Flat white is a cappuccino with slightly more coffee
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They have it at Louisa, I think it is called 澳洲拿鐵, or something similar. They serve it in a Duralex type glass, it’s the 1990s all over again.
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Black coffee with a hint of foamy milk.
. . . and less foam (hence the “flat” part).
Guy
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Well, had for the 2nd time krispy kreme iced americano. Much better than maccas, still a tad worse than 7-11 one, but one pf the best fast food coffees for me. Price is higher though, 75 NT for the medium cup. However, perfect match for doughnuts.
Earlier you had mentioned Mos Burger and Burger King as fast food coffee choices you like. Was it both, or did you have a preference?
Guy
After I tried krispy kreme again, the below applies now:
- Mos/7-11 (ex aequo)
- Krispy Kreme
- Burger King
- Maccas
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I find the 7-11 one pretty “meh”, but I guess rating is versus price?
Absolutely correct, with a higher price would be much lower. Price point is unbeatable.
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I rated 7 “meh” until they got the 濃萃 strong option.
I find with 7 that it really varies from store to store. Maybe the ones that do brisk business have fresher beans?
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What is that? Can you ask for more coffee and less water or something?
It’s on the menu! 濃萃拿鐵. It’s just a stronger latte
Oh but I do not drink latte.
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半磅 (226g) NTD280 for the house blend which they use to make their Americanos. Pretty pricey. I got one bag to try to brew at home.
I am totally done with convenient store coffee (only emergencies while on the road) and supermarket beans. Only smaller coffee shops and roasters if available. 
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Foolishly disregarding @hannes 's advice posted immediately above, I found myself wandering by my local Starbucks yesterday during one of their sales. I popped in to have a look. Lured by the sale pricing, I picked up a bag of Christmas Blend Espresso Roast, pictured below. It’s a classic three continent blend, mixing Costa Rican, unspecified “East African,” and aged Sumatran beans, promising “notes of sugar plum and smoked vanilla.” A bag retails for NT$420; I got it for 15% off.
What was I thinking? Some background may help. I’ve long been a sucker for attempting to use espresso beans with other brewing methods. I first became aware of this trick in Berkeley California, at the iconic Cheeseboard Bakery in North Berkeley, where the workers run Mr Espresso’s espresso roast through a drip machine and sell it to happy customers like me in the mornings. It’s utterly delicious. I also have memories some years ago of Starbucks running their seasonal Christmas espresso blend through their drip machines, with excellent results. With these memories in my mind, I picked up a bag of this year’s beans to experiment on my own.
So far, things are . . . not going well. Yesterday I boldly tried to brew these beans in a press, leading to a forgettable charred brew. Maybe the water I poured over the beans was too hot. Or maybe the beans simply are not very well selected or roasted.
This morning, I tried a pourover, with the results pictured above. The cup I’m having now is less bad, and getting a bit better (i.e. sweeter) as it cools down—but it’s still galaxies away from the delicious brews I had foolishly fantasized about. Too many charred, broken beans in the mix do not help. I think I’ll need to sort through the bag to remove the problem beans to try to salvage this unfortunate impulse purchase.
Guy
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I stay away from blends nowadays. Prefer one origin and try to connect taste with the country and region. Bought a pack of Mandheling from Two Cents yesterday, not a big fan of Mandheling in general, but was next on the loop list of beans I have in my head. Next is Yirgacheffe again, l think.
I haven’t been to a Starbucks for a long time, the last times in Cama and Louusa I both encountered unsavory staff (guys who clearly don’t enjoy the job). l think l avoid those stores for a while too.
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I was considering some of those. Decision made.
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I got a bag of Kirkland Guatemala. I may test it today. Their single origin beans are nice. Used their Columbian (not the usual ones, the fancy single origin ones) and my last bag of OKlao as a blend, worked well. I miss their Peru.
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