New coffee shop in my neighborhood so I stopped by to give it a try. I asked what coffee they were using for their espresso - no clue - should have ran at this point. Ordered a doppio espresso - had to rephrase it as a "double" - second chance to run. After a poor attempt at dosing and tamping from a hopper that already had coffee ground into it (uuggh) the barista (and I use that term lightly) locked in and pulled the shot (a double by the length of the pour). Now this is where it gets interesting. He turned to me and said - oh you wanted a double and pushed the dosing button for - you guessed it - another shot from the same coffee. Sort of like reusing the old tea bag. I was bit stunned for a second then suggested to him that a double meant - a couple of ounces of espresso from a double basket. I asked him to redo the shot - which he did somewhat reluctantly took the coffee, tasted it and poured it out on the way to the car. Thank goodness for home machines and good roasters!

Cheers

Ian

Yes, the degree of cluelessness of people operating those shiny things just astounds me sometimes. I figure if one is put to do something, he or she should learn something about it first.

Probably what he was trained to do. If there was any training at all. It wouldn't be the first place I've seen that.

In holland there is a certain franchise who don't use the word double at all, they rephrased it as "medium". Single is "small" and triple is "large". Note that this isn't translated. In their anglophilia they prefer to use the english words, but more dutch shops seem to do that. Also, they use two Mahlkoenig k30 grinders and a two group custom La Marzocco but offer
-single ristretto
-double ristretto
-triple ristretto
-single espresso
-double espresso
-triple espresso
That would in my mind at least require three portafilters and 6 grinders. I have no idea how they do that.
The ristretto is nice though. Not omgwow nice, but just nice, and the staff is friendly.

I've long had a suspicion that there are many New Zealand cafes whose definition of a "double" is exactly as you describe. They simply put twice as much water through.

My personal opinion is that the average standard of cafe coffee in NZ is up there with the best in the world, alongside Aussie, West coast NA, and of course (but different to) Italy. Note!.. 'my personal opinion' and 'average standard'.

What pains me almost more than getting their bad results in a cup is that they've done so using equipment I'd love to own but could never afford.

Is there anything more disheartening in the world of retail espresso than ordering a shot and never hearing a grinder before seeing the portafilter locked into the group head?

I also can recount a recent awful espresso experience from a new place in town and was about to rant on these pages and changed my mind. They asked for feedback so I wrote an email to the company as follows :

"In the interest of promoting both good coffee and local businesses I feel compelled to write the following:

Recently, when I purchased an espresso at your **** location it became immediately obvious the barista was untrained resulting in an almost undrinkable espresso. However, he deserves credit for trying and having a great personality. With appropriate training I think he would be a great asset. Please give him the education he deserves. Both **** and the public will benefit

Sincerely"

I hope I am not being too naive and as a result the poor guy gets fired!

Geoffrey

This reminds me of my experience while vacationing in Italy last fall. My wife and I spent a week in Rome and 3 additional days in Venice. We had an awesome time and the food was out of this world.

I was very eager to try a lot of espresso in "the mother land" and I have to say that I was a bit disappointed.

Now, my experiences were absolutely nothing like the above but they were disappointing nonetheless. I made it a point to have a straight espresso at almost every espresso bar/cafe I could find (this resulted in at least 3 or 4 stops a day). The espresso was remarkably similar no matter where I was- it was strange. I would call it OK - not bad but not great. I would venture to add that it always tasted a bit stale. The barista's were pro's and very much "in to" what they were doing. They were polite and all business. I have to add that I only saw a grinder make my shot once - it was typically already ground and ready to go.

This is a different culture- as we all know - and this is not a knock by any means. It's simply meant to add another dimension to how espresso is served up "to the masses" and how much better it can be if you take the steps that we do at home-

Marshall_S wrote: I have to add that I only saw a grinder make my shot once - it was typically already ground and ready to go.

As it will be. There is usually enough activity in Roman and Venetian cafes that an automatic grinder is a good idea. It's why the auto function was invented. The barista is so busy that he runs out of ground coffee, and the line forms while he's grinding. If you walked up to a cafe or bar where the barista had been waiting for three or four minutes since his last turn at the machine, might have been a concern, but not that great of one I'd suspect.
Nothing like walking into the 'Coffee Xchange' on Tanque Verde in Tucson (sue me!) first thing in the morning because the drive thru was closed when it was supposed to be open (it was an emergency, gimme a break), and discovered that the barista inside was the only employee there, as the manager that was supposed to open hadn't made it in to work, and she had just gotten back from getting the keys. I asked for a double double cappuccino, and seconds later heard her lock in and start a pull. No grinder at all, so my grounds were the ones that were in the doser from the last evening...