Massive cups of coffee. Why?

ferdi

Why do Irish cafes and restaurants insist on serving massive cups of disgusting brown water? Coffee does not improve proportionally to the amount of water you add to it. I ordered an espresso (not eXpresso) once and was presented with a large mug containing about 250ml of brown liquid! Is it down to our historic love affair with tea? Nice big mug of milky tea aahhh - the same blueprint is still used to make coffee in ireland. Coffee should be a taste sensation to stir the senses and should be served sparingly in small cups, not big ignorant pastle colour mugs. Quality over quantity please. Rant over.

Gran Hermano

Somewhere in their misguided opinions they must think quantity
compensates for quality.

Maybe they believe if the throw a bad espresso in a mug with a litre of
milk we will not notice how bad the coffee is.

Síle28

Great thread I second it! Mostly crap 'anglosaxon' (as Italian and Spanish coffee lovers call it) coffee served here or they're sometimes calling it Italian though compared to coffee bought there it tastes like sh*t! Also, why the huge cups and the equally huge price tag? Italy and Spain have good quality stuff much cheaper, granted in smaller sized cups but honestly most people I know either don't finish or don't really want to finish the whole cup of the tall or grande ones here...a few smaller cups during the day would keep you awake and be better than filling yourself with one large one you are finishing for the sake of it...rant number 2 over

jusk

The french like huge cups of coffee too. A guy I lived with used to drink it out of a cereal bowl, as he thought our mugs weren't big enough.

Americano is vile though. I'd take a big mug of normal black coffee any day over espresso + hot water.

Sparks

Grand when you're talking about a nice espresso, but when you're talking about something like a latte, big can be very nice




But that americano == black coffee thing is really driving me nuts. I know why it's done (one machine for all coffee instead of two), and I don't mind them doing that when they say that's what they're doing, but even Bewleys (who love to point out their filter coffees) will still give you an americano if you don't specify filter coffee! Gah!

ferdi

the big french bowls are a different ball game ( ). at least they use good coffee.
and you can take that latte away with you too! if i want something like that i'll go and get a mcflurry.

Gran Hermano

Are the large french bowls just a breakfast thing - to facilitate the dipping of toast
A bit like how the Italians find it odd that we drink cappuccinos all day and night as opposed to just for breakfast.

kmick

A decent Americano will beat a cup of black filter coffee any day in my experience. But the espresso that goes into it must be good in the first place. Dont even mention bewleys and coffee in the same sentence - they should be prosecuted for their crimes against coffee. We have there filter coffee in work and it astounds me how bad it is. Bitter, over roasted, oxidised, cheap rubbish.

RE*AC*TOR

kmick wrote: »

A decent Americano will beat a cup of black filter coffee any day in my experience.

I couldn't disagree more. A really well done filter coffee (whether drip, press, vac pot etc) in my book is the top of the coffee food chain.
Even more than good espresso though, in Ireland good filter coffee is some sort of mystical creature.

With regards to lattes and cappas, once you go beyond 10oz / 300 ml, you're talking about flavoured milk, not coffee. That Costa picture above looks totally disgusting.

Sparks

Reactor, you're comparing mozzerella and cheddar
The enormous comforting mug of latte isn't meant to be coffee, it's meant to be warm milk with a kick - and on a cold winter sunday afternoon in the middle of shopping, it's spot on.
Now, if you're talking about what you'd like to sip while wandering down grafton street, it's a machiatto from carluccios, but it's horses for courses, y'know?

RE*AC*TOR

If you like it, go for it. You're not alone in liking those kind of proportions.

ferdi

Sparks wrote: »

if you're talking about what you'd like to sip while wandering down grafton street, it's a machiatto from carluccios

*head explodes*

Sparks

What's the problem with machiattos?

ferdi

That is either something you know instinctively or you never will.

RE*AC*TOR

There's nothing wrong with macchiatos. Carluccios on the other hand...

Sparks

Meh. I like the place, it's nice to have something a bit kooky in that neck of the woods, even if it is the Italian version of Marks&Sparks. Plus the venison ravioli is superb.

Mr Magnolia

I also prefer filter coffee, I can't remember the last time I had an americano.

It's due to the misconception that 'quantity=value' I reckon.

MarcoB

ferdi wrote: »

Is it down to our historic love affair with tea? Nice big mug of milky tea aahhh - the same blueprint is still used to make coffee in ireland.

I think it is like tea, and just what local tastes demand. Like tea, people want to have a chat over/during the coffee, while in Italy I have heard they are drank immediately and then sit back afterwards. I have heard several baristas moaning about customers demanding piping hot milk based espresso drinks too, one was offering a properly perpared milk drink for free to a regulars, and many of them changed after having it.

Sparks wrote: »

But that americano == black coffee thing is really driving me nuts. I know why it's done (one machine for all coffee instead of two), and I don't mind them doing that when they say that's what they're doing

This is often the case (1 machine). It arises from many customers thinking espresso based drinks are "real" coffee, so the retailer will want to invest in the espresso machine, which is usually a lot more expensive than a small filter brewer. I have heard people complaining in the opposite way now, i.e. being served filter coffee rather than "real" coffee, saying that their black coffee has no "head"!

kmick wrote: »

A decent Americano will beat a cup of black filter coffee any day in my experience. But the espresso that goes into it must be good in the first place.

You can get bad versions of either, more often than not too. Some overroast the filter coffee to get the very last out of it. I would usually use 55-60g per litre they use more in Scandinavia, and less in the US. The lowest recipe I have seen a company use was 27g/L.

RE*AC*TOR wrote: »

I couldn't disagree more. A really well done filter coffee (whether drip, press, vac pot etc) in my book is the top of the coffee food chain.

I have heard comments, something like espresso can mask a bad coffee but not bring a good one to its full potential.

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

I also prefer filter coffee, I can't remember the last time I had an americano.

It's due to the misconception that 'quantity=value' I reckon.

Many will want a long drink, just like people dilute or use mixers in whiskey, most are not connoisseurs, simple as that. Many drink whiskey to get merry, or drink coffee to waken up. And many mistakenly think there is more caffeine in the average espresso based drink than in a normal sized filter coffee. Many think there is better value, i.e. they are after a caffeine hit. Some mistakenly think a shot of whiskey is "stronger" than a pint. Sure the espresso/whiskey has more per unit volume, but you get way less volume.

partyguinness

Well we seem to have to looked to the USA instead of Europe for inspiration on this mattter...

Some cafes in Ireland seem to think that life is just one huge episode of "Friends"

MarcoB

partyguinness wrote: »

Well we seem to have to looked to the USA instead of Europe for inspiration on this mattter...

I have heard it said the name Americano originated from US troops being in Italy in WWII and wanting their normal sized cups of filter coffee, so they just diluted it down to appease them.

madmik

since were in the middle of a rant i may as well participate

I hate it when...............

you can buy a "normal" coffee for 2.55
or for 2.95 you can get a larger one which would be ok
but for the fact that some places just add extra water leaving
you with a half a bucket of murky tasteless water

they should throw an extra shot of coffee in the larger one instead
of taking the pi$$

Its little things like this that make me avoid cafes and drink 95% of my coffee at home

I hope coffee shops arer hit hard by the recession as im sure they will be after walking around the centre this afternoon