By Reed Liebezeit
LOS ANGELES, CA— Barista Sebastian Benton had been back from break just one half hour today when he described his shop’s single origin espresso offering to a customer as “bright and fruity.”
It was while filling a milk pitcher for a prior order that Benton wielded the description—completely by rote and without any consideration for the beans inside a hopper he hadn’t yet touched that shift, according to witnesses. Eye contact with the curious guest, bystanders noted, was not made at any point during the interaction.
Coffee-drinker Jace Reinhold was left unimpressed by the exchange. “Bright and fruity, I think he said,” recalled Reinhold, “but in a way that seemed like he didn’t really want me to order it.” Still, Reinhold was undeterred. “It’s the only thing on the menu I hadn’t had yet. I figured it must be good since it’s so much more expensive than everything else.”
Those close to Benton say his “bright and fruity” remark and its delivery were nothing out of the ordinary. “Yeah, Sebastian goes on lunch and just sits in the back room looking at pictures of guitars and talking about them to whoever’s doing dishes,” explained coworker Elise Andreas. “When he gets back on the floor he’s totally useless.”
Andreas went on to speculate that Mr. Benton’s unpleasant demeanor should perhaps be attributed to the fact that his band “kinda sucks” and that repeated attempts to break into the local music scene have not, to date, been successful.
“He’s not wrong,” customer Reinhold admitted after a couple sips of his espresso, an heirloom variety from Ethiopia’s Guji Zone. “It’s bright. It’s fruity… can’t really argue with that, I guess.”
Andreas concurred: “Sebastian’s not great with customers and it’s uncomfortable, but, I mean, yeah, we all use the phrase ‘bright and fruity’ pretty much all the time.”
Generic though it may be, it seems the go-to description was just accurate enough to keep the line moving without protest from guests or the baristas who served them.
But would Mr. Reinhold be craving something bright and fruity again soon? The question remains.
Reed Liebezeit lives and serves coffee in Los Angeles.
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