chatty if you order something complicated.