Coffee Woes

Oh how I love coffee. And on top of that, I love me a caramel americano...from Avellino. Delicious, right? Oh, but the pain and suffering I have endured during my last two Avellino visits is making me second guess my beloved caramel americano.

First visit: I walk down to get some coffee with Emily for me and Jason (because I'm a nice coworker). I order two tall caramel americanos. We sit down with one of Em's friends, chatting and waiting. After about 5 min, Em has her drink, there are no more drinks coming, and the barista is in the back. I think, "Um, did they run out of caramel? Are they getting more beans? Where did they go?" So I go up to the register - no cups waiting. The cashier comes up after a couple minutes and I sheepishly say, "Oh, um, are my drinks...." but I don't even have to finish because the cashier hurriedly grabs two cups and does her prep thing...I don't even have time to notice that the caramel bucket isn't out...

So I head back to the office, two drinks in hand. It isn't until I am back in my office that I take my first drink of sweet, rich, caramel-y coffee goodness...but wait! Something is missing. There is no caramel-y goodness....it is caramel-less. I immediately run out to the front to confirm my fears - did Jason have any caramel in his? No. I can feel some slight rage coming on and I begin to rant to Jason who, after a few minutes of listening, calmly picks up the phone - "Hi, my coworker just bought two americanos from there..."

Oh no, I really didn't mean to "make waves." It's not actually a big deal. I take it back! The conversation ends with Jason giving our names to the person on the other end (I'm thinking for Avellino's unruly customer shit-list). "We have two free drinks next time," he says. Although I'm a little uncomfortable with it, I'm also a little elated. Woohoo! Free coffee! ...I just hope they don't spit in it.

Second visit: Three days later, Jason and I head down to Avellino (I made him come with me, knowing I would never have the courage to actually mention the free drinks myself). Once again, I look forward to that sweet cup of caramel-y goodness. When we're up to order, Jason mentions the freebees and orders a caramel americano. I say I'll have the same, but with EASY caramel. Now, a little history here: the past few months I've been asking for half the caramel they usually put in - and it's always met with the barista saying "ok, easy caramel." So when I'm ordering my FREE americano, I happen to say "easy caramel." I thought, hey, I know the lingo now. I'm an official Avellino regular.

After ordering, I see the barista take a giant scoop of caramel from the bucket - we're talking about double what they usually put in. I figure that must be Jason's americano and I've just been getting half as much caramel for so long that I've forgotten how much the regular amount is. I take a look at the order of the cups, however, and it's looking like the mega-caramel one is mine. Apparently to this barista, EASY caramel equals EXTRA caramel.

So I wait for my drink just to be sure, and wow, it is beyond sweeeett! Not good sweet either. I don't have the balls to turn down a free Americano, so I take it, knowing that I'm actually having my dessert for breakfast today, but thankful for free coffee nonetheless. From now on I'll stick to saying "halfthecaramelyouusuallyputinagrandeamericano."

Avellino, I still love you. Just make my coffee right next time.