Originally Posted by Trsnrtr

Civet crapped beans.

Seriously, a lot of coffee/espresso stuff is bogus. A place in Peoria (30-30) has won a lot of national awards but I find their drinks to be weak and what they sell, like many coffee shops, is pretentiousness. A mocha tastes the same with no picture on top as one with a beautiful design.

Coffee over the last few years has become what wine drinking once was.

Originally Posted by Mumonkan

agreed. i like stumptown but they always try to sell me on the twice the price single origin coffees when im in there, they all taste the same.

and every coffee snob thinks pour over is the be all end all of coffee but its the same damn thing as a coffee machine.the only difference is you just pay attention to the temperature of the water

Originally Posted by WhyFi

Mmmm, yes and no. If you're talking about your typical latte art, there's a reason that some baristas take a moment to pour out a rosette or heart or whatever - it's a pretty good indication that the milk was frothed properly. Done right, the milk has a more pleasant taste and texture... and it just so happens that the consistency of properly frothed milk lends itself to latte art. If you don't inject enough air, or you incorporate too much, or if you scald your milk, etc, etc, more often than not, you end up with a milk texture that's very difficult or impossible to pour in to a design (and doesn't taste as good).

No argument that there's a lot of neckbeardiness that's worked its way in to coffee, though.