I am not in a writing mood today, having just finished four pages of ‘Bureaucratese’ or “well-written bollocks” for this damn upgrade… so. A few pics for your entertainment:
A Cappucino from Nero - the liquid was found about 2 inches down!
Cappuccino from Gusto Italiano - shiny, pretty and perfect!
A few differences there, non?
Visual fieldwork maybe… a lot simpler than trying to describe these differences! And then of course, there is the far darker side the the little brown beans:
Black Gold is a very powerful film, I recommend it to anyone who has even a passing interest in coffee and world well-being! If that doesn’t affect you, this might:
Work out not only how much of the price of your branded coffee goes to the farmer, but also how much you personally spend on coffee a year. Quite frightening in my case!
Caffe Nero Cappuccino:
The Nero Capp was actually made perfectly as far as Nero training goes. One third foam, one third espresso and one third steamed milk. Apart from lack of ‘fuss’ on top which some baristas opt out of- it looked great
thanks for commenting! Yeah, I agree, by Nero standards, that was pretty good.It “looks” good, that’s the emphasis. The foam was so dry you needed a spoon to ‘drink’ it though – and the only way to get it like that is to effectively burn the milk to the extent that is separates, which is far too hot for a cappuccino. This is, however, what Nero trains you to do – and that seems to work for Nero. I’m not denying that they have made a very successful business from selling coffees like these. However, in the place I worked prior to Neros, I would’ve got shot for serving up something like that! It’s all personal preference I guess, and personally, I prefer not having to chip away at dry foam with a spoon.
I was very disappionted in the Black Gold Film. It gave a very one sided view, suggesting that everything that was not FairTrade was unfairly traded. The Barista they featured in the Barista championships is an abasador for Quality coffee. I don’t think I know anyone, maybe a few, who put more effort into supporting growers, paying good prices for good coffee, and who had done a lot of work with ‘coffee kids’. Fairtrade is not the only option and in a lot of cases not the correct option. He has direct relationships with growers who he pays well for the good coffee that is grown for him. He was made to look like the enemy by the editors. Bad form I thought.
Black Gold was very sensationalist, true, but I think it worked for shock-value at least. Not great for anyone with a working knowledge of the industry sure, but for the average consumer, I hope it made people think a little.
My problem with it was just it was out of date by the time it was released – most of it was filmed in 2002-03, which meant by the time it was first shown in 2007, the world markets have changed a great deal. You’re right, fairtrade is not the only option, and just because some coffees do not have the stamp, doesn’t mean to say they are Evil to the core. The fact that the fairtrade price is capped means that now the global coffee price has improved a bit, there is little point to it.
I didn’t know who the Barista champ was (sorry!!) but I don’t doubt he’s done a lot of good work. They shouldn’t have made him out to be the bad guy. But the way they juxtaposed clips from the WBC with clips of the farmers showed how far removed consumption is from production – and you have to agree, it’s a different world.