With the growing number of newly opened artisan coffee shops, I was looking forward to some new heights in espresso reaching the average consumer. And for the most part, the level of coffee served indeed went up - way up. But when it comes to espresso, there is a little qualifier attached to the great improvement... provided the espresso is buried under five to eight oz of milk. The surprise of the third wave blitz is that it has not always brought the espresso with it. The good intention is there, and I get the hype, but in too many cases when served a straight shot I'm left asking "what the?" It is the shot that launched a thousand oys.

So what's the problem there? If I could point to the common culprits it will be these four:

1) Shots are way too concentrated. In a cappuccino, such concentrated shot is transformed in milk and yields a wonderful cup. But using the same parameters to brew a straight shot is doomed to failure in many instances.

2) Coffee is just not suitable for a straight shot. On a good day it will reach the high mark of a mediocre drink. On most other days, it is flat-out bitter, but man, it looks so good in the cup.

3) Coffee is suitable but coffee shops are not setup for efficiently changing grind/dosage parameters between an espresso & a milk drink.

4) Just lazy baristas

In a recent conversation I had with a fine Barista from London, I was told that this problem is epidemic, and not just confined to the U.S. In his words, you can get a decent milk drink in more than a dozen shops in London, but a decent straight shot, only in three of them.

The idea of elevating espresso starts with the straight shot. When you miss the mark on that basic, you'll never get very far.

Part of me thinks that the low transactional value of "coffee" is a massive disincentive for shops to invest in it. I frequently drink shots only (sure- mostly mediocre) and can leave most places for about $1.50 or less. It's not too hard to spend $5.00 on some tortured milky conconction.

A highlight or lowlight, depending on perspective, could be that in February, I ordered a "doppio espresso" from the green monster at the Portland Convention Center (OR) and the button pusher there told me she had never used one of the "baby" cups before when the cashier asked for it to be put it in "that little cup".

Abe Carmeli wrote:1) Shots are way too concentrated. In a cappuccino, such concentrated shot is transformed in milk and yields a wonderful cup. But using the same parameters to brew a straight shot is doomed to failure in many instances.

2) Coffee is just not suitable for a straight shot. On a good day it will reach the high mark of a mediocre drink. On most other days, it is flat-out bitter, but man, it looks so good in the cup.

3) Coffee is suitable but coffee shops are not setup for efficiently changing grind/dosage parameters between an espresso & a milk drink.

4) Just lazy baristas

#1: Isn't the problem more an issue of flavor balance than concentration? Of course the two are related, but Gimme, for instance, serves some extremely concentrated shots that are well balanced (IMHO).

#3: This is really the tough one. There are so few people ordering plain espressos that it's not always practical to have a separate grinder dialed in for straight shots. But this is starting to change.

#4 After Howard's special retraining session, I didn't know there were any left.

AndyS wrote:#1: Isn't the problem more an issue of flavor balance than concentration? Of course the two are related, but Gimme, for instance, serves some extremely concentrated shots that are well balanced (IMHO).

I'll add that to the list.

#3: This is really the tough one. There are so few people ordering plain espressos that it's not always practical to have a separate grinder dialed in for straight shots. But this is starting to change.

There will be many more ordering straight shots if those were drinkable. The artisan shops build their reputation on "the real espresso", as opposed to what you can get at Starbucks.

#4 After Howard's special retraining session, I didn't know there were any left.

Sadly, they were busy handing out free cappuccino when Howard was doing his training. Blame it on Mike Perry.

Abe Carmeli wrote:There will be many more ordering straight shots if those were drinkable. The artisan shops build their reputation on "the real espresso", as opposed to what you can get at Starbucks.

Couldn't agree more - I frequently try the straight shots at new cafés, but am more often than not disappointed. Certain places get it right at least some of the time, and those are the ones I go back to, but they're few and far between.

In a recent conversation I had with a fine Barista from London, I was told that this problem is epidemic, and not just confined to the U.S. In his words, you can get a decent milk drink in more than a dozen shops in London, but a straight shot, only in three of them.

We got the same problem here in Tel-Aviv. You can get a decent milk drink just about everywhere with micro-foam and even latte-art, but I still didn't find a single place which can serve good espresso.
I think that making a good cappuccino is much easier than making a good espresso with milk to cover all faults.
Most Baristas here are student working part time with very basic training (the roasters do the first training and then the old stuff train new stuff)
I don't think this is a disappearance of straight shot, at least here most places never use to have good straight shots
Sure, they will pull you one if you ask for it, but then you are expected to take it like a man bitter/sour as it is keeping straight face or you will prove yourself a sissy not worthy of the real thing.

As a side note I have no idea why SB can not serve a decent milk base drink, sometimes I see a new Barista at my favorite place (yes, they do change that fast) and he/she are able to pull a decent cappuccino with latte-art (they got some technique here where they tap the milk pitcher on the table few times and the heart/apple magically appears) first day on the job
Actually I get the impression that quality goes down in many cases after they get too comfortable on the job and skip the water dance (most places use HX machines here) leading to burnt coffee (mainly a men thing, girls Barista tends to follow the training much longer than men for some reason)

/gabi

There will be many more ordering straight shots if those were drinkable. The artisan shops build their reputation on "the real espresso", as opposed to what you can get at Starbucks.

Kudos........ For bringing this to the table.

Agree. (OP)
Please let me say that I am not against milk base drinks in shops and do favor one here and there. My favorite of all milk drinks would fall on the Cortado or macchiato.

"The fundamentals"

Great athletes always return and practice the fundamentals to correct and improve.
If you loose sight of practicing the basics b/c of laziness or the lime-light then you loose.
A need too re a quaint with the fundamentals is sometimes needed.

In the States/ (ref. Artisan shops not SB) from what I see we have changed & re-adapted to fit a milk base espresso culture. Leaving the straight shot guys to wonder, maybe b/c we are small as it was posted.

But I have felt there has been no real movement towards a straight espresso culture like in Europe or some places in Latin America. There is a place for it all in café shops, diversity is a good thing but as we move forward and improve.
Maybe it's a good thing to not only ........ "rate my Rosetta" but also "rate my straight espresso shot."

Abe & Andy you are always welcome at my home to "rate my straight shot".
Cheers.
Michael.

It IS true that there are few places (cafés, coffee houses, roasters' retail locations, etc.) -- other than at home -- where I'll have a straight shot (and heaven forbid, a true single instead of a double ristretto). And, of course, it's even more rare when one can find a "real" restaurant when an after-dinner espresso isn't a complete disaster.

Cheers,
Jason

P.S. On those rare -- and desperate -- occasions when I go into a *$, I only order a small brewed coffee. (I don't think they can even make milk drinks properly.)

zin1953 wrote:P.S. On those rare -- and desperate -- occasions when I go into a *$, I only order a small brewed coffee. (I don't think they can even make milk drinks properly.)

Well, the base of the milk drink is still the coffee - you can only disguise bad espresso so much.

I think I remember, 15 years ago, being able to actually get a decent cup at Starbucks. When they switched to super-autos, stopped sending baristas for training camp, and maybe grew beyond their ability to get decent beans (?), it all went to heck. Perhaps my memory is not serving me well here from way back then, and they were never decent (certainly my own taste in coffee has evolved), but they were certainly better in 1995 than they are today. By switching to untrained baristas and automatic machines, Starbucks made a conscious choice to sacrifice quality in the pursuit of volume. A reasonable business decision if the consumer will continue to buy it I guess, but we'll see how that plays out over time.

And, all of that said, this doesn't explain bad espresso at non-chain cafes using decent equipment and even decent beans, because they're just not focusing on the base of most of the products they sell.

Abe,

I can definitely notice the contrast of espresso consumption between Italy and the US, but do you really think the preference for straight shots in our culture is declining? Isn't it actually improving, but nowhere near the rate or increased availability that those who drink espresso would like to see it? I'm not sure that the straight shot is disappearing, because it was never really more available than it is right now. IMO

Matt