In the cutthroat world of the Seattle area’s coffee trade, no prisoners are taken, no quarter is given. It’s all out war to brew the best cup of joe, and the stakes only get higher. At the Cowgirls Espresso in Tukwila, just south of downtown Seattle, the skirts are getting higher too.
The new weapon in the coffee wars is sex. From the sound of things, it’s a doomsday device that is putting the more timid element out of business.
Dethroner gracefully resists the urge to quip along the lines of, “well, she could sure steam my milk.”
Some coffee stands get steamier [seattletimes.nwsource.com]
First off, was there a memo sent out to all 20-something year-old women that stipulated that if you wanted a really ornate, and not so original, tattoo that you need to get it on your lower back (I HATE those).
I saw a small television news piece on this stand and I was amazed that some people were offended by it. They’re just serving coffee instead of wings.
Hot Coffee!
Sex and coffee isn’t that new a concept. When I was in Santiago, Chile this summer the cafes’ baristas are women in lingerie–called cafes con piernas (cafes with legs). Cafes con piernas have become a bit of a tourist attraction now so the ones on the main streets are a more conservative, but with a sharp eye and some luck you can find a local spot on the side streets that have no windows/signs and look sketchy as hell. It’s worth looking…
Coupla comments.
I’m actually kind of disgusted at how not only the US media, but the media around the world has picked up on this story and run with it for weeks now. Being in the coffee biz, it’s supposed to be “all about the coffee” in the cup, the taste and quality.
Second, what JohnK says is true - in Chile, “Cafes with legs” is very true - a lot of the cafes have bars that don’t go to the floor - the legs and even short skirts / panties / whatever of the female PBTCs are exposed to the public.
Third, a cafe just opened up on the Drive in Vancouver, called “Aromia: Coffee with legs”, run by a nice Chilean woman who is indeed somewhat following the Chilean example, but with a bit more tact and taste. But what’s actually pretty good about this is that the woman is concerned with quality behind the bar and in the cup as well. She’s been open for only a week, but she’s already doing a few things right - grinding to order (no stale coffee), using a decent local supplier, a nicely dialed in La Marzocco two group machine, and from what I could tell, decent techniques behind the bar.
And ironically enough, while there were indeed two women wearing all black and short skirts, (one had a pirate eye patch too), there was also a male barista behind the bar, and he’s the one who served up my drink.
Roundabout way - getting back to the Seattle peep show stuff - a lot of discussion with my fellow coffee geeks about this concept, and we’re all pretty insulted by it all because none of these Seattle places focus on a quality cup. They’re all hot milk places that put a bit o’ espresso in a 20oz cup. But most of my fellow ‘geeks agreed - if the coffee itself was amazing, we’d probably all go out of our way to visit these cafes and sample the wares ;)