Thread: Morning Coffee

Day One in Sydney, Australia

Morning Coffee

It’s a seventeen hour difference in time between Chicago and Sydney, Australia but it works out to a 3-11pm working shift as far as my body clock knows, so I’m adjusting very well. These are dream hours for a night owl. I woke today at 6am and was out looking for a coffee shop by 6:45. This would never happen to me in the Central Standard Time zone. I quickly located a tiny little spot about a half block away called Two Baristas. The interesting thing about many of these little cafes is that you can walk right in –no door. They’re like the stores within a shopping mall that pull a gate down vertically at closing time. So they have this cool open air feel. Anyway, I walked up to the “barista” (ironically there was only one) and ordered a regular coffee with cream. This seemingly simple order resulted in my Australian coffee ordering education. Did I mean a “long black” or a “flat white?” As someone who is continually annoyed that a tall is a small at Starbucks, I was instantly on guard.
“What exactly is a long black?” I inquired.
“Coffee and hot water.”
“Well I’m quite sure I don’t want you to water down my coffee,” I thought to myself. “And what is a Flat White?”
“Coffee and milk”
Thinking I’d just learned the equivalent to a regular coffee with cream, I smiled approvingly and said, “I’ll have a Flat White then.”
The barista filled my cup with a miniscule amount of coffee and reached for the milk jug.
“Wait!” I commanded. “So a Flat White gets its name because it’s mostly milk? Isn’t this really just a cappuccino?”
Startled, yet still so willing to help, the barista explained that a cappuccino would have been coffee with froth.This was coffee with milk.
I was suddenly struck with the realization that maybe this wasn’t actually coffee, but espresso. That would explain the tendency to dilute with water or milk (or froth).
“Ah… this is espresso!” I said with relief. Now I was getting somewhere.
“Oh, you want espresso?” She was clearly even more puzzled.
“No, I want a regular coffee.”
“Would you like a Long Black or a Flat White?”
I decided not to go another round. “ I’ll have a Flat White.”
It was delicious.

ChicagoHeart - Learning by experience about the little details of everyday life can be frustrating.

When I was 12 my father took me with him on a trip to New York, my first time to visit what would later become one of my favourite cities. Early on the first morning we stopped in a coffee shop.

'I'll have a regular', said my father.

'I'll have the same', I said.

'That's not what you want', said my father.

'Of course it's what I want', I said, using my best 12-year-old I-know-what-I-want voice.

'Okay', said my father. 'Two regular'.

When they came I looked at mine and complained, 'This has milk. I hate milk in coffee. I thought regular meant black'.

'Regular means with milk, and you should have known that because you know at home I put milk in my coffee. You should have ordered black.'

My father made me pay for the extra cup of regular out of my pocket, which was unfair because he drank it. Worse, when I ordered a cup of black, I had to pay for that out of my pocket.

'Not correct', I said.

'But educational', said my father. 'You'll remember for a long time what ''regular'' coffee is in New York.'

Starbucks employees tend to be flakey.

I thought your story was written well, you communicated the events very lucidly, my only issue with it would be that the subject being maybe not so interesting.

You ought to put those writing skills to something dramatic or exciting.

You express yourself well in this piece, you impart information fairly well, and the narrator's charming personality is evident. If you rewrite I would suggest some indecision to build more tension in the last few sentences which may make your amusing ending even funnier.
Thanks

The " I walked up to the “barista” (ironically there was only one)" bit made me giggle.

Lovely piece.

Hi ChicagoHeart,
If all the "chicagodians" have your humour, I can't wait to visit Chicago.
you made a simple encounter on a simple subject very amusing. good
Take care.
C =D>