#guetapens

Photo by Ben St. Lawrence. Round Valley, CA. Guetapens: pronounced: (get'a paw) definition: ambush, snare or trap. Last Tuesday morning, I heard the word guetapens for the first time. Like many, I learned of this word after seeing a 14 year old girl from San Diego spell it correctly to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. That same morning, I drove down to Bishop, CA with Pat Smyth, Ben St. Lawrence and Collis Birmingham. We did a workout in Round Valley. Like we've done in previous weeks, we went to lunch at Black Sheep Coffee Roasters. Along the way to Black Sheep, a challenge emerged: could one of us order a fictitious espresso based drink named a "guetapens" and pass it off as a real drink to the skilled baristas (seriously, they are very good) at Black Sheep? In the the age of the cortado, flat white, forte, piccolo, and double ristretto we thought we had a chance with guetapens. We concluded paper/rock/sissors would best decide who would be ordering a guetapens, in the end Collis lost, he would be ordering the fake drink. We collectively decided a guetapens would be composed of chilled espresso and sparkling water. Here is Collis' dialogue with the baristas at Black Sheep: Collis: Hi, yes, I'll have 2 cappuccinos and a double guetapens thank you. Barista 1: Got it, 2 caps and a...what was that? Collis: A double guetapens please. Barista 1: I'm so sorry, but what is that? (Enter Barista 2) Barista 2: It's kind of, like a, uh...(he's posturing like he's heard of it before, which is impossible) Collis: It's a double espresso over ice finished with sparkling water. Barista 2: Yeah, like a...(confirming he knows the composition of a drink that doesn't exist) Barista 1: Oh, okay I've never heard of that. Collis: Yeah, it's a very popular drink in Australia. Barista: Okay cool, I'll have to remember that! The barista wasn't lying, she did remember! In fact, a "Sparkling Black" is now a speciality summer drink at Black Sheep.