In my future posts tagged ‘coffee’ I will write opinions on the espressos and cappuccinos I enjoy at various coffee houses. Visiting some two coffee houses every week, I noticed that I soon failed to distinguish which coffee houses were among the best and which were not quite there. To finally put an end to repetitive mishaps, I decided to write my findings down, so a quick look in my ratings book would show where I can go, and most importantly, which places to avoid.
Although I have decided to put everything I write down online, for everyone to read, one must always consider the fact that my reviews, if one can call it that, are mainly written for myself. Therefore, they reflect my personal opinion towards the ambiance of a coffee bar and my personal taste of how coffee or a cappuccino should taste like. What I’m looking for in the perfect coffee bar would be a sincerely friendly attitude, with attention for each individual customer, preferably with modern surroundings. My perfect cappuccino would be a powerful one, with the milk emphasizing, rather than concealing the taste of the coffee. Although I like to think my opinion at least somewhat reflects an objective view to quality, if one’s opinion about a good coffee differs too much from mine, one might disagree with my findings. That’s okay, but, considering I’m writhing this down mainly for myself, I will not fend and prove my comments. They’re to take as they are.
In order to add some objectivity to my subjectivity I will attempt to standardize my ratings. First off, we’ll have to take into consideration that I intend to visit quality coffee houses. Hence, any rating qualifies as ‘decent enough coffee’. If a place is to be avoided, it will not get any rating at all. Those coffee houses that qualify for a rating, will be rated coffee cups, rather than stars. Until I’ve found the appropriate imagery however, stars will be used. The amount of coffee cups can be read as follows.
Coffee rating:
Avoid. Whatever they’re selling, does not qualify as either cappuccino or espresso. Even when in desperate need of a caffeine shot, there are other solutions!
Coffee rating:
This is okay. Nothing more, but okay. Suitable if nothing better’s around. No sour, milky, watery or otherwise ‘off’ tastes.
Coffee rating: This is where the hand of a barista is necessary. A cappuccino will have to come with a decent milk foam, without large bubbles, and certainly not under- or overheated, whereas an espresso has a nice layer of crema.
Coffee rating: This is microfoam territory. Any barista pulling shots for a living can be proud of a 3-cup rating. A bad choice of beans or some cocoa on top of the foam and an otherwise perfect cappuccino will not make a 3-cup rating.
Coffee rating: Excellent. This is what a professional barista should aim for. A cappuccino topped with microfoam, the espresso being emphasized by the milk. A 4-cup rating is what would have me traveling for hours to enjoy.
Although I am rating coffee, not the staff, the coffee house itself or whatsoever, the general atmosphere can influence my rating. When I can’t decide between, say, rating a coffee 2 or 3 cups, staff treating me badly may get the rating down to 2 cups. To me, the way I’m treated and thus the way I feel does interfere with the coffee’s taste as I cannot enjoy a coffee when I’m not feeling at ease. Most of the non-coffee thoughts will, however, just be in the form of remarks, rather than rating it.
On a final note, I hope you will enjoy my coffee-related blogs in general and my ‘coffee house reviews’ especially. Feel free to contact me with tips for new coffee houses, or voice your opinion, as, although I’ve said my reviews are to take as they are, that does not mean I enjoy hearing other’s opinions. I just like to stress that your opinion does not necessarily reflect my opinion.
A while ago, I had to leave what had been my home for over five years more or less overnight. Left with no choice, I decided to accept the offer of both my parents and my girlfriend, to stay at their place. Neither was enjoyable, though. Whereas my parents have a house with a sufficient amount of space for me, it’s a 1.5 hour ride to university. My work place was only a 15-minute bus ride or 30-minute bike ride away, but with buses not running after 7 pm, while shifts last until 10 pm and the summer making way for fall, neither was an alternative. My girlfriend, although living in a place with better public transport connections lives in a student room of approximately fourteen square meter. That’s okay if you’re a student living alone. With the two of us, the room seemed to become smaller by the day. Still, I spent five out of seven days with her and we still didn’t get into any fights, at all!
The best part of my time was then spent finding a place of my own. Desperate to find a room as soon as possible, I didn’t limit my search to Amsterdam, where I study, but broadened my search to include places nearby, up to an hour away by public transport: Utrecht, Amstelveen, Zaandam, Hilversum. Luckily the company where I work has branches throughout the country, and getting transferred to a different branch shouldn’t be a problem; in fact, they’ve expressed a wish to transfer me elsewhere before. When I still hadn’t find something after a month, I decided to look into housing in Almere as well. Not known as a welcoming city, I had never thought my search in Almere to be either serious or successful.
As irony had its way, it was Almere which offered me a serious chance on a place of my own. At 460 euros all inclusive, I’d have 25 square meters of my own, a huge shared living room and all facilities shared. At just 5 minutes walking of the main train station. To call it mine I’d just have to be the first to let the landlord know. As I was the first person to look, and the only one that day, I seized the opportunity and confirmed the deal the next morning. Within a few weeks, I would be able to put an end to weeks of ’staying over’ and ‘visiting my parents’ and go home again. Although I was still not looking forward to living in Almere, the thought I could be in Amsterdam’s city centre in under half an hour, including the walk to the train station, convinced me Almere wasn’t that bad, to live for a few years. Journey time was even less than from Amsterdam’s outer boroughs to the city centre.
With the move I was set back from living on my own for five years to sharing all facilities with a phenomenon that’s new to me: housemates. I’ve lived with my parents, on my own and together with my (now ex-) girlfriend, but this was a first. Although I was a little afraid it would be disastrous, it turned out not to be so bad at all. Sure, I get along better with some of the housemates than some of the others, but as I’m able to retreat to my own room, I still did not have any issues with any of them.
There’s Q and R*. I feel I connect best with the two of them. Listening to metal they’re the most alternative of the lot. And regardless of whether one’s a result of the other, they’re crazy, outgoing. Not pretentious. The only thing they do truly care about, is showing others they love each other. Besides, love and joy is the only thing they seem to need in their lives. Q’s working in a game shop and, although the pay’s bad, finds joy from his job, everyday.
W and D* are a completely different story. Instead of metal, it’s hardcore, or perhaps other sorts of similar music that rocks their boat. In sheer contrast to my expectations of most of the people listening to such music, W works at an opera house, working on all kinds of decorations. D* is still a student, while working a few hours a day at a local supermarket. Perhaps the fact W works at the opera house shows these two are more aware of the world beyond their music, as I generally tend to expect from hardcore-fans. Although I find myself struggling to get on with what I was doing when I get involved in a conversation with W, they are friendly people.
Due to his harsh Amsterdam accent, I found it hard to talk to J at first, but a few weeks later, he doesn’t seem so bad either. Listening to largely the same music as do W and D*, his oddity is his love for fish. With a large quarantine aquarium to grow new fish in the shared living room and an even larger display aquarium in his own room, fish truly are his ‘thing’. What certainly improved my thoughts on him was him asking if he could try one of my coffees, after hearing me getting on with grinding beans, frothing milk and such. I still haven’t gotten around to making him one, though.
Lastly, there’s P, whom only recently moved in to the house. As far as I know, he hasn’t yet spent the night here, but has been working on getting his furniture in and set up over the past weekend. He’s moved to Almere from the east of the country so seeing his girlfriend whom lives in Almere is easier.
All in all, I’m not living in an ordinary student house. Not only do people actually clean – more or less. Most of my housemates aren’t students anymore, but instead are working. The reason they’re renting a small room in a house differs, but we all, myself included, seem to be there until something better comes along, as affordable living space is hard to come by, waiting time for social housing starts at five years and money is hard to come by.
For a few weeks now, Europe has been covered in snow, both disrupting the life of many and bringing joy to as many others. For me, the snow has for the most part brought joy. The world just seems to be a more peaceful place when it’s covered in a layer of white. There have, however, been a few times where my plans had to be changed due to the weather conditions.
On Thursday, December 17, snow put a hold to the entire country within a few hours. As around 10 centimeters of snow fell within a few hours, traffic came to a halt. Trains stopped running due to points becoming inoperable by snow jamming moving parts. Road traffic experienced delays as the roads became slippery. My colleagues started worrying whether I’d make it to work, but my train was one of the last still running, albeit a few minutes delayed. Soon a lot of people trying to get home got stuck at Utrecht’s train station. And everyone got hungry or thirsty eventually, which meant that, on one of my first shifts, conditions were far from normal. The store and the rest of the station was full of people, whilst queues at the register were as long as queues could be. In a way, this made my shift fairly easy: put everyone behind their register and be as fast as you can. To avoid getting stuck along the way myself, I slept at my girlfriend’s that night, who lives in Utrecht. With city buses running normally, I didn’t experience any delays.
The week after, I was forced to cancel two appointments. The first, dinner with a friend, was cancelled out of fear of not getting home afterwards. With snow still falling, the railway company advised people not to travel if possible, as they were unable to guarantee arrival at your destination. I had to cancel the other appointment, my little nephew’s birthday party, as I had hardly slept the night before when I couldn’t get home after work. With an emergency timetable in effect, the last connection from Utrecht to Almere got cancelled without an alternative. To avoid getting stuck somewhere along the route, I decided to walk to my girlfriend’s house and sleep there, even though she was staying at my place. After three hours of sleep I walked back, carefully making my way through deep snow and over icey roads, to the train station and got home with two additional changes and 30 minutes additional journey time on a direct, 40 minute train ride. I didn’t think I’d live through another twice 2-hour train journey and a screaming 5-year-old nephew that day.
Instead of going to the dinner I decided to go outside and enjoy the snow while it lasted. As trains were running according to an emergency timetable, with just two all-stations services on every line, and many additional changes necessary, I opted for the bus which would take me directly to Hilversum as I noticed all buses to be running. After forty minutes of waiting on a bus that should run every 30 minutes, it seemed my bus line was the only one not running due to snowy conditions, which then forced me to hop on a train after all. Instead of the woods near Hilversum, I got out of the train at Baarn, thereby avoiding an additional change of trains. After I had called Hecubah to meet me at Baarn rather than Hilversum, I walked into the snow-covered woods, something that’s rarely to be seen in the Netherlands in recent years. I was glad I was wearing army-style boots, as sneakers would have resulted in wet and cold feet within minutes. After walking around for half an hour, Hecubah called she had arrived at the train station. We met up at restaurant De Generaal for a hot drink, as we would have missed our twice hourly train by a few minutes anyway.
After nearly a week of heavy snowfall, it seemed that people had gotten used to the chaos that resulted of it. Less people were passing through Utrecht’s main station and those who did were calm, even though only one in four trains was running. After a week of very limited train service and an advice not to travel whenever possible, most of the trains were finally reinstated, but still, a month on, not all trains are running. Although I’m sure the past month has not been economically good for the country, I can say I absolutely loved the snow, the change of scenery and wouldn’t mind some more snow in the months to come!
In the years past, it has become a ritual time after time again. The night before we leave for a trip abroad, we sleep in late to get things cleaned up, and get up early to catch one of the first trains of the day, thereby ensuring an early arrival at our destination.
Yesterday should’ve been an exception to that. The house already was reasonably clean, I didn’t have to go to work the week before, and on top of that, the trip only lasts three days. But I suppose a ritual cannot be easily broken. The final packing and the last bits of cleaning were postponed, and postponed again. We had our minds set at getting into bed at 10 pm, allowing a massive seven hours of sleep.
Instead, I was really busy cleaning at 10 pm, and still had to clean the bathroom, get some loose stuff off the floor to avoid kitty puke on it upon our return. Still, we managed to tear our ritual apart a little further. Although we were about an hour and half behind on our desired schedule, we managed to get in bed before midnight. And that, actually, was a first. A welcome change from falling asleep at two, and being woken by an alarm at four.
In order to add some objectivity to my subjectivity I will attempt to standardize my ratings. First off, we’ll have to take into consideration that I intend to visit quality coffee houses. Hence, any rating qualifies as ‘decent enough coffee’. If a place is to be avoided, it will not get any rating at all. Those coffee houses that qualify for a rating, will be rated coffee cups, rather than stars. Until I’ve found the appropriate imagery however, stars will be used. The amount of coffee cups can be read as follows.
