By Brice Ward
SALT LAKE CITY, UT— Before Rachel Long went abroad, she was a staunch tall vanilla latte girl. Back then, Long still had reservations about correctly referring to the drink sizes offered on the shop’s sparse, easy-to-read menu. Fast forward 11 days, and she’s a changed woman.
“When she got back from Italy, it was like she just knew so much about coffee, it was like she was an expert all of a sudden,” Long’s friend told Knockbox staff.
Local barista Matthew Steffens, who recognized Long from “before,” looked for an excuse not to ring her up. Unfortunately, he had already checked off the shift change list that he had half-completed, so he surrendered himself to the task.
“She immediately exclaimed, ‘Oh my God, when did you change your menu?’” Steffens said in an exclusive interview with Knockbox staff. “I told her we hadn’t. She was shocked that we had ‘macchiato.’” [When relaying the word ‘macchiato,’ Steffens held his fingers in the manner of an Italian chef and used a loud, fake Italian accent, presumably in imitation of Long.]
According to Steffens, Long responded that she had just gotten back from “ITALY.” After repeatedly telling Steffens that he didn’t know real coffee until he went to Italy, she accepted the macchiato Steffens served her.
Before Long left the shop, she was overheard saying that “they would never do that in Italy.” She then left her cup on the table a few feet away from the bus tub.
Update: Long, who still frequents the coffee shop, has reverted back to her old drinks, stating “it’s just not the same as I had in Italy.”
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Brice G Ward is the General Manager and Dad of 81301 Coffee Roasters in Durango, Colorado.
