Yet another coffee place has just opened near us and we just went to try it out. As usual, plenty of time and money have been spent on the interior and equipment. Huge Vitamix mixers for iced drinks, couple of Ceado’s, I didn’t reocgnise the machine but it was three group and looked Strada-esque. £3.10 for a flat white. Tasted like it took about 4 seconds to extract and the milk may as well have come out of a whipping syphon. This has happened in almost every coffee shop in town but have I said anything? In classic British fashion, no. I can obviously get good coffee at home but it would be nice to get a decent take-out occasionally if I’m out and about. Has anyone else said anything when receiving a terrible coffee?

@"Ernie1"#p11759 - I never say anything, but then again, I tend to watch he customer before me and order a tea if I find it won’t be up to my expectations. Most likely the poor barista never saw a coffee machine ever before, and received very little training. Like most places these days in the catering and hospitality industries, prices are going up whilst quality in general is going down as businesses try to make ends meet. Sadly a double-edged sword as customers might then look elsewhere. A phenomena certainly happening to me. Places I usually went to for a meal now are in my no-return list.

@"Ernie1"#p11759 Twice, once in Starbucks, they have me another, as bad as the first. At Disney Florida in a world of coffee event. The barista pulled me a shot that came out and about 6 seconds pushed it towards me me.and I just shook my head. She then adjusted the grinder and pulled the shot in 26 seconds, which I accepted. It was clear she knew exactly what she was doing, but couldn't care less if the customer didn't complain. I guess if the truth be told, most coffee shops of their to make money on the food and other beverages.

There's a new cafe opened up near me so me and nurse went for lunch. I asked for an Americano and the girl just froze. She looked at the menu then asked me if it was just a black coffee. She wrestled the portafilter out of the Eurobar machine and pressed it into the grinder. Just then another member of staff came through and the girl serving me asked her "what do I do next 'cos coffee is all piled up in the handle and I don't know what to do with it." The other girl said, "have you squished it yet? You need to squish it with the thing sticking out of the machine!" I knew that I was in for a terrible cup of coffee, and it was! I didn't complain, she was a young girl doing her best. Things have got a lot better now as we regularly visit and have got to know the owners. They are starting a new business in difficult times, money is tight, good staff hard to find, trying to train on the job. I have made the point of telling them that the coffee is getting better, a little bit of encouragement goes a long way!

@"DavecUK"#p11772 - Disneyland… Florida… Starbucks…. Coffee… what could possibly go wrong…. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Well this is interesting. In West Sonoma County California we actually have some places where they know what they are doing and care. Nonetheless, my wife is used to what I make now, so most places she rejects. But we have a few where they do it right. Some even use naked portafilters!

@"dndrich"#p11779 Naked portafilters?! As if I needed another reason to want to move to CA! Really interesting to hear others experiences. There’s a really great place in the Southwest run by two guys who really care- Beacon in Falmouth. They rotate the beans regularly, often from small/new roasters and you can tell they make sure every single shot that passes the counter is as good as possible. However, the one guy said it was a labour of love and often a thankless job which just about broke even. I think as above, unless you’re running a big specialist coffee shop with massive foot traffic then it’s usually profits/efficiency before quality.

I usually just spit it in their faces and toss the furniture around on my way out.

> @"Ernie1"#p11759 Has anyone else said anything when receiving a terrible coffee? If I ever buy coffee outside (an extremely rare thing), I will assume it is going to be terrible. On my way out I will say to myself that I had it coming and I should have known better.

@"Doram"#p11791 Lol. Returning home to give your back a darn good thrashing with a birch in the garden

I’m fortunate to work near some very good ones, but one that is sadly no more occasionally got it wrong and if my first taste was 2 mins down the road I would walk back and let them know and I’d get another one that was generally then very good. But only as I knew what their coffee should be like. I’d not do that too a new place as likely that was all they could manage.

Do you ever say anything when you get served terrible coffee?

whinmoor85

woodbar Fruity/acidic is one thing, vinegar is something else 😷

DavecUK

Me “This coffee tastes like mud”

Sarbucks Bahwista “it was ground only seconds ago!”

CoyoteOldMan

DavecUK Me “This coffee tastes like mud”

“It’s our Mississippi Mud Pie special, Sir!”

woodbar

That reminds me of a hostelry near me which has a huge commercial grinder sitting on the end of the bar - don’t know what brand as it is facing away from me.

However, what is plainly visible is the huge hopper must have at least 1.5Kg of dark roast beans in it and the dosing hopper is always at least half full, probably in excess of 750g - enough to last a week or two I would think!

I have never ordered a coffee at that establishment, obviously.

I did think of mentioning how they might improve the freshness of their coffee but decided not to!

Waitforme

I don’t normally say anything, just put a note to self not to buy again, it’s easier.

I’ve stopped buying coffee in a place we frequent as they want £3:45 for a mug of Americano, it’s not that bad but certainly not speciality coffee and they are probably charging twice what it’s worth.

Worst coffee I’ve had in a while was Hyde park cafe, asked for an espresso, the cone of coffee that was ground into the basket was tamped with a force of about 30kg, it was just awful, tasted like a really dark roast, burnt, with very little crema. Just awful.

LMSC

Waitforme Saved our selves all the troubles by not going to coffee shops. It is very rare we buy a cup of coffee from high-street shops.

audiomacgyver

dndrich hello from San Jose!

capuchin

I think the only time I’ve complained at anything other than an inedible coffee (had to ask costa to rebrew it a few times) was in a place called hot numbers in Cambridge. They advertise themselves as this artisan shop and roastery, but it’s very clear the guys know nothing about coffee. On talking to the manager, none of them [except the head barista] know anything past tamping and brewing a cup somewhat standard. The grinders are set to a specific dose, the machines are set to a specific level, and some of them can do coffee art by touch after training. They also can’t offer different coffees and blends. It was just really disappointing after hearing what enthusiasts they were about coffee. It was a real shame as their pizzeria on site is actually really good and fresh; they just don’t make great coffee.

I’m probably generally too passive though, as hot and wet is enough for me a lot of the time when out.

Ernie1

capuchin

I just Googled that place as I had an equally disappointing experience at a place in Cambridge… turns out it’s the very same.

SurreyAlan

Nearly always opt for hot chocolate now, though I expect everyone here would spit out my offering made with M&S beans it’s still way better than from most places, last coffee out was a pub run by Italians, tasteless, reminded me of what you were served years ago in a glass tumbler in a metal handle in British italian named seaside cafes. Pre retirement of the chains I thought Cafe Nero were reasonable, I’m sure Prets at one time were good but thinking that was turn of the century maybe.

Dusk

I wonder how many coffee shops properly dial in their espresso each morning to ensure their grind/dose etc is correct. I can only think of one coffee shop I’ve ever visited that I saw weighing the output from the grinder, all the rest would just be a set dose which could vary from cup to cup.

Ernie1

I see quite a few local places weighing their dose precisely, but then it’s all futile as the grind is still all wrong and the resultant coffee is terrible. I can only assume this is down to bad training. The barista has taken the time to dose the PF correctly but doesn’t know to periodically taste or check the output.

In London and some of the more notable roastery cafes I’ve been to I’d commonly see proper Barista training happening or an employee off to the side tasting the coffee.

Something I wonder is how many commercial machines have volumetric extractions? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a set of scales on the drip tray of a commercial machine so I guess they must be timed shots since they auto-stop.

If these aren’t set each morning and checked alongside the grind then it’s another variable to go wrong.

I definitely think customer appetite is a factor. In an area with a lot of high quality coffee shops I guess peoples taste improves. It’s the same with restaurants, most of them round here are mediocre at best but always full…

InfamousTuba

From experience it depends on the type of coffee shop, multi roaster cafes that serve coffee from international roasters (like prufrock or lowdown in Edinburgh) tend to have the highest standards, dialling in and adjusting throughout the day and using refractometers to check extractions. Then usually roaster cafes are dialling in and weighing input and output adjusting based on taste. After that cafes that are wholesale customers of local roasters can be a bit more variable, some will have high end equipment and staff trained to dial in and check but some don’t because usually they focus on other sides of the business like food offerings or baked goods and the coffee is secondary.

In regards to volumetrics, a lot of places have volumetrics now, and they are reliable but still variable. Maybe 2-4g if they are checked when dialling in. More shops are now moving to better technology, la marzocco has the Linea pb ABR which has built in scales and measures the brew weight and stops consistently with a variance of about 1g total maybe less from when I used it.

More cafes are also using the mahlkonig e65s gbw which weighs the coffee instead of a timed dose and can self adjust when the grind needs adjusted, the grinder isn’t perfect but it does really improve workflow in high volume cafes and the technology is creeping into other manufacturers

Ernie1

Really interesting insight thanks. I had no idea about commercial tech in machines/grinders. I knew about grind by weight but didn’t realise it was advancing like that.

Maybe I’ll add an e65s to the shopping list 😬

InfamousTuba

Ernie1 I mean there is even the new mahlkonig e80s GBW which has 80mm lab sweet style burrs very similar to the ditting 807 lab sweet, if money is no real concern. Although for home use the ditting would probably be a better choice

Cuprajake

my coffee hobby started in lock down - ive NEVER been to a proper coffee shop

Ernie1

@InfamousTuba One day! A MK e65/80 is definitely on the list for my endgame grinder.

@Cuprajake

You’ve been missing out! Ask all of your neighbours to set up laptops in the Kitchen, extract stale beans to 1:2 in about 12 seconds, froth milk until it’s effectively a milkshake and chuck £3.20 in the bin and you can recreate the coffee shop experience at home.

JahLaza

Ernie1 there are very good ones who take pride in it out there too though….

Ernie1

JahLaza

Sorry yes there are many many great ones.

JahLaza

Ernie1 but I buy out at cafes/restaurants less and less and less since I started this at home myself. It just disappoints most of the time, I totally got the humour in your description above !! 👍

Ernie1

JahLaza

Exactly! It’s good to support the local businesses but yeah, often nicer coffee at home!

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