Not to be ignorant but...what IS the point? So many people get unbelievably peevish about foam on their lattes and I have to wonder why it even matters - is it the texture that puts people off? The idea that they might be missing out on an extra sip's worth of latte? TELL ME WHY FOAM IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH FOR THESE HIGH-MAINTENANCE BLOWHARDS.
The Point of No Foam?
(68 posts) (40 voices)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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I DO NOT UNDERSTAND EITHER SOMEONE SHOW ME THE LIGHT.
no but really. i don't get it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
These customers think they're getting jipped by receiving a $4.30 drink that's 1/4 foam.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Yeah. Same as the vast majority of people can't tell if their capp is wet or dry.
I've had some that get one and give you that "this isn't what comes from wawa and I paid 3 times the price" look.
It's no big deal. Some people like to make little things a big deal, especially if their wives are nasty as hell to them or they're their boss's pee-on. This is their chance to have control, and ****! they're gonna have it!
Posted 1 year ago # -
no foam people irritate me. why exactly are you paying $5 if you don't want foam? it's not for the quality espresso... if you don't want foam, go pay a dollar for the gas station cappuccino machine crap.
i love making nice foam and i love drinking nice foam... and since starbucks baristas no longer have anything to do with really pulling shots other than pressing a button, making good foam seems like the ONLY thing separating our drinks from the mclatte, etc anymore.
Posted 1 year ago # -
**** if I know. Some people just like warm espresso-flavored milk, I guess.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hahaha ventay! Yeah.... My old cafe used to have a machine where we had to grind, tamp and pull shots. Training at sb now, I just look and poke. My trainer is saying I need to be able to multi task, and I'm thinking: you have no idea. I just need to know where things are (I'm clueless now).
Give me time. I used to be able to draw out shots while ringing up customers and upselling drinks, with meringue whipping in the back and knowing that the almonds needs to grind for another 5 seconds. Bake, make drinks, ring up customers, do orders, and clean all by yourself.
Clover, I think most people just want that cup with the mermaid. They don't care what's in it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
i assume it's because they hate us. if the customer is nice i assume they don't like foam.
Posted 1 year ago # -
It's the extra hot soy no foam people that hate us.
Posted 1 year ago # -
venti soy extra hot no foam!
Posted 1 year ago # -
yes, i'm a "venti soy no foam" person.
let me enlighten you... most baristas aren't properly trained how to steam soy milk. yes, it's steamed the same way as regular milk. but soy milk gets extra extra foamy. so when you pour it right away, you're pouring all foam. you have to let it sit a minute to let the foam seperate. if baristas did this like they are supposed to, i wouldn't have to have for it with no foam. [fyi, even when i order no foam, they still do a **** job].
i've gotten lattes where it's so light, it feels like i ordered a short cup. i've gotten to my office [without taking a sip of my drink] and there has been already 3 inches of my drink missing because all of the foam "melted" away. it sucks i've had to get used to keeping extra soy milk at my office just to fill up the cup to the top.
Posted 1 year ago # -
stfu nobody cares^
Posted 1 year ago # -
no no, i'm aware of how to make soy no foam. i let the soy sit & separate, even bang the pitcher lightly on the counter sometimes so the air rises quicker. but if it's venti, there's not a lot of extra room to pour more so there's more soy, right? so if it doesn't get filled up, that's more soy to steam & let separate. in my experience, when done perfectly it takes more time than it should, which is a problem when it's busy. if there's a line out the door & another around the building, i don't feel terribly bad about a thin layer of foam.
typically i make soy no-foams like a cappuccino, starting the shots after the milk is done so it has time to separate.
Posted 1 year ago # -
theoneyoulovetohatexo,
I'm curious as to just how exactly you "know" what baristas are and aren't properly trained to do.
Posted 1 year ago # -
theoneyoulovetohatexo, the way we are actually trained (and yes, it's proper training) won't allow for the milk to sit long enough to let it separate. BRR says that the milk should be done steaming just in time to get it into the cup for the shots. So, instead of aerating it and waiting for it to separate, I just don't and that's the only way you're getting no foam.
Posted 1 year ago # -
exactly what stagworks said. at that point, it's a fuxking waste of milk. really, you want us to steam two pitchers just so your prissy a.ss can have what you think is more for your money? i understand talls, but refuse to accept that bullshxt excuse for ventis.
and lol most people who think they even know what a cappuccino is don't. i had some girl today complain that hers was too wet because it was half milk, half foam. she thought all the nice creamy true foam i'd taken the time to make wasn't actually foam (and i guess she was used to crappy sudsy foam), because she wanted her drink bone dry (but hadn't ordered it that way).
moral of the story, no one understands or knows what they want.
Posted 1 year ago # -
The other day this man didn't even want bubbles in his drink. **** my life.
Posted 1 year ago # -
What I think is that our customers have been conditioned to expect bad foam.
I watch my coworkers who do things properly, who have worked for Starbucks for years... and their foam... just sucks. They aerate for a few seconds... then go start another drink or whatever, and don't even glance at their milk. They don't know what's going on in that pitcher. Then they hold it back with a spoon, and plop some yucky looking foam on top. Viola!
Really, it's no wonder that some of the customers have opted out. Starbucks foam is gross. And why I was never a Starbucks customer.
So... if you don't want bubbly soy foam... I suggest you GTFO. That's just how we roll. That's Starbucks. Find somewhere else. Until then... enjoy your decaf venti soy no foam latte. :D (I decaf everyone who orders these drinks.)
Or... you could heat some of that soy milk up in the microwave. Same effect. There's your no foam. Just go order some nasty burnt espresso shots from Starbucks and take it back to your office. Yeah, the shots will be cold... but... you probably always drink dead shots anyway, asking for a venti soy no foam latte.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Get it iced? Or, since there's a microwave at work, ask for them to make a soy latte and not to heat the milk. Just pour it into the cup on top of the shots.
Coffeebeanisbetter: don't be rude. Come on. I don't see why there has to be a full 3" of foam on top if you specify no foam.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Don't aerate. Make that soy scream. Recoil from the espresso machine and continue to wince while staring accusingly at the no-foamer inspecting your workspace from just two feet away.
Milk is hot. Set down the pitcher. Pick it up and bang it. Begin preparing next drink.
Just as you set down your pitcher, wait for the inevitable, "Um, why is my drink taking so long?" from across the counter.
Pour. Scoop off bubbles. Pour more. Scoop. Bang spoon against sink.
Hand off drink. "Um, I wanted it full.... to the brim..."
Scoop off crema. Pour. Re-hand off drink. Watch it spill as the customer attempts to lift 21 oz of deadweight liquid while placing a lid and double-sleeving the already sleeved cup.
Your work here is done. Now go make a VBF with xxxxwc and xxxxxcr.
Posted 1 year ago # -
the above post has made my day. perhaps tomorrow i'll go forth (onward) with this type of narration in my head.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I believe theoneyoulovetohatexo is an ex-partner. But still, you cannot generalize all baristas as lacking the proper training to make a soy no foam drink. We are taught to pour the steamed milk almost immediately in order to continue the beverage repeatable routine. Your S NF drink is not the only one we need to make, you know? And steamed milk settles/separates after sitting past 10 seconds, so we instinctively use it before then.
I don't know how your local Starbucks stores do it, but I was properly trained in NYC. If you kindly [keyword] request your steamed soy milk to sit for a minute, then I'd oblige you... as a barista for a customer.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I was taught on how to do it but i have often either dont let the foam separate for a second & just pour & slap my face about it when i notice. My usual instinct is to aerate the milk less & give it a quick second to do its thing & slowly pour out the goods in the cup. Works every time for no foam. Only no foam drink i clearly hate is a GRTL may it be soy or regular milk.
Posted 1 year ago # -
a woman came in and ordered no foam yesterday. she seemed pretty nice, and i didn't have any drinks after hers, so i started a conversation with her while i was making her drink. i've wanted to start asking no foam people just...WHY. so i did. and she really couldn't give me a straight answer. she was like "well otherwise i don't think it's that hot because foam isn't that hot and i burn my tongue. and like, i just want more like...latte." i'm getting the feeling most no foam people don't even understand what they're asking, and only do it to seem cool or hip.
Posted 1 year ago # -
At my store, the only advice I've been given was to steam more milk and only aerate for like a second. I discovered the letting it sit thing accidently and then Ive seen that echoed a lot here but nobody at my store does this..
I don't really care about no foam in general I just care when people go psycho about every speck of bubble ever. Like that nanodrop of latte you're missing out on reallyyyyy does not matter, and theres no way you would even notice that speck of foam in your mouth...
Posted 1 year ago # -
I never understood the no foam freak outs like a 2 yr old whos mom wouldnt buy them a candy bar. I had this insane couple that ordered TWO venti whole milk 190 degree NO foam lattes. And i mean zero zilch nada foam. If there were bubbles....flip out, call my SM, complain the next time they came in, demand recovery certificates, ect. It was so rediculous and i still dont get what the big deal is with these idiots. So my SM got so sick of them so she explained how it can be difficult to steam milk to such a hot temp and have it not foam. So we told them they had to wait a few extra mins when they come in so we could allow the foam to separate. blah blah blah. They understood but would still flip if there was a few bubbles.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Once upon a day, I had a woman tell me that foam gave her diarrhea. LOL
Most Starbucks baristas suck and can't make many drinks right and no one cares. Profit. The end. :P
Posted 1 year ago # -
we have a customer who orders a venti absolutely no foam 185 degree filled to the rim latte too. Glad she doesn't mind the wait, she has this whole routine where she would pass me the lid over the counter and we'd put the lid and stopper on for her so that we don't burn ourselves and her at handoff... I don't mind these types of customers who know what they're in for.
i second that people don't really know what they are ordering, our SM told us that on their tour to Stores in Europe for an exchange training experience, it is mandatory that baristas over there have to do latte art on every cup (except no foam of course), so we tried that out at our store just for fun, doing the simple heart, and we had a guy who asks where's the foam after I did a big heart on the free pour latte and I explained, it is in the milk otherwise i wouldn't have been able to make a design with the microfoam, then he was like...oh..Normally i get more foam than this. I was like, that is coagulated foam. if you wait long enough the foam will settle in ur latte too =__= (if u feel the weight of the cup, it is probably a little lighter than usual)
Posted 1 year ago # -
I think customers mostly no-foam because they think without foam, their drink will magically increase in volume...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Well, technically it does... by like 5%
Posted 1 year ago #
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