A cup and a screech to go, please

Have you ever noticed that when you go into a coffee shop, your ears are assaulted with noise? I have never quite understood why people go to such places to get homework done; how in the world do they concentrate? And as if the loud-voiced and -laughed customers aren't bad enough, there is usually some ill-trained barista making grinding and screeching and ripping noises behind the counter. People should put noise warning signs on coffee shop entrance doors.

Poor, deafened turtle

But then, today I learned that the noises from behind the counter aren't (usually) the results of poor training. In fact, the grinding noise is (obviously) from the coffee being ground. But they don't grind it up front to be annoying; instead, it's to keep the coffee as fresh as possible. (Coffee apparently has a remarkably short life. Did you know that a shot of espresso goes bad after ten seconds unless it is mixed with something? No wonder baristas have to do so much grinding.) And the screeching and ripping sounds actually are a sign that the milk is being aerated correctly. The steamer wand is placed in the bottom of the pitcher of milk and activated, then raised to just under the surface of the liquid for several seconds. This technique results in loud noises and perfect foam, if steamed long enough, which is something I have yet to accomplish.

And, go figure, many coffee shops try purposefully to create environments for people to chat and catch up and laugh with each other. That's why there are more than one chairs at the tables. I suppose if coffee shops were really for doing work, they would simply set up a classroom where everyone drank coffee.

Oh, the glory of learning things while ingesting caffeine!