Hey Guys,
Don't you hate it when people order their drinks "extra hot" ?

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Ugh, drives me nuts. We don't like to do it because of the whole scalding the milk, and we'll explain it to customers that it WILL scald the milk and leave kind of an unpleasant smell and taste but they insist....so we'll just scald their milk for them.

Drives me crazy....
I do my best to educate them on milk temperature - I think the problem starts with the larger drink cups. It seems every barista has at least one customer who likes to maintain a nice seared leather tongue.
As has been said before on this thread, many of these customers come from a bad coffee experience. Or they don't mind the taste of scalded milk over great coffee.
Joe

Gary T said:
I do my best to educate them on milk temperature - I think the problem starts with the larger drink cups. It seems every barista has at least one customer who likes to maintain a nice seared leather tongue.
I agree Jeff. Now if we can get our customers educated. Some want to be educated and others don't care. They just want it way hot. Do you give them what they want or do you spend time educating them when there is a line getting longer?If life was only simple.
Joe


Jeff Jaworski said:
When I steam milk 160 is too low, 170 is the ceiling, and 165 degrees Fahrenheit is absolutely perfect... to me anyways.
Try living in Arizona where its 114 right now and the customer wants it extra hot.........
Mitch Buckner - Bella Caffe said:
The reason I order my drinks "extra hot" isnt that I want a drink to be scaled. I'm used to every shop I goto having Starbucks temperatures (well below 140)

?? This is the most confusing post to me so far in this thread. Starbucks has a standard milk temperature of 170 degrees. Are you saying you're going to a bux shop that serves their beverages over 30 degrees below what they were trained to steam the milk to? I find this really hard to believe. Sure they have crap coffee, but they have amazing consistency and this just doesn't seem realistic to me.

-bry
That is a bit hard to grasp. I'm trying to wrap my head around this but it just won't go...
Joe

Bryan Wray said:
Mitch Buckner - Bella Caffe said:
The reason I order my drinks "extra hot" isnt that I want a drink to be scaled. I'm used to every shop I goto having Starbucks temperatures (well below 140)

?? This is the most confusing post to me so far in this thread. Starbucks has a standard milk temperature of 170 degrees. Are you saying you're going to a bux shop that serves their beverages over 30 degrees below what they were trained to steam the milk to? I find this really hard to believe. Sure they have crap coffee, but they have amazing consistency and this just doesn't seem realistic to me.

-bry
No. When i'm behind the bar serving customer's, it's all about crafting our coffee's and espresso's custom just like the customer likes it whether it be "extra hot", "tepid", "extra foamy", or a little hemp milk added to the rice milk before aerating. I've never understood barista's not wanting to give this kind of service to their guest's. It's a service business & a service job so if you don't enjoy giving your guest's basic service, if you're not stoked and excited to give your guests great, customized, personalized service then you might be happier in another position or profession.
If it's the quality of the drink you're concerned with then just communicate with your customer, "Have you always liked your latte extra hot?", "Why?", "The reason I ask is because milk reaches its sweetest point at blah-blah degree's and any hotter it starts to break down and lose those optimum flavor components".
You get the idea right?
What do you think about this? Does it make sense?
I get the sense that maybe you don't really hate when customers make custom requests but just wanted to see what other barista's think maybe?
Cash,
You missed Bry's and my point on this one. I know Bry personally that is how I know you missed his point by a mile. I'm not sure where you came into this discussion but both Bry and I have said pretty much what you covered one more time. with your long post. *$'s does not train there Barista's steam there milk 30 degrees under 170 or say well below 140 or so. This I believe is what Bry is saying. Nothing about good customer service. That is another topic. There is an "accepted temp" to steam milk in this industry. *$'s knows this, and I'm pretty sure you know this point too.
It is easy to get confused with these threads if you have not followed it from the beginning and or you do not know the person making statements here.
Sincerely,
Joseph

Cash Reynolds said:
No. When i'm behind the bar serving customer's, it's all about crafting our coffee's and espresso's custom just like the customer likes it whether it be "extra hot", "tepid", "extra foamy", or a little hemp milk added to the rice milk before aerating. I've never understood barista's not wanting to give this kind of service to their guest's. It's a service business & a service job so if you don't enjoy giving your guest's basic service, if you're not stoked and excited to give your guests great, customized, personalized service then you might be happier in another position or profession.
If it's the quality of the drink you're concerned with then just communicate with your customer, "Have you always liked your latte extra hot?", "Why?", "The reason I ask is because milk reaches its sweetest point at blah-blah degree's and any hotter it starts to break down and lose those optimum flavor components".
You get the idea right?
What do you think about this? Does it make sense?
I get the sense that maybe you don't really hate when customers make custom requests but just wanted to see what other barista's think maybe?
What I really hate is when cafes don't calibrate the thermometers they use or train with, or check them for accuracy regularly, or calibrate them correctly.
Brady,
Help me on this one. I know this to be true so I have never known which to use. I have a digital Fisher Scientific thermometer I purchased when taking the Gold Cup Certification. Would this thermometer suffice for calibration of the simple dial type that we use most of the time? Can you describe your calibration procedure for me?
Joe

Brady said:
What I really hate is when cafes don't calibrate the thermometers they use or train with, or check them for accuracy regularly, or calibrate them correctly.
Steve said:
Try living in Arizona where its 114 right now and the customer wants it extra hot.........

Just hold it outside the drive-through window for twenty seconds when you're done steaming it!

Joseph Robertson said:
Can you describe your calibration procedure for me?


You could freeze some ice, crush it up, and add just enough water to create a slush, and adjust the gauge to read 0C or 32F. Use as pure a water as you can get.
Then boil that same water and use the smallest container that you an get it to boil in. Once it's boiling. cover it to trap the steam, and wait for the steam to displace the air under the lid. Adjust the gauge to read what passes for boiling point in your neighborhood (altitude adjusted). Somewhere in there you should bet fairly accurate results.
I prefer the feel method myself. If it isn't hot enough that the steaming pitcher is uncomfortable to hold, it isn't hot enough. If it's too hot to touch, it's too hot to drink, as a general rule of thumb.

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