The cappuccino and it’s fall from grace
Been to Italy lately? This might come off harsh, but I’m about living in reality. You might notice something different when you try to order a latte. Yeahhh, that’s just a glass of milk they brought you. After having the “Oh shit, duh, I’m in Italy” moment, “Cappuccino per favore!!” Then the anticipation sets in; you’re excited to watch the barista get to it and perform their magic. And then behold! A lack luster cup of cloudy foamy milk, with a tiny little dark dot of espresso just poking through the foam is set before you. Hmmm, this isn’t exactly the artful complex flavorful drink one might imagine. Hurts to say it, but if you aren’t in a specialty coffee shop, this is the reality in your “typical” Italian coffee bar.
Rewind to 1983. Once upon a time there was an American touring Milan by the name of Howard Schultz. Schultz was infatuated with the Italian coffee culture and left the country with the concept stuck in his head: espresso, caffe latte, cappuccino, caffe americano. Schultz was infatuated with the grab-and-go concept at the stand up bar, as well as the sit and socialize pastime these coffee bars possessed. Schultz would return and open his first cafe “Il Giornale” which would be the introduction of the Italian coffee bar concept to the American market, but with an Americanized twist. A year later, when the opportunity presented itself, Schultz would go on to purchase Starbucks, and the rest is history.
Looking under the hood
The commercial market has its constraints on quality without a doubt because the primary focus is always profit margins and to keep up with the consistency to deliver repeatedly, the drinks identifiable to that brand. Needless to say, there is almost no distinguishable difference between a cappuccino and a latte inside a “chain” coffee shop and for a long period of time, any coffee shop for that matter. Both drinks possess almost identical characteristics which gained the chain coffee shops popularity in the first place. It ultimately indirectly converged the identity of these two drinks. To my perception it seems either the chain coffee companies assumed the consumer didn’t know any better because it was a novelty or didn’t give a shit because money was being made hand-over-fist regardless and they were too busy scaling. Another possible reason maybe there was no apparent or effective solution of communicating the difference between these two drinks at the time. Social media and the Instagrams of the world didn’t exist yet.
Kicking it up a notch
Fast Forward to 2002, the coined “third wave” was mentioned, introducing an inner aficionado sub-coffee culture. A movement devoted to coffee quality and emphasizing more focus on the beans from the source and the farmers who pick them. Coffee was now starting to be compared to wine and it’s flavor attributes. As a result, an infrastructure was introduced. A quality point system was put in place for quality certification measures, combined with transparency into coffee processing methods, sustainability, roasting methods, and barista training systems. It would rock the coffee landscape and change the market as we knew it. Even though The Specialty Coffee Association was founded in 1982, It wouldn’t be until around 2007–2008 that specialty coffee would really grab hold and fortify its stance in the American coffee market. With quality guidelines in check and healthy collaborations of groups including, The Specialty Coffee Association Of America, Coffee Quality Institute, and The Specialty Coffee Association Of Europe, the bar was set high. The Barista Guild and Roaster Guild were introduced to overlook quality and standards in their respected fields. The guilds allowed for a more hands-on approach by offering an array of professional and expert training courses to roasters and baristas in search of expanding their skill sets.
The expansion of specialty coffee and its quality standards now stretches its reach to every corner of the globe. A cappuccino in Italy, a flat white in Australia, café au lait in France, and a latte in America; we all have our own identity and spin of what we think these drinks should be in our countries. As to why the “Latte” has taken the pole position of the new specialty market standard and become the word most commonly translatable to resemble the Italian cappuccino and all its spin offs. In my opinion, the cappuccino has already begun to fizzle out of the market. A large part has to give credit to the commercial market for its attempt to recreate a version of the cappuccino. The new tier of roasters and baristas just came along, perfected it and made it badass while also utilizing its strengths to educate its customers. The specialty coffee industry above all, lends the most in-depth look and transparency into standards, practices, and quality with consistency. The vast majority of specialty cafes throughout the entire world all have the same commonalities: consistency in menu vocabulary and most importantly, core values and high quality sourced offerings. There is a sense of trust that has been gained over time, a consistent demonstration of improvement, and dialogue with specialty coffee customers and it’s community to improving quality with every drink. The wide array of flavors achievable due to the sourcing and common roasting/brewing methods can clearly assure you a different but consistently good latte in the majority of specialty cafes. So next time you’re standing at the counter to order your next latte, think about how many heated debates and arguments in many different languages that beautiful artsy tasty beverage had to go through in order to gain it’s ranks as one of the most commonly ordered drinks in a cafe.
