supersimbo.com

This morning I ordered an Americano – that’s a single or double-shot of espresso combined with between 1 and 16 fluid ounces (30 – 470ml) of hot water – to be precise.

In some places I get a “long black” but most of the “baristas” (i use the term loosely) I regularly encounter wouldn’t know the difference and don’t realise what they are doing. I watched closely and today was one of those days, buts that ok.

I ordered my “Americano” and as I fumbled for the exact money the friendly assistant said “for 30 pence less you could get a filter coffee and its exactly the same as an Americano.”

Whoa!! What the chuff? I have to say, this threatened to ruin my day a wee bit. Such a lie, probably unintentional and due to the assistant being cheery and friendly I found myself being quite forgiving, but seriously………….I mean……………..C’MON!!

Drip/filter is different from french press which is different from Americano and so on and so forth – frankly, I expect you to know this otherwise I need to question your ability to make me good coffee!

So I ordered an Americano, got offered a Filter coffee (yuck) which I refused and actually ended up with a Long Black! sigh!

Having said that, it was great coffee and I was shaking mildly by the time I’d finished it – mission accomplished!

P.s – if you call an “Espresso” an “EXpresso” I will have no choice but to kill you with a moka pot!

When in belfast i usually need to get a coffee from Clements! Its just because the coffee is great, thats all!

Is it just me though, or is the service in pretty much every coffee shop in our land getting worse? Clements was slow and not fantastically friendly. Don’t get me wrong here, i do NOT need the staff to be in my face with smiles & sickening conversation but a bit of enthusiasm always goes a long way.

Good coffee is worth waiting for i suppose!

I can’t quite understand why there are always 2 or 3 other members of staff just hanging around, not really doing anything. Perhaps they are like a sales assistant in a clothing shop, waiting to pounce when you run out of milk? I doubt it, the dead lice were dropping off the ‘surplus’ dudes i saw on saturday!

They could be cleaning up a bit. Cleaning themselves up perhaps! Its all goth hair & huge amounts of piercings these days, if you want to work in a cool coffee shop. I’m fine with that but it has killed any desire i may have had to return to coffee-making. I’m not piercing my face as a requirement to being a great barista! It could be a good excuse to get a tattoo though!

Anyway, enough moaning! Despite slow and less than jolly service i waited and i was not disappointed, i never am with Clements, their coffee makes up for everything else! Thats why i always go back