Sugar and soy ruins perfectly good coffee say Sydney baristas

25 May 2011

Sydney baristas are increasingly calling the shots when it comes to brewing what they consider to be ideal coffee, by refusing to accommodate requests to add sugar, use skim (low fat) or soy milks, and decaffeinated coffee, or make brews “extra hot”, a dictate some customers describe as excessive:

Bar Italia in Leichardt is famous for its “No soy, no skim” stand. Customers have been known to storm out of Barefoot Coffee Traders in Manly which won’t do decaf or large cups. Kafenio Cafe in Cronulla declares: “No skim or babycinos … Don’t even ask!” “The guy behind the coffee machine … reminded me of the Soup Nazi off Seinfeld, but it wasn’t funny … get over the delicate genius syndrome,” said one Kafenio customer on online restaurant guide Eatability. Said another: “The barista refused three separate times to make the coffee that was ordered. If this was a hard order I would have understood but nowhere else [finds] a double shot 3/4 latte hard.”

Maybe the majority of coffee shop customers want full cream milk and caffeine brews, but the stance sounds harsh to me. What of the people with lactose intolerance? As for refusing to serve babycinos, that doesn’t seem too family-friendly to me.

Originally published Wednesday 25 May 2011.