Barista Venting

[Journeyman]

Some cafés have the sugar and stirrers etc near the machine so people can do just that. But I think some people like the sugar to go in before the milk so their choc-coated froth isn't disturbed or the fancy design in the foam isn't messed up. (had a gf that wold suck the top off her capp and leave almost all the coffee in the cup. - weirdly she would have 2 sugars but never got to taste them as far as I could work out. I used to tell her to just ask for a cup of milk froth with choc on top She thought that was strange!!! Go figure!!!)

[mwcalder05]

Well we like to put sugar in to save the wastage from the sugar packaging as we have a tin. I'm quite happy to do this for T/As. But splenda's are just annoying as we have to open the individual saches that just end up going everywhere. So white and processed compared to raw sugar!

[Jonathon]

So white and processed compared to raw sugar!

Unless you're up in Cairns licking the cane in the field, all sugar is processed, whether it's normal granular, raw, demerara, etc. ;-)

[mwcalder05]

Or the sunny coast! Some cane up here but not too much :P

[TOK]

Well we like to put sugar in to save the wastage from the sugar packaging as we have a tin........

Ah yeah, bulk sugar costs a lot less than sugar portions (sticks, pillows whatever), and it is against health regs to put bulk sugar container out on the tables for the clients to use, where it can be contaminated. So if you are going to put sugar on the tables for the clients to use themselves it has to be portion control which costs more. However if the operator sugars it up him/her self before serving up the coffee he can do it using bulk. That's what its all about.

[Barry_Duncan]

I know of several speciality coffee producers in Sydney who still have bulk sugar on their tables.

I never use it legal or not.

Barry

[Thundergod]

"How many sugars do you take in your coffee grandpa? "
"I don't know! Ask your grandmother. "

[Jonathon]

I know of several speciality coffee producers in Sydney who still have bulk sugar on their tables.

I never use it legal or not.

Barry

Ditto Melbourne. If it is illegal perhaps it's in another state? Seems a lot of whacky things are illegal in QLD these days.

And ditto never using it. My coffee snobbiness is only surpassed by my snootiness towards people who put sugar in a good cup of coffee...and people who have their steak cooked more than medium rare.

[TOK]

Australia has long decended into the "dont step on the grass" country (national anthem should be "...sign, sign everywhere a sign.....") with rules and regs for everything, most of which seem to have been put in place to protect the lowest common denominator in our society, however in the instance of health regs prohibiting the placing bulk sugar containers on tables in eateries, I am afraid I have to agree.....anyone that takes sugar shouldnt have to run the gauntlet of using sugar that may have had salt added or been spilled out on to the table and had grubby fingers on it before being replaced etc, very often because some parents wont properly supervise their kids....

And of course the other side of the coin is while it is against health regs in some if not all states to put bulk sugar on the tables, it doesnt mean that "specialty coffee producers" arent flaunting the regs or even know what they should or shouldnt be doing.....

[Jonathon]

And of course the other side of the coin is while it is against health regs in some if not all states to put bulk sugar on the tables, it doesnt mean that "specialty coffee producers" arent flaunting the regs or even know what they should or shouldnt be doing.....

People break the law all the time - hands up any CSers who never go above the speed limit when driving, and the consequences of that are a lot more serious than somebody getting salt, crud or whatever in a sugar bowl.

As an aside, I don't believe we have any more rules here than in most European countries, the two differences are that here they're enforced and here people are more concerned about not breaking the rules.

[TC]

Australia has long decended into the "dont step on the grass" country (national anthem should be "...sign, sign everywhere a sign.....")

National anthem should be "We don't lower our flag- Even for Nelson Mandela".... Shameful...

[Dragunov21]

I suspect it's not a right/wrong decision as much as it is a decision not to open yourself up to fines.

The first time an inspector comes by and breaches you I suspect you'll lose any savings you made by having sugar-pots on the tables instead of portioned sugar.

National anthem should be "We don't lower our flag- Even for Nelson Mandela".... Shameful...

I know this isn't the right place to have a conversation about it so I'll just say it and let it stand without further comment on my part, but I would tend to put him in the "Che Guevara" box of people whose who are publicly remembered for their cause alone while their sins are ignored. The end of apartheid is to be celebrated. Mandela himself, I'm not so certain of.

[Yelta]

National anthem should be "We don't lower our flag- Even for Nelson Mandela".... Shameful...

Perhaps over your way Chris, I noticed quite a few flags at half mast in our area yesterday, the most obvious to all would have been the flags at the Adelaide oval.

[habahabanero]

I know this isn't the right place to have a conversation about it so I'll just say it and let it stand without further comment on my part, but I would tend to put him in the "Che Guevara" box of people whose who are publicly remembered for their cause alone while their sins are ignored. The end of apartheid is to be celebrated. Mandela himself, I'm not so certain of.[/FONT]

Interesting perspective, not inaccurate though. I do think Mandela is a great man, for the fact that he emerged from a 27yr prison term without bitterness toward the establishment that imprisoned him, and for guiding the country through a transition that could have been very ugly indeed.

What is not in the public perception is the fact that he was after all imprisoned for planning acts of terror. How you regard this depends wether you think the ends justify the means. I'm sure most people are primed to say yes, mainly influenced by the propaganda machine, but I think the same people would have very different opinions if the bombs went off in Sydney.

Few people in a bitter us-and-them struggle will realise that violence will only beget violence, even fewer will rise above the us-and-them perspective. This is really what made Mandela a great man.

[gibberblot]

What is not in the public perception is the fact that he was after all imprisoned for planning acts of terror. How you regard this depends wether you think the ends justify the means.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.