Don Senneville and Jim White
We have received numerous recommendations for affogatos as a result of our last article, but no funding. The following are our experiences in the establishments that offer this digestif. After Don’s extensive research into the meaning of affogato, he concludes that it means “drowned ice cream”. With our grandchildren we go to explore this phenomenon. They wanted to go to Cherry On Top and Dairy Queen which stimulated a discussion as to the meaning of ice cream. We concluded that yogurt and Dairy Queen are not really ice cream and therefore do not qualify.
Off we go to LIttle Snitch, That’s Amore Gelato, Pizzicata, and our favorite, the Creperie, all of which serve official affogatos. The kids, looking perturbed, asked why we would put coffee on top of good ice cream? We replied, “You all put stuff on ice cream”. This is just a way to bridge the generational gap and find common ground between sugar sprinkles and espresso. Then Don went off on a minor rant about red dye #4, like what makes cherries so red, and so on? Everyone just looked at him. We offered the kids a taste of our affogatos. They refused. We gave up and decided to let them review local real ice cream shops: the Creamery in Cave Creek and Handel’s next to AJ’s. Both tied for 1st place. Ok, we are done with affogatos! Ice cream rules. So does orange sherbet!
Back to coffee. Just coffee, without drowning ice cream. Sitting in our usual spot at the Village Coffee Shop and Creperie, we reminisced about our past articles summarizing the effect of coffee in Western European and American culture. Coffee was revolutionary, fueled revolutions, and carried that ‘force’ through the centuries and recent decades in the United States. We paused to note a recent article (in that magazine we all get in our mailboxes each month) with the heading “From Cup to Culture”.
Well-written, the article puts forth the English Rose Tea Room’s perspective on tea, making the case for the revolutionary effect of tea on the development of culture, world-wide and here at home. Nice work. Don got over his initial bout of apoplexy and suggested that what we may need to do is expand our thinking. Or not. Nowadays, though, we may want to add the concept of evolution to our thinking about coffee, coffee shops, and revolution. For example, in addition to a plethora of coffee drinks, Starbucks has lots of tea and tea drinks on their menu. Matcha, you betcha (Japanese green tea). Restaurants have long offered both coffee and tea on their menus. The Creperie has tea on the menu. And so on.
Speaking of evolution, have we become so bored with regular Joe that we now must incorporate foam art, horticulture, and who knows what all into coffee. A case in point can be found in the report circulating about a bright young person who started a version of a coffee shop that incorporates flowers, and flower arranging, as part of the experience in his shop. He calls his coffee shops “Stemistry”.
OK. But seriously? They have a ‘flower bar’ where customers can make flower bouquets and take them home. The idea, he says, is to increase “coming together…celebrating a special moment…a hub for connection and creativity” (City Sun Times). So, like wi-fi, or a pool table in a bar, maybe. A popular order there is called the “Rose Latte” (sounds like an old girlfriend). Rose syrup, rose petals on top. Really?
If you don’t like flowers or ice cream or olive oil in your coffee, please offer your support to Don and Jim at The CUP, [email protected].
