Paul Haine | Tales from the city

Paul Haine | Tales from the city | Food & drink

English Coffee

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So I was out and about, a stylish man-about-town, and I popped in to Pret a Manger for a quick espresso. Actually, that’s a bit redundant, isn’t it? Surely all espressos are quick espressos. Hmm.

Anyway, as I was waiting, a young woman entered and asked for a cappuccino. Before the staff could prepare it, she started asking questions about how it was going to be made, and from what. She wanted to know what sort of milk they had; was it organic, was it skimmed, semi-skimmed or full-fat, was it West Country or Jersey milk, was it fresh. There were questions about the chocolate bits they put on top, questions about the sugar, and the staff were able to answer all of them. Towards the end, the man serving her started talking about the coffee, about how it was Fair Trade and so on, but the young woman cut him off. “Oh,” she said, dismissively, “I don’t care about the coffee”.

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