Unbelieveable cafe experience

#1: Post by **bucsanthem** » February 22nd, 2015, 10:57 am

Recently, I ran out of coffee beans, so I decide to try this local roaster/café. Now, I've always ordered online from reputable roasters recommended by this site and by other coffee lovers as well.

Anyways, so it's early....like 7 am early and I am waiting patiently while she is making some lattes from two customers who just ordered. So, I decided to check out how she's making the lattes........I'm sitting looking like, "OMG....WTF IS GOING ON!?!?!?!?!"

There's an semi-automatic espresso machine she IS NOT using to pull the espressos.........she's only using the steam wand for the milk?????

On the other counter, she is using a JURA AUTOMATIC MACHINE for ONLY the espressos?????

She combines both together and adds a little bit of milk to both cups and the customers both smile and go on there way.

I'm sitting there in straight disbelief just thinking to myself, "WTF JUST HAPPENED??????"........I mean, I couldn't believe what I just seen.

So, I'm like.....hummmmm......so I buy there espresso blend (having second thoughts now). I get home and first notice that the beans look very oily. It's a blend of three beans, and one of the beans like circles (half a bean size) and then the other two just look burnt. So in my mind I'm think, "I bet my espresso will taste boring or burnt....and guess what....

DING! DING! DING!.........you guessed right! The espresso was boring and burnt tasting YUCK!

So right now I'm trying a third cup since yesterday (six espressos totaled) to try to convince myself of keeping the 1lb of beans I paid for and not throwing it in the trash......because I simply cannot stomach this crap anymore!

My question here to everyone here is:

Have you ever had experiences like this before?

#2: Post by **ecuew** » February 22nd, 2015, 12:35 pm

Yikes! I would have walked out empty-handed as soon as I saw the Jura. Sometimes watching the baristas work for 30 seconds tells me all I need to know about a café. The super-automatic? That's not a red flag, it's a red tag.

#3: Post by **BTD1986** » February 22nd, 2015, 2:05 pm

I've been to a place where the woman behind the counter scooped two spoon fulls of pre ground coffee from a Tupperware into the portafilter, and didn't even tamp the coffee , I couldn't even see a tamper anywhere in the shop, then pulled a 2oz shot in about 2 seconds. It's sad, but these kinds of shops do exist and probably why people drown their coffee in sugar and creamer.

#4: Post by **TomC** » February 22nd, 2015, 7:00 pm

Let's please keep in mind the purpose of this sub forum is to discuss cafe's we like, not to focus attention on pummeling the ones we don't. Dan's sub forum header says it all quite well. "Talk about your favorite cafes, local barista events, or plan your own get-together".