Wet vs. Dry caps What is right??

[luvncoffee]

Ok... Does anyone know the real European way to make a capuccino??? I was told that a dry cap is not suppose to be a correct way to make one. What is the history behind them??? I want to know what I'm talking about next time I see this guy!!

 

[CCafe]

I believe it really comes down to the froth. The Italians prefer a much thicker and denser froth with a smaller bubble. If your were to compare it to say an American capp the froth is much lighter, more airy with a bigger bubble. I prefer more of an Italian froth myself.

 

[Coffee Guy]

I figure I'm going to raise a few eye brows here, but...First I'd have to ask myself, "When is the next time I plan to visit Europe?" If my answer is not in the near future, or if at all, why would I care? I hate to be so sarcastic but we are in the United States, not Europe. Some things we do differently, so celebrate the differences. Not to mention things change with time, in addition to new creations and new techiques. For an example, who would have thought to add chocolate and milk together with coffee to make a popular drink, or any other flavor to coffee? 30 years ago the so called true coffee drinkers would have laughed you out of the diner... :twisted: That may be the reason that a wet capp and a dry capp are offered as choices :roll:

 

[luvncoffee]

Coffee guy... I totally agree, but this guy was dead set in his reasoning.. I didn't want to argue with him to begin with but I also wanted to educate myself a little on the subject. Thanks for the info.

 

[BaristaTrainer]

a traditional Cappuccino is generally served in a 5-6oz cup consisting of approx. 1/3 espresso 1/3 milk and 1/3 microfoam. You should be able to pour a capp right off the steam wand ... without scooping dry tasteless untextured milk onto your espresso.

many cafes in US serve a different drink all together and call it a cappuccino. granted we do things different in many ways here, but i still think we should respect tradition and 100+ years of espresso preparation in italy vs. only a decade or more here in the states.

i have faith that if you served your customers a perfectly prepared (traditional capp) and gave them a bit of education on it's history they would be delighted.

my $.02

 

[ElPugDiablo]

I figure I'm going to raise a few eye brows here, but...First I'd have to ask myself, "When is the next time I plan to visit Europe?" If my answer is not in the near future, or if at all, why would I care? I hate to be so sarcastic but we are in the United States, not Europe. Some things we do differently, so celebrate the differences. Not to mention things change with time, in addition to new creations and new techiques. For an example, who would have thought to add chocolate and milk together with coffee to make a popular drink, or any other flavor to coffee? 30 years ago the so called true coffee drinkers would have laughed you out of the diner... :twisted: That may be the reason that a wet capp and a dry capp are offered as choices :roll:

I disagree.

30 years ago, when I was a kid in Taiwan, there was a local soda, marketed as American Apple Cider. I moved to the US in the 70s and have the real appl cider, I then knew some one was BSing me. Now, they have real apple cider from the US in supermarkets in Taiwan, the fake one no longer exist.

30 years ago, a chablis is any cheap white wine, a burgundy is any cheap red wine, and bad sparkling wines were marketed as champagne. Today, even your neiborhood Chili would not make such mistake.

Same with coffee, today consumers are much more educated, or want to be educated. You might be able to get away with serving dry foamed milk drink and called it cappuccino, but even if they have never been to Italy, or will never go to Italy, that does not mean we should give them humogus milk drink and call it cappuccino. My experience is that most of my customers want a real Italian cappuccino, some of them are, I suppose, none worldly former Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks customers, yet somehow they notice the differences.

 

[luvncoffee]

thanks for the different opinions. I will continue to do things like I know for know... I've had no complaints on the capps yet just a little history test. I flunked better luck next time EH??

 

[celement]

not to be rude to your guy, but how about dropping a bomb on him and asking him how he'd like his vs how the euro's like theirs? we make dry one's, wet one's, and we ask ... which we have to since we offer and suprising sell 24 ounce capps....

 

[BeanGrinder]

No doubt, it takes all kinds to make a world. I'd say a large number of my customers judge my barista ability on how much it tastes like *$'s. I've had very loyal customers ask me to duplicate Dunkin Donuts and even Burger King coffee. I've had customers stand over me watching me froth milk to see if I know what I'm doing. In the end, it isn't about my latte art or microfoam like BaristaTrainer was describing...it's about the consumer.

But ElPugDiablo's point can backfire, too...I took a group of people to an authentic Chinese restaurant in our Asian community. This place doesn't serve General Tso's chicken and egg rolls - this is the stuff you'd eat in the corner shop in Beijing. These dumb Americans politely smiled at this cultural outting and agreed among themselves that "authentic" isn't as good as "American Chinese" food. Oh, well, I tried.

Different strokes. The hard part is when you have the wannabe chains out there (like PJ's, Dunkin, etc) who use automatic equipment and offer their waitstaff 40 minutes of training. The muck they turn out is becoming the norm for millions of commuters who don't know the difference and are just looking for something to crack their eyes open.

Okay, okay, sorry to stomp on the soap box. Luvncoffee...you should spend some time with Italian baristas to learn how they do it. If not for your customer, then for your own edification.

 

[Coffee Guy]

many cafes in US serve a different drink all together and call it a cappuccino. granted we do things different in many ways here, but i still think we should respect tradition and 100+ years of espresso preparation in italy vs. only a decade or more here in the states.

I agree B.T. regarding tradition. And tradition has it's place, however, I also believe in moving forward and improvement. After all Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile, he created a better and faster way to assemble them. :wink:

ElPugDiablo: Sorry to hear about your early experience with apple cider, but in your comparison between that and customers of coffee are two entirely different things. I agree that most customers would like to become better educated about coffee, but I also observe that most that drink espresso coffees are exposed to blends that are roasted darker, and not so much single origin coffees that are roasted to their optimal profile. Although I've been in the industry for a numnber of years, I'm still pleasently surprised by the new things I continue to learn. That is why I remain teachable. Who knows what lays around the corner? :wink:

 

[barefoot]

try a perfectly silky velvet steamed milk cappuccino with zero visible bubbles in the milk and 2 ounces of espresso with 4-5 ounces of stemaed milk with no bubbles and a smooth creamy liquid texture and you will know the true meaning of desire. :grin:

 

[Coffee Guy]

What kind of milk are you using? I've found that 1/2&1/2 makes that perfect velvety texture :grin:

 

[mikefly]

my biggest problem with cap's is i have costomers asking for them and we gladly make them and then they get upset because its no what they get out of that machine at the gas station, so we started trying to educate them and convince them that they are wanting a latte and not a cap but then they get this deer in the headlights look and i feel bad like i have just told a child that santa is not real...i dont want to cheese up the atmosphere we have created with ugly posters of drinks with discriptions so if anyone else has had this problem and figured out a good way to fix it let me know
laterz
and remember if you own a shop and have employes lose the polos!!!!

 

[Coffee Guy]

Like it or not, part of every ones job is to educate the public. So let them know the difference, they will appreciate your being up front. Just don't do it in a snub fashon. And enough already on the polo shirt issue 8)

 

[mikefly]

yes i understand that its our job to educate and i like to do that maybe im just reading the people wrong or aproching it the wrong way illwork on my deliveryof the explaination!!!1 sorry about the polo comments both of my partners were them and i refuse so its a thing around here