Coffee 101

From INeedCoffee.com:

Have you ever gone into a coffee shop and stared at the gigantic menu of fine print wishing they would just write it in plain English? Well, I hope I can help! How about a crash course in Italian & French? If that sounds like too much work, we’ll just stick to the latté lingo for now. You’ll be ordering that tall mocha breve con panna in no time.

First, the basics, most espresso beverages have a base of milk. Whole milk is latté. Half & half is breve. Heavy cream is crème. With whip cream is con panna. Having something dry means only foamed milk, no liquid. You can also have a rice latté or a soy latté instead of regular milk.

Then you add the espresso, or caffé. One shot is equal to one ounce. If you order an espresso, you will get a one ounce shot of espresso in a demitasse, which is French for half-cup and usually holds about three ounces. An espresso macchiato is the shot of espresso with foam on top, and espresso crème is espresso with an ounce of heavy cream. Whether it be a shot of espresso or a shot of a flavored syrup, one shot is one ounce. In a short (small) or a tall (medium) drink there will usually be two shots of espresso, which is called a double or doppio. The larger sizes (grande or venti) would contain a triple, or three shots. And for the daring, a quad would be four shots.

A caffé latté is steamed whole milk and espresso. A caffé breve would be steamed half and half with espresso, very rich; it is my favorite drink. It is okay to leave off the caffé part (i.e. I’ll have a latté) because they assume you are not asking for just a cup of steamed milk, but need some caffeine to get you going! The same goes for a mocha, which just means chocolate, but if you ask for a mocha they will assume you are asking for a mocha caffé latté, not just chocolate. A cappuccino is usually 1/3 espresso, 1/3 milk, and 1/3 foam. A dry cappuccino is made with espresso and foam only. Caffé au lait is drip brewed coffee with steamed milk. An Americano is espresso with hot water; similar to drip coffee, but with a little different flavor. Most coffee shops also have toddy, or the cold brewed coffee I spoke of last month. These drinks are all assumed to be hot, unless you ask for iced. Although in Arizona on a hot afternoon you will have to watch them closely because they might assume that you want iced.

Some common additions and subtractions are con panna, with whip cream. No foam is just as it sounds, because a normal latté will have a ¼ to ½ inch of foam at the top, which some people do not enjoy. Half-caf, one shot regular and one shot decaf. Decaf, all shots are decaf. With room is to leave room at the top for cream. Add a shot of _____ can be for any flavored syrup such as vanilla, caramel, or hazelnut.

Now, let’s put it all together. Start with the size, then you can specify iced (if you don’t, they will assume hot), then the drink, and finally any additions/subtractions. Okay, so we could order a tall latté con panna – translation – a medium cup of steamed whole milk, two shots of espresso, with whip cream. Short dry cappuccino is the small cappuccino with only foam. And now – my current favorite drink – a large (or venti) decaf iced breve add one shot of caramel. Happy shopping!

This is Stefanie reminding you to enjoy life, one cup at a time.

Panera Bread

Free wi-fi hotspots
Yep, it's free. Just sit down, open up your laptop and you're ready to go. You're not alone. On a recent Saturday afternoon almost every table was accesorized with a notebook computer.

Endless coffee
Sink into a big comfy chair, or a table by the fireplace or a booth and with the endless supply of coffee you're set. Perfect casual setting for hanging out with people, or a quiet place for doing some work.

And a great menu...
Panera offers a wide selection of pastries, sandwhiches, salads and soups that change daily.

For a Panera by you, check out their website http://www.panerabread.com/

uWink: Click for Food

A new restaurant opened up at the local mall that's got a high-tech twist: Interactive touch screens for ordering.

It's called uWink.

Upon entering, you're handed an RFID card used to verify your purchases and associate them with you. You give your name and when you arrive at the table it says "Buzz Party" if you name were "Buzz".

The interactive screens let you order food, drinks, snacks, deserts, etc. There are also games you can play while you wait. (We love the trivia ones.) Then your food is magically delivered by the friendly uWink staff.

A nice feature added recently is a help screen where you can order drink refills or a take-home box. Recently they hosted a "24" party, which is a pretty cool idea. I read about it on the uWink Blog. Hmm, I would love to see a BSG party...

The coffee is pretty decent. You can order plain, espresso or cappuccino. And get quick refills from the Help screen.

The high-tech system is not without glitches. We sometimes saw staff wandering around with dishes not knowing who ordered them or bringing the wrong orders to the wrong tables, or not at all. A friend of mine was able to crash one of the touch screens once, but a support person popped over and rebooted it. It's all part of the fun.