Sprudge.com

Editorial by Carl Mundy, guest blogger:

Chris Deferio, I’ve got a 7-11 sized 12 inch weiner worth of Vienna beef with you, ol buddy. I read somewhere online, on one of these blog things I check out between conference calls over at the Waterbed Warehouse, that you’ve been castin’ stones at one Hiroshi Sawada. You accused him of “prostituting” that flower thing you pour out of the milk spout behind your fancy coffee counter. Well I tell you what, Defurious George, that Hiroshi must be some kind of 4-star Las Vegas call girl, because I paid $59.95 for your latte art video and I can’t pour a daisy or whatever the fuck it’s called for the life of me! Must be a Japanese thing; my 2nd wife, Yasuko, she had the daintiest little hands you’ve ever seen…and she could pull and pour and steam a cup a joe til the cows come home, if you know what I’m sayin’. Anyways, I think you oughta take some advice from the Good Book, Chris, and quit castin’ aspersions every which way just because some other barista big wig is makin’ a few bucks where you ain’t. My 5th wife, Annabelle, she pointed out this here quote to me last night durin’ bible study, and I think it could do you some good:

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye – Matthew 7:1-5

And even if you did teach ol’ Hiroshi everything he knows, you should let the Japanese put his latte art up on them big skyscrapers they got there in Kee-yo-toe and Tok’yo. If the people at MacDonalds think they can sell a few more cheeseburgers to the Japanese this way, then who the hell are you to pick a pig fight in the slop yard? I know for a FACT that ol’ Hiroshi donated $5000 to that Coffee Kids Foundation way back in 2008; sounds like Hiroshi’s been hearing the truth from the Good Book! Jesus was a very charitable man, and latte art is surely a heavenly creation. Me an’ Annabelle are sure you’ll agree, Chris. We think “prostituting” is a little harsh; Hiroshi is makin’ an honest pay check for a day’s work, and he ain’t no Whore of Babylon.

From Chris’s blog:

Now THIS is a depressing moment for latte art…and for me in a way…I have seen rosettas used for marketing on some questionable products but this angers me slightly more because it is my design! Debuted in Bellissimo “Extreme Latte Art” video… in this sad case it has been co-opted by, poured by, and sold to McDon…alds by a barista who I helped train and who, I think, should know better.

In a way the use of latte art by low quality food chains may force quality focused baristas to focus on promoting taste over style. This would be a good by product of such irreverence. Perhaps Hiroshi meant for that result (that is a BIG stretch)
…either way… I am upset at the prostituting my design..I expected more from someone who I think is a good barista , but is now in my mind…professionally misguided.

R.I.P. “Autumn Leaf”

Carl Mundy, guest blogger, Waterbed Warehouse (Twin Falls, ID)

The views expressed in this editorial are not those of Sprudge.com or its subsidiaries.