I would not say that this is my top pet peeve as far as food service goes but it ranks up there.
What is that doing there with my cup of coffee?
So repeat after me, number 1 in the 10 commandments of espresso: thou shall not twist...
Here is a little coffee education for all of us from Illy (via 1st in Coffee):
Espresso Myths Exposed
Espresso coffee, while apparently a simple drink, is in reality a complex product. It is derived from 1500 chemical substances (800 volatile and 700 soluble). When prepared correctly it involves 13 independent chemical and physical variables. There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding espresso. We'd like to debunk a few of them.
Myth #1: Espresso carries more of a caffeine jolt than regular brewed coffee.
FALSE: The illycaffe blend is obtained by carefully selecting from different sources the best Arabica beans, which have a richer taste and a lower caffeine content than the lesser prized (and less expensive) Robusta beans. Because a cup of espresso takes no more than 30 seconds to brew, less caffeine is extracted than in drip coffee—which takes anywhere from 5 to 7 minutes.
Myth #2: Lemon peel is the proper garnish for a cup of espresso
FALSE: Lemon peel is not traditional in Italy. It is used to counteract the taste of over-roasted, bitter espresso. The oil in the peel blocks the bitterness. There is no need for lemon peel in a proper cup of espresso.
Myth #3: Bigger is better
FALSE: Large cups don't do espresso justice. The proper portion of espresso is one ounce, and the cup should be very small so that it holds the heat. Thick china cups are preferred. Large cups dissipate the heat and the crema (foam) which carries the aroma in a fine cup of espresso.
Myth #4: The darker the roast, the better the espresso.
FALSE: Over-roasted coffee loses all its complex flavors—they go up the chimney and leave you only with bitterness. Illy carefully roasts its coffee to the optimum level to bring out all the flavors inherent in the bean. illycaffè purchases only arabica beans for its blend and sorts the beans using electronic instruments which evaluate the color and automatically reject beans that are either too green or overripe. About 50 coffee beans are needed to produce one cup of espresso, and only one bad bean can ruin its flavor. In order to better balance the aroma, illycaffè prepares the blend from nine different lots of arabica before roasting and uses an air-cooling system versus the more common water-cooling system.
Myth #5: Put your coffee for espresso in the freezer for freshness.
FALSE: Freezing the coffee coagulates the natural oils contained in the bean. In an espresso, those oils emulsify producing the wonderful body and satisfying mouthful of this special cup of coffee.
Myth #6: Espresso is hard to prepare.
TRUE AND FALSE: Traditional espresso preparation is complicated unless you are properly trained. That is why Dr. Ernesto Illy and his team developed the E.S.E. system. Their objective was to find a way to create a perfect cup of espresso—a happy outcome of that quest was a method that was also convenient and simple. So simple, in fact, that Dr. Illy's 4 year old granddaughter proudly prepares her grandfather a perfect cup of espresso when he comes to visit using the E.S.E. system.
Faith Willinger shares her up close and personal experience living in Italy via The Crema in my Coffee.
Should doing things without knowing why be considered ignorance?
I borrowed my illustration (the original Bezzera machine?) from the History of Espresso ( College of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign).
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