New cycling cafe opened up near me which is a good thing and I have started making it a regular stop on my route but they need to learn how to make an espresso – no crema, too watery. Do I make a fuss and explain what is wrong and offer some helpful hints (finer grind seems to be a quick fix)?

What would you do?

get a life 🙂

Yep, that

Ha! Trying to be a good natured citizen and help a fledgling business – they wont be getting my money unless it improves!

The thing that winds me up is that I personally like a lungo, nice and bitter and takes a couple more sips than an espresso, but getting a coffee shop to make one seems nigh on impossible!

Tell them if they don’t know they won’t change.

The worst “espresso” I ever had was made with scoop of nescafe and small amount of hot water. I never went back there.

I to am fed up of receiving watery black coffee passed off as espresso. No crema or viscosity. If it is served to me presented as the former, I refuse to pay, and order something else.
I suggest you do the same, it’s not “making a fuss” it’s about getting what you ordered.

I’ve had this in one of those soft-play centres. They marketed their “real coffee” and charged coffee shop prices, but it was always terrible. Like, hot water with grit in it.

During a chat with the owner I mentioned it. He became really defensive and showed me round his “really good” bean-to-cup coffee machine, complete with powdered milk 🙄

Oi mate your coffees crap! Sort it aahht..
Or words to that effect

Op – you can only try – as you say, they wont be getting your business if they dont sort it. who knows how many other folk do the british thing and grumble about in on t’interweb.

Maybe by letter?

Drink tea and stop being a coffee snob?

TripAdvisor sniping

my feeling is, if they’re getting it so badly wrong you’ll never get a good espresso from there.

My local “decent” bar will make me a ristretto, but if I’m somewhere else I just order a “café solo” and put up with hot brown water. Telling them how to make a ristretto is not going to work; too much is already wrong.

Molgrips wins. On proper paper with a letter head please, folded and sealed with wax.

my feeling is, if they’re getting it so badly wrong you’ll never get a good espresso from there.

^^ This. If you had to tell your garage what was wrong with your car and how to fix it, would you still go there?

Molgrips wins. On proper paper with a letter head please, folded and sealed with wax.

This but written with proper ink using a feather

If you don’t like their reply, throw it in the woodburner.
🙂

bad espresso pet hate:

when your espresso is served in a charming little chunky cup, that hasn’t been pre-heated, so your espresso is served cold.

shoes have been wee’d in for less.

I never realised how big a problem this was. Molgrips is on the right track but you need to grab their attention and let them know that you’re not messing around. Spend the time cutting the letters out of magazines to stick to a plain piece of paper using a Pritt Stick. I suggest using rubber gloves to avoid leaving DNA behind plus it stops you getting sticky fingers.
Be blunt on what the issue is with their coffee making technique and give them a time scale to comply otherwise you’ll be leaving a big brown log on their door step.

I get irritated being constantly asked if I want milk in my Americano. It wouldnt be an Americano if it had milk.

Suggestion box?

If they don’t have one then suggest it 🙂

The line from Melbourne is serve bad coffee in the morning, gone by the afternoon.
I guess it’s the British thing of not wanting to say anything. Generally taste it tell them it’s crap and give them one more go. It does suppose you know what it should taste like….

Give up your job and either 1 work there or 2 start a new business training coffee makers.

Of course other customers might like it the way they make it so they might lose that business?!?!

It’s more that most Brits don’t know what a good espresso tastes like.

I am genuinely surprised when I get a good espresso in a coffee shop.

Sad fact is that most people don’t care about the quality of their coffee (as shown on this thread). I doubt that they feel the same about their bike or their beer – they just don’t know the difference yet.

I think coffee is where wine was 30+ years ago when everyone quite happily drank Blue Nun.

I used to work near a decent coffee shop, never a queue even in rush hour, 40m down the road costa would have a queue out the door and 10 people in to the street, even in winter. What can you do?

You could advise but I bet that they don’t know anything could be better.

had this in quite a nice foodie pub we go to. Mentioned it to the staff who looked a bit blank. Wrote a balanced review on Tripadvisor whihc the boss got to see and got a nice thank you reply. They won’t know unless you tell them!
TM

Pre Brexit are we allowed to drink coffee? Surely just tea only now as coffee is so French/Italian….. EUROPEAN!!!

When I’m in Italy I quite like a morning cappuccino, but I don’t like half a pint of warm milk with some nescafe in the bottom, so in the UK I ask for a macchiato (except in those places that only serve flavoured macchiato and won’t sell it without the flavour) so I get a double espresso.
I don’t take much interest in crema TBH.
In the end the customer is right, suggest that you’d like it a bit stronger, and with crema and see what happens. If everyone else agrees then they’ll either go out of business or change.
But, from observation most people whilst saying that they want strong crema finished coffee, then put half a gallon of lukewarm milk with vanilla syrup in it – they might as well drink Mellow Birds.

I’d definitely tell them. They’re a bike shop first and foremost, the cafe is an add on, so its not their forte, as evidenced.

Tell them, it’s not rocket science to make it half decent, I wouldn’t be weighing grinds or be talking about TDS etc. but a tweak of the grinder isn’t asking a lot.

Nothing winds me up more than the term “Fresh Coffee”, fresh what? Freshly grown beans, freshly roasted, freshly ground, freshly brewed? It means nothing to say fresh coffee.

There is of course no guarantee that just because it isn’t how you like it means it’s not how it’s meant to be .

Crema used to be great.

‘It’s frothy, man’.
Loved that bear.

At least they are not calling it an expresso 👿

Mackem – Member
I get irritated being constantly asked if I want milk in my Americano. It wouldnt be an Americano if it had milk.

I generally ask for a black coffee regardless of what the menu says (Americano is a stupid way to make a mug of black coffee…).

Then, around 60% of the time, I get asked if I would like milk in it.

There is of course no guarantee that just because it isn’t how you like it means it’s not how it’s meant to be .

An espresso has some well defined properties. It’s either well made or it isn’t. If you brought a cake from the same cafe and it clearly wasn’t cooked in the middle then you’d not claim it was as it was meant to be but just not how you like it!

expresso

Probably an accurate reflection of the time and attention taken in its perpetration 🙂

Rusty Spanner – Member

Crema used to be great.

‘It’s frothy, man’.
Loved that bear.
Err that was Cresta. Sorry.

I get irritated being constantly asked if I want milk in my Americano. It wouldnt be an Americano if it had milk.

I have a bit of milk in my Americano.

It’s easier than saying ‘a long coffee with a bit of cold milk please’.

If the option is there I’d rather have drip TBH.