Standard milk choices for espresso drinks?

[Jennifer Graham]

I'm curious. The shop I "grew up" in as a barista used Whole Milk as default for capps, lattes, etc. 2% was used for the low-fat versions and there was no fat free milk to be found on the premises. This seems like a no brainer to me. Am I crazy? When someone says the word milk, I think Whole Milk, because that's what milk is. If you mean any other kind of milk that's been modified in some way, you qualify by saying, "Skim Milk", or "Low Fat Milk", or "Fat Free Milk." Right? So, by extending that logic, shouldn't drink names be treated the same way? Now, I'm hearing that some places, including *$, are using 2% as their standard, default milk. Is this really true? Is there a general industry standard on this? I get really pissed if I order a cappucino and take a sip only to discover that the barista used low-fat milk without even asking me. I don't need a societal nanny forcing me to cut down on my fat intake. I choose when and where to cut the fat, thanks. That just doesn't seem right. Do any of you offer skim in your places? We do, but it steams/foams/pours/tastes like crap. Maybe it's my skills, I don't know, but I want to nix it. Thoughts, opinions, comiserations???

[Chris Y. Gaoiran]

On the take away menu's, Love is described thusly:
"The perfect drink for the perfect person, at the perfect time, on the perfect day."

Our response to people who get no Love:
"Sorry, our Love is not for sale."
and
"Sorry, you can't buy it--you have to work for it."

Wish I could make it out to the SE! A Skim Showdown sounds amazing!
Brady said:

Chris Y. Gaoiran said:

Brady,
Whether it started out that way and we just carried it on as a tradition, or maybe it just became a store-wide phenomenon, but at my old place (Barefoot Coffee) the cappuccino became the drink of choice to recommend. Always. First time? Capp. Can't decide? Capp. Been a regular and want to try something else? Capp. On the menu, that beloved drink of drinks was listed under a different name with "Market" as the price. LOVE, as it quickly became known, became the default drink for co-workers on and off shift, former employees, our roasters (who roast at a separate location), and friends of all stripes. I didn't think about it much then but LOVE is the perfect name for a drink we spent so much time honing. Sure, you could find it at other coffee shops, but you always knew you were at Barefoot when you could get a delicious creamy cappuccino practically thrown at you as you walked through the door. It's that kind of shop.

As for having it on the menu and not being available to the general public: yeah, it's "just" a cappuccino, but having it made for you by friends without having to shell out cash is way different than having it made by strangers and having to pay for it. So yeah, LOVE it is.

Beautiful. So one could walk in and say "give me some love" and get a cappuccino? What a concept!

Bam Bam and Ricky... we've been threatening to do a skim-only throwdown at one our TNTs... you are welcome to join us :). This is great advice, and precisely what I do when using skim. Gotta keep it swirling and pour without delay... even then I sometimes get that "plop" at the end. Has anyone tried a pause in the middle of the pour to swirl the pitcher and re-integrate before finishing when pouring with skim? I may mess with this next time I'm on bar...

[Bam Bam]

Skim-down! That would be so fun! I'll be cheering you on from the NW.

I'm off bar for a few weeks with a wrist injury, but will try the mid-pour nonfat swirl when I'm back in action.

Brady said:

Bam Bam and Ricky... we've been threatening to do a skim-only throwdown at one our TNTs... you are welcome to join us :). This is great advice, and precisely what I do when using skim. Gotta keep it swirling and pour without delay... even then I sometimes get that "plop" at the end. Has anyone tried a pause in the middle of the pour to swirl the pitcher and re-integrate before finishing when pouring with skim? I may mess with this next time I'm on bar...

[Bryan Wray]

My experience with stopping and starting is that it always kills my art, no matter what the milk type. The top of the cup just becomes too hard to break up if I stop and then start again. Maybe I'll try doing this step faster and see what I get. I'll post back to the thread later today after my shift.

-bry

[Joshua Furlow]

The one answer here is flavour, if it tastes great then go with it. Sometimes I mix whole with semi half and half, and that seams to taste great and allows me to get more foam volume if doing a capps.

[Brady]

Bryan Wray said:

My experience with stopping and starting is that it always kills my art, no matter what the milk type. The top of the cup just becomes too hard to break up if I stop and then start again. Maybe I'll try doing this step faster and see what I get. I'll post back to the thread later today after my shift.

-bry

Maybe a tulip?

[Al Soto]

Whole is our standard. We carry skim as well and so if need to make 2% we can just mix half whole and half skim. But whole stretches so much nicer than skim. You need the fat molecules to make good micro foam.