#thread talks

😊i just got a raise! 

my very first customer walked out today because i explained that a cappuccino is a one-size drink and industry standard says that anything larger is a latte. let this serve as a public announcement that in third-wave coffee, the industry standard is that a cappuccino is a 6-8 oz. drink with a double shot of espresso and micro-foam. a latte is a 10-12 oz. drink with a double shot and micro-foam. (a 16 oz. latte, if offered, usually will have two double shots, or 4 shots of espresso.) the industry is attempting to streamline drink menus to have consistency. micro-foam, not dense or airy foam, is the standard, so most cappuccinos you order aren't going to be very foamy unless you're ordering from a first or second-wave cafe.

a very popular local coffee company is having their one year anniversary latte art throwdown tonight. they reached out to me personally on instagram to see if i was attending. the manager of another cafe (who has offered to drive me and pay for me to enter throwdowns in the past) egged me about it this morning, too. now he's really excited and posted that i'm going and that he has to practice cause he's scared and i feel very Seen and validated in the coffee community because i've never competed in a throwdown but people are really excited for me to try.

today was really good and important! my health insurance became active on june 1 and it's been about 3 months now since i've seen my therapist. i took the time this morning to call and schedule a new appointment for next week, and i reached out to find a new primary care provider. i chose a nurse practitioner nearby who is very highly acclaimed and works with a lot of lgbt patients, including helping low-income trans patients obtain hrt. i'm excited to meet her, but i have to wait until late august on that one. still, i've been neglecting SO many health things for a very long time, it's nice to be able to focus on them again. i also did a lot of skincare today, watered my plants, put air in my tires, and ran a supply errand before heading into the cafe. a friend of mine visited me at work today and another friend visited me yesterday -- both are on hrt and i haven't seen either in a while and it really energized me to advocate more for my sister to start hrt, and i plan on talking to my parents about it soon. (my sister is autistic and lives with my parents and is nearly 28. she needs to be able to start to realize some of her personal goals.) i was involved in some decision-making in the cafe and i feel confident. tomorrow we're meeting with my sister and her coworker to shift our company over to her bank from the bank that's been fucking us over, and it feels good to be able to provide connections that have been helpful to fixing business frustrations. (i also am friends with an amazing local doughnut maker who we now get our doughnuts from instead of the rude bakers whose doughnuts we never even broke even on and often threw out at the end of the night. now we consistently sell out AND have a new shop stocking our coffee.) fallon and i have been bonding with a friend who has an interest in witchcraft but whose partner is a judgy virgo, and fallon is a matured empath who is super in her element offering guidance to people in that situation. we're going to spend more time together tomorrow, and that is very exciting and warming! luck has also been on my side, as i've managed to drive two places with no gas and make it safely to a gas station, our dinner cost 4 cents less than the money we had available, and i managed to make it to each of my destinations with my phone on 1% battery without dying before i could reach a charger. i'm feeling a lot more in control and at peace than i have in a while!

i'm running a thread coffee nitro cold brew tasting at the made in baltimore store during pride for two hours today, and that store is managed by a friend of mine that i bonded with on tumblr back in 2009 when we were in high school. smalltimore is real, but i love how many of my friends i've gotten to work with professionally as an adult! it's exciting.