Coffee Aficionados, this is for you. Our first order of business here at Cutter Videan Industries is to explain to you what the Cutter Videan Cold Brew Cappuccino Experience is. Let's take the face value drink and break it down. There are three parts to a traditional cappuccino: the espresso, warmed milk, and foam. Truly traditional cappuccinos are around 180 ml (6 oz)—though the ones I usually make are 360 ml (12 oz)—made with one or two shots of espresso and equal parts hot milk and a layer of microfoam at least 1cm in depth, and are best enjoyed at a temperate pace from a ceramic mug.

The only difference between a traditional cappuccino and my cold brew cappuccino is the substitution of cold brew in the place of espresso. Pulled optimally, one shot of espresso is right in the neighbourhood of 1 oz, so in a double cappuccino, there would be 2 oz of espresso. When I make a double cold brew cappuccino, I use 2 oz of cold brew, just as if it were a normal cappuccino. The milk is exactly the same in either scenario—a double cappuccino gets either 2 oz of both milk and foam (in a 6 oz cappuccino) or 5 oz of both milk and foam (in a 12 0z cappuccino).

At this point, if you aren't tripping all over the numbers like I would be, you may think, "But Cutter, this is supposed to be a hot drink, and if you make the 6 oz one with cold brew, won't it be luke-warm at best?" And you'd be right. The way most coffee houses steam their milk, a cappuccino would be a strange, gross, tepid temperature, unfit for drinking—and there are two ways to fix this. The first is simple: make a bigger cappuccino. Go for a 12 oz one, and this problem is no longer a problem. But if you must stay the exact line of the traditional, then option two (and its two paths) are your only recourse: either steam the milk to a higher temperature to compensate for the cold brew, or warm your cold brew a bit before you add the milk. I personally think both first options are the better, but I am just a man with a weird interpretation of what it means to be a cappuccino.

But even this is not the true Experience. To truly understand, one Cutter Videan needs to prepare your squat mug of delicious coffee mixture. You see, I mess a bit with the traditional cappuccino. Mine is an 18 oz dark chocolate cappuccino; 4 oz cold brew, 2 oz dark chocolate mixed in hot water, 6 oz hot milk, and 6 oz microfoam. I also choose to draw the initials of the recipient on the foam with a small amount of chocolate sauce, and dust the foam and initials with a pinch of dark chocolate powder. It is ~delicious~ and will keep you nice and aware for all those office meetings you have to slog through. Honestly, this description does not do it justice—if you really want to know, find me at work and I will make you one.

So now the fun part begins!

As I mentioned in my Portland post, I now use the Cold Brew Cappuccino as my measuring stick for coffee houses. And perhaps the most simple question you're asking right now is: why?

The first reason is because I'm me. Let's be real here, friends, I am a weird guy. Most of the things I do are at least Less Than Normal, and a surprisingly many things I do are downright strange. So why a cold brew cappuccino? Because I am Cutter. But on to more practical reasons.

Think for a minute about what kind of question I'm asking. Asking a barista to make a cold brew cappuccino is like asking your chef to make a beef roast out of filet mignon. This is pretty much as close to a borderline heretical request as you can make in a coffee shop. And to be fair, a barista is used to making coffee drinks, and most should be used to customising drink orders—but this is a different kind of customisation. It always catches the barista off-guard, and immediately helps me determine how adaptive the barista is.

If you'll indulge me delving a bit further into this topic, what I want is an adaptive, creative barista. I want to find other people who aren't content with just making the same drinks for a six or eight hour shift. So far most just stare at me blankly, a couple people have looked at me with actual disgust, but like the two baristas from Stumptown on Third Street, a glorious few have been curious and willing to push through their boundaries. I want to be friends with these baristas, the ones who experiment and find a million different ways to make disgusting drinks in search of the few delicious combinations that no one has tried yet.

And the last and least important reason for me is because they taste good. The whole reason I love cold brew is because all hot-brewed coffee is bitter and acidic, and the cold brewing process brings out only the smallest fraction of bitter or acidic flavour. Being able to have a "traditional" coffee drink without having to pretend I enjoy it is amazing.

Now I'm sure there are a whole spread of questions and points I didn't touch on, but that's why you're here. Let me know what you think, ask me about cold brew, call me out on the weak points of my position!

But really do come in and see me sometime, and I'd be happy to gift you with the

Cutter Videan Cold Brew Cappuccino Experience.