If you’ve ever had coffee with me before, firstly – its probably never been at the same place twice, and secondly – you know that its an experience like no other! And that’s because every coffee date is an exciting opportunity to rate a new café.
So how does it all work? Well, on most phones there is a notes section, and contained in my notes is a page titled “Coffee Ratings”. Now, some people worry about losing all their photos if their phone gets lost or stolen. I worry about losing my coffee rating spreadsheets! So far I have rated over 200 different cafes around Australia and across the world, and I can’t wait to rate more. Here’s a snapshot of what the process looks like.
Café: Example Café Rating
| Person | Drink Type | Art | Temp | Texture | Flavour | Stength | Extras | Bean | Score/50 |
| Caitlin | Oat Latte | 2.5 | 8 | 7.5 | 6.5 | 6 | 3 | Bean | 33.5 |
The spreadsheet didn’t just start like this. It originally began with rating latte art. There’s something about that feeling when they set down your order, and you peer over in suspense to inspect the work. Then excitement builds as you begin to fully immerse yourself in the experience of going out to coffee. My goal was to find the café with the best art so my friends could be impressed. However, I quickly found out that best latte art certainly did not equate with best tasting coffee.
Next came the Flavour section, then Strength, as I found it can greatly impact on the flavour, followed by Temperature, Texture, and finally, the Extras. How did these come about? I’m glad you asked. Partly due to some brainstorming on what makes up a great coffee, but honestly? Most of these categories were created due to bad experiences! I remember this one latte I ordered was so watery and bitter it left the worst after taste! And then this other one was so lukewarm I could practically skull it. Thus, my ventures to find the perfect coffee for me, continued.
You know the best part about this whole thing? Is that it is so completely entirely SUBJECTIVE and I love this. Its all about what is MY favourite or YOUR favourite coffee. I don’t claim in any regards to be an expert in the field of coffee. I don’t even have my baristas license. But I know what I enjoy, and that is why I created it in the first place. Its inclusive – as everyone who joins also doesn’t need to know anything about coffee. But we all know what we like and what we don’t like, and I’m just providing an experience that allows an expression of this. So I hope that one day, we can enjoy this experience together.
Thanks for having coffee with me,
Caitlin xx