Expensive coffee

 

Down along the beach near our apartment one can buy expensive coffees, or, as I prefer, cappuccinos. Some of these places are classic "pay for the location" places, and in the famous hotels, or at some of the rooftop bars across the road, there is an element of "pay for the fanciness" as well. An average cappuccino in this town runs about euro 4.50. We have found one of the cheapest, though still perfectly lovely beachside cafe/restaurants called "Blue Beach" that charges a mighty 5.70 for their cappuccino, a minor price gauge we have belatedly decided to embrace, as it is accompanied by the right to sit in cushy lounge furniture directly on the beach down below the Promenade Des Anglais. Some of these seemingly interchangeable beach restaurants can charge over ten euros for their cappuccino, and so too will a ritzy and extremely famous place across the street, like the Negresco, charge as much as that tenner and possibly more.

Going now regularly to "The Blue Beach" for 5.70 cappuccinos has caused me to reflect upon some of the expensive coffees we have encountered in our lifetime of coffee drinking adventures. They do actually come in two distinct versions. The first is, of course, as I have mentioned, the price of ambiance, space, location, and or style. Venice's most famous cafe, or most ritzy, had a cappuccino for 15 euros, albeit served seated on the square of St. Marks. And this is at least a 15 year outdated price, so by any measure of inflation was really more expensive even than that 15 seems. We could not bring ourselves to indulge in this Venetian experience finding it not that interesting for the cost, but, oddly, in desperate need of a bathroom we had cafes in the inside bar for something like a third the price. The coffee itself was unmemorable, but watching the bartender methodically open dozens and dozens of bottles of champagne in preparation for apertivo left a great impression upon me and made me quite well-versed at opening bottles of sparkling wine from that informative moment forward.

The other kind of expensive cappuccino is based off of quality and sometimes the rareness of the beans. These are actually far more rare since the best of the fifth wave, obsessively excellent coffee houses we have been to tend to be at the very top of what I would call the average city price without venturing into the "expensive" category of price. The best general cappuccinos we have had, like in Saint Minneapolis at Kopplins (RIP) or in Copenhagen were fastidious and not cheap, but not in this "other" category. However in a cutting edge restaurant bar in Saint Minneapolis we long, long ago tried a $7.00 cappuccino (adjusted to today's prices probably more like 10 to 12 dollars!). As I recall it used a special kind of aged beans and was... fine.

In Montpellier we found a cappuccino also for seven, though this in euros and not needing inflation adjustment as it was barely more than a month ago. This was the most expensive item coming off of a full menu of bean options, and, and, I don't know what to tell you. I would get it every single day. I would let it change my very concept of coffee.

Except when we want coffee on the beach, where I will accept that it is not all that great, and love it as much.