Today I tried a new coffee place with Emily. It's called Peets Coffee; the one I went to is located on Montana in Santa Monica. We walked around 6 blocks to get there, which was great because the weather was so nice today.
Since I don't drink coffee, I ordered my regular: a vanilla steamer with whipped cream. Although this drink is incredibly standard (steamed milk, a shot of vanilla, and whipped cream), it always amazes me just how complicated it is to order it.
At Starbucks it's called a Vanilla Cream or a Vanilla Bean depending on who you're talking to... one is supposed to be frozen while the other is like hot chocolate, but the cashier will often switch the two. At Coffee Bean, it's called something like a Hot Vanilla. Steamed Milk is Urth Cafe's version.
I can't even remember all of the questions that the lady at the counter asked me. I opted not to find my selection on their menu and just shoot from the hip, "I would like a medium vanilla steamer with whipped cream." She quickly shot out at least 4 questions in order to complete my request - the most odd being, "how many pumps of vanilla would you like?" Oh my! How many pumps of vanilla?? Apparently they use this metric to price the drink...
So in the end, Peets turned out to be just like any other coffee place. In the meantime, I think I'll stick with Starbucks and Coffee Bean. They both participate in fair trade practices, so that's promising. Of the two, I prefer the taste of the drinks at Starbucks and the atmosphere at Coffee Bean. :-)
Since I don't drink coffee, I ordered my regular: a vanilla steamer with whipped cream. Although this drink is incredibly standard (steamed milk, a shot of vanilla, and whipped cream), it always amazes me just how complicated it is to order it.
At Starbucks it's called a Vanilla Cream or a Vanilla Bean depending on who you're talking to... one is supposed to be frozen while the other is like hot chocolate, but the cashier will often switch the two. At Coffee Bean, it's called something like a Hot Vanilla. Steamed Milk is Urth Cafe's version.
I can't even remember all of the questions that the lady at the counter asked me. I opted not to find my selection on their menu and just shoot from the hip, "I would like a medium vanilla steamer with whipped cream." She quickly shot out at least 4 questions in order to complete my request - the most odd being, "how many pumps of vanilla would you like?" Oh my! How many pumps of vanilla?? Apparently they use this metric to price the drink...
So in the end, Peets turned out to be just like any other coffee place. In the meantime, I think I'll stick with Starbucks and Coffee Bean. They both participate in fair trade practices, so that's promising. Of the two, I prefer the taste of the drinks at Starbucks and the atmosphere at Coffee Bean. :-)
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