STARBUCKS…
Veni, Vidi, Venti
Where the US coffee chain goes,
Starbucks-ese follows. Double half-caf, no whip, skinny vanilla latte, anyone?
Double decaf non-fat latte, medium foam and dusted with the faintest whisper of cinnamon, " says snobby, gourmet loving and obsessive compulsive Niles Crane on the American sitcom Fraiser. In another episode Niles, the eponymous Fraiser Crane's younger brother, rattles off his order thus, "Double Cappuccinohalf-caf, non-fat milk, with just enough foam to be aesthetically pleasing but not so much that it leaves a moustache. "
Now imagine your neighbourhood hipster rattling off a similar order without missing a heartbeat. If the hoopla and queues around the opening of the first Starbucks outlet in India are any indication then there's going to be no dearth of orders ? la Niles. Incidentally, Starbucks, the quintessential American coffee chain which opened its flagship store in Mumbai's Horniman Circle, and Fraiser both hail from Seattle.
When Barista, now run by Italian coffee major Lavazza, first opened shop they had table mats that phonetically spelt out the different coffee drinks - cappuccino, macchiato, espresso etc - Starbucks might have to resort to a similar strategy if it wants its lingo - venti, grande, doppio, espresso con panna and such like - to be comprehensible to their eager Indian patrons.
The Urban Dictionary even has a name for the faux-Italian slang Fritalian. Starbucks, however, argues that its coffee speak results in shorter queues and better service.
Mumbai-based coffee entrepreneur Sahil Jatana, whose online coffee store, The Coffee Coach will go live soon, feels that the lingo generated by Starbucks and other American coffee chains is "a little too over the top". He states, "For many people these many specifications are just a ticket to some wired form of coolness. I'm not really sure any of it enhances the flavour of the coffee. It's a needless complication of the process. At the risk of sounding purist, the best way to consume coffee is black, with no milk. "
The Starbucks vocabulary, however, is not without its problems. In late 2009, tongues were wagging when the coffee chain introduced the term 'skinny'. The adjective was introduced, so that mouthful orders such as 'grande, no-fat, sugarfree Cinnamon Dolce Latte, no whip' could be simply reduced to 'skinny Cinnamon Dolce'. Tara Parker-Poe of The New York Times wrote a piece questioning the moniker, which she felt could fuel self-image issues. A Starbucks barista also wrote a letter to the bosses pointing out the same.
Referring to the star(bucks) struck crowds outside the inaugural outlet, Rashi Jog, a film student, states, "Indians feel worldly when they ape American consumer habits. But the thinking American is alert to this excess and is not above making digs at their own habits. "
On a lighter note: While senior marketing manager and coffee aficionado Mona Gandhi doesn't care much for the Starbucks lingo she does love their vanilla and cinnamon powder. She laughs and concludes, "That's so Gujarati of me. "
Double decaf non-fat latte, medium foam and dusted with the faintest whisper of cinnamon, " says snobby, gourmet loving and obsessive compulsive Niles Crane on the American sitcom Fraiser. In another episode Niles, the eponymous Fraiser Crane's younger brother, rattles off his order thus, "Double Cappuccinohalf-caf, non-fat milk, with just enough foam to be aesthetically pleasing but not so much that it leaves a moustache. "
Now imagine your neighbourhood hipster rattling off a similar order without missing a heartbeat. If the hoopla and queues around the opening of the first Starbucks outlet in India are any indication then there's going to be no dearth of orders ? la Niles. Incidentally, Starbucks, the quintessential American coffee chain which opened its flagship store in Mumbai's Horniman Circle, and Fraiser both hail from Seattle.
When Barista, now run by Italian coffee major Lavazza, first opened shop they had table mats that phonetically spelt out the different coffee drinks - cappuccino, macchiato, espresso etc - Starbucks might have to resort to a similar strategy if it wants its lingo - venti, grande, doppio, espresso con panna and such like - to be comprehensible to their eager Indian patrons.
The Urban Dictionary even has a name for the faux-Italian slang Fritalian. Starbucks, however, argues that its coffee speak results in shorter queues and better service.
Mumbai-based coffee entrepreneur Sahil Jatana, whose online coffee store, The Coffee Coach will go live soon, feels that the lingo generated by Starbucks and other American coffee chains is "a little too over the top". He states, "For many people these many specifications are just a ticket to some wired form of coolness. I'm not really sure any of it enhances the flavour of the coffee. It's a needless complication of the process. At the risk of sounding purist, the best way to consume coffee is black, with no milk. "
The Starbucks vocabulary, however, is not without its problems. In late 2009, tongues were wagging when the coffee chain introduced the term 'skinny'. The adjective was introduced, so that mouthful orders such as 'grande, no-fat, sugarfree Cinnamon Dolce Latte, no whip' could be simply reduced to 'skinny Cinnamon Dolce'. Tara Parker-Poe of The New York Times wrote a piece questioning the moniker, which she felt could fuel self-image issues. A Starbucks barista also wrote a letter to the bosses pointing out the same.
Referring to the star(bucks) struck crowds outside the inaugural outlet, Rashi Jog, a film student, states, "Indians feel worldly when they ape American consumer habits. But the thinking American is alert to this excess and is not above making digs at their own habits. "
On a lighter note: While senior marketing manager and coffee aficionado Mona Gandhi doesn't care much for the Starbucks lingo she does love their vanilla and cinnamon powder. She laughs and concludes, "That's so Gujarati of me. "
Gitanjali Dang
|TCR121027
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