What most people don't know is that pouring espresso over ice turns it extremely bitter. And at most coffee shops you can't tell the difference because the espresso is so bad.

If you have a great barista you will get a shot of espresso that is sweet, smooth and great syrupy mouth feel. It takes talent to pour that kind of shot. To have it ruined by being poured over ice is like pouring a great red wine over ice.

You should test the difference in taste by trying the straight espresso then espresso over ice.

However, the customer comes first.. if they want a bitter cold espresso then they should be able to have one.

Ugh. I've had someone tell me that because I put cream and sweetener in my coffee that I'm not a "REAL" coffee drinker... whatever the f*ck that means. That little sketch totally reminded me of the local hipster coffee shop (now closed) across the street from the office vs. the Starbucks downstairs. Same deal. Rude Hipster Hornrimmed Coffeesnob Baristas that-for some reason- are pissed off that you've chosen to spend your money in their establishment versus uniformed, polite starbucks baristas that make exactly what you want. I'd rather pay a teensy bit more for starbucks and NOT leave pissed off. (Otherwise, I'll either make my own or grab some at 7-ll.)

I don't know what's worse, though: Coffee snobs or beer snobs. Seeing me enjoying what you think is "water beer" isn't an invite for you to lecture me on "real beer" and hops and blah, blah, blah. It was over 100 degrees here all summer, and Miller Light sounds a hell of a whole lot better than some nasty brown viscus shit that was hand crafted by gnomes in a cellar in Prague or Bavaria and costs $6 a bottle.

*Best espresso I've had was in Buenos Aires, served with a sliver of lemon peel. I don't drink it much when I'm at home, though. I think part of the appeal was lounging around watching the day go by at a sidewalk cafe, which I don't get to do in real life.*

I was in Cairo a few years back, and it was pretty difficult to find regular brewed coffee...thr settled for 'turkish coffee', which is finely ground coffee plus hot water...there's also a hint of a spice called cardamom, which isn't too awful. They thought I was quite odd to order it without sugar...if you don't ask for that, they load it with lots of sugar. And since there is no filtering, there is about a half inch of sludge in the bottom of your cup, the pattern it forms used to tell your fortune back in the day.