I drank 5 cups of coffee today, 2 yesterday, and 5 more the day before… Yeah, not your typical coffee drinker. But also because I love coffee for its taste, and not necessarily for the caffeine.

About Me

Hello World. The Coffee world. I’m Angus, 22M, living life as a university student, and a coffee enjoyer. Some people have hobbies, and mine happens to be coffee ever since I started regular-ing at a cafe just under a year ago. All that is to say, I barely know what I’m doing, but I do know which cups have been special, and all the connections I’ve made from Toronto’s coffee culture that has changed my life for good.

Just like how coffee makes someone’s morning better, I hope this blog makes the start of your week better. That’s why I will be posting every Sunday, so this blog can inspire you throughout the week, or maybe get you to appreciate your cup(s) of coffee just a little more.

There’s a few things I want to achieve with this newsletter/blog:

• Demystifying ordering a coffee
• Connecting people through coffee
• And whatever I think is cool…

You know what’s cool? the Cortado!

This is my go-to espresso drink. You’re probably familiar with a latte, or a cappuccino (are they even different? yes), or an espresso. All these drinks usually start with a double shot of espresso, but they differ in the ratio of espresso to steamed milk: from the smallest drink the espresso (1.5oz*) with no milk, to the largest drink the latte (8oz).

*please bear with me here, coffee people usually use grams, but for simplicity, I’m going to use fluid ounces.

The Cortado is a 4oz drink with approximately equal parts espresso and steamed milk. That’s why it’s my favourite, you get the bold flavours of the espresso as well as the silky smooth milk. And as a lactose-intolerant person, it also helps with keeping down the lactose so I can go about my day worry-free :P

It takes a lot of skill to dial in the espresso to accentuate certain flavours (“tasting notes”), and it also takes skill to texture the milk, so it’s nice and smooth and not too hot (if it’s uncomfortable sipping your coffee, it’s too hot). As a cafe-hopper who loves trying out new places, this is also why I get the cortado to see if a cafe cares about their craft.

This drink has gained popularity among the specialty coffee scene because it showcases the best of the coffee while still giving you that gentle hug. So you should give it a try, if you haven’t already. It’s not always on the menu outside of cafes in the city, but they’re popular enough that it’s not a rare occurrence.

Now what’s not cool? the Starbucks “Cortado”

This past week, Starbucks have entered the cortado scene, and decided to toss out the window everything I just described above.

The Starbucks Cortado is served in their short cup (8oz), with three ristretto shots, and velvety steamed milk according to their press material.

The cortado on the new Starbucks menu.

To break this down for you, compared to regular espresso shots, ristretto shots (translates to “restricted” from Italian) are sweeter and smaller in volume. The volume of 3 Starbucks ristretto shots equals that of 2 Starbucks regular shots.

Here comes the first issue, why is it 8oz? In a regular cafe, this “cortado” of theirs would qualify as a latte. That means you’re not getting the strength of espresso as one would expect from a cortado. The bigger issue to me is that it ruins the general masses’ perception of what a cortado is with their new definition.

If you know a barista, they would know the situation with customers ordering a macchiato expecting a “Starbucks macchiato”, where the corporate counterpart is served in an 8oz cup instead of the traditional 2oz espresso cup, making it a completely different drink with the same name.

And it looks like Starbucks is looking to repeat history, to make the lives of every non-Starbucks barista’s lives more difficult, and introducing more confusion for the average coffee drinker.

The other issue? it’s CAD $4.45. To the average starbucks coffee drinker accustomed to their 12oz+ cups, it’s a small drink for what they’re used to paying for. Some Starbucks customs have already been upset, just take a look at this post from r/starbucks

Why bother with accidentally upsetting Starbucks drinkers and the rest of the coffee world?

My Experience

It wouldn’t be fair to criticize their drink without trying it, so I did. Unfortunately my cup seems to be an outlier in terms of quality compared to what I’ve been seeing online. The milk was oversteamed, almost forming stiff peaks, but at least the drink was not bitter. It’s a new drink so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

As a cortado drinker, it disappoints me that for many people this would be their first exposure to my beloved drink.

A photo of the cortado I received.

The Bright Side

If you’re a latte enjoyer who doesn’t have access to a local cafe and there’s only a Starbucks around, you can now order the Starbucks Cortado, it’ll be the strength of a latte you expected (albeit the milk wont be steamed so well) and it’ll save you money.

And if you’re a Starbucks fan and the new Starbucks Cortado has gotten you hooked onto smaller stronger espresso milk drinks, I highly encourage you to walk into any local cafe to order a latte, then working your way down to a Real Cortado. Not only will you be supporting a local business, but you’ll also get a better cup for around the same price, plus you might make a new friend or two :)