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After
work I hung around the city because I
had to meet someone. The first thing
that I noticed is that all of the
Christmas decorations are now gone. Oh
well... they'll be back later this year.
In
their place are banners for the
Chinese New Year and
Australia Day. I also noticed the
floral decorations. They're very
colorful so they're not easy to miss. No
question about it, they look really
nice. But I'm not really into flowers so
I thought I'd just walk pass. But
something about them caught my
attention. When I had a closer look I
realized that the green segments of the
arrangements are made up of parsley...
the same stuff we use for cooking at
work. Cool!
Then I
walked into
Starbucks at Martin Place, where I
met my friend who wishes to remain
anonymous. Almost every time I ask for
either a Tall Flat-white or a Latté. But
sometimes... depending on the barista, I
ask for a Short Cappuccino. It's a
clandestine item. It's not on the menu
board, it's actually not even in their
website... well, at least last time I
checked it wasn't there.
I
worked with a lot of baristas and that's
how I came to know about it. With
coffee, a bigger cup is not always
better. Being a Short Cappuccino it
actually tastes nicer because it's
concentrated. They use the same amount
of grounded coffee beans as they would
for a Tall so the flavor is really well
defined. And of course it's cheaper too.
According to some of the insiders that I
know it's technically available,
although it is not advertised. That's
why it depends on who's behind the
counter. Some staff, especially new
ones, doesn't know anything about it, or
are unsure. Kind'a like yesterday
afternoon when I asked this girl for a
Short Cappuccino. She replied, "What
Cappuccino?", accompanied by an
oblivious expression on her face.
It's a
bit of a mystery. Well, I heard a lot of
theories, including it being a special
drink available only to a certain secret
society's members. (The person who told
me this is an obsessive reader of the
Da Vinci Code.) Another theory is
that Starbucks is secretly selling
marijuana packed inside special coffee
bean bags and they dispense the Short
Cappuccino laced with it as a sort of
'sampler' to potential buyers. (Jacqui
thought of this one - she's an expert in
baking hash cookies!)
Eventually
Shiz came across the real reason as
to why Starbucks is hush-hush about the
Short Cappuccino. It's really
interesting and makes a lot of sense
because it's similar to the strategies
that I use whenever I design a menu. I
never thought those boring Economics
classes back in High School can be so
useful in my line of work.
You
can read it
here. :)
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