Something we hear in the shop regularly is “Can I have a large cappuccino please?” followed by one of our barista’s “Sorry, we only do a standard size of each drink”. This is often followed by a slightly puzzled look and then, after a brief explanation of why we make our drinks the way we do, acceptance and they go off to (we hope!) enjoy their coffee.
But we certainly recognise this is something that is asked for often enough that we would like to address it and we hope we have come up with a great solution.
So, first up, why have we only done standard sizes until now?
At Kudos, we have three main objectives – our core values, if you will – that we all work to every day, and one of them is “Produce the best tasting coffee”. Simple! In our humble opinion, we feel that right now we are achieving this, especially when we hear the great comments we get in the shop, and when we look at the feedback on sites such as Facebook and TripAdvisor.
We firmly believe that one of the reasons you enjoy the taste of our coffee so much is because of the standard sizes we offer each drink in and the flavour that creates.
We use specialty, quality beans and we want to get the very best out of the coffee they produce.
Depending on your drink of choice, that for us means serving you the pulled shots with the right amount of milk to compliment the coffee.
So, if you like a Flat White, it probably means that you like a milk-based drink (but not too milky!) and strong in flavour, and if you like a Latte it no doubt means you like the coffee a bit less punchy and the overall taste to be a bit milkier.
Our Flat White comes with 4oz of milk and the Latte comes with 6oz. Both have the same amount of coffee, but the difference in the milk quantity changes the ratio and therefore the overall taste, giving you the two very different – but equally delicious! – drinks you tell us that you love.
Let’s take the latte and break it down a bit further. Consistency is King, and every time you order a latte at Kudos, you are going to get 2oz of espresso along with 6oz of milk (we actually pull a ristretto, rather than espresso, but that’s another article all together!)
If you go into another coffee shop that does a regular and a large, you are very likely not being offered the same drink in two different sizes. The large latte is usually just a milkier version of the regular, thus changing the taste of the drink entirely.
Let’s say they do their regular the same as us, 2oz of espresso and 6oz of milk. Then they do a large, which is 2oz of espresso and 10oz of milk. The ratio is not the same and they taste completely different to one another.
We want you to love the coffee you get from us every single time, and if you love our latte it’s because of its size. If we simply added more milk to give you a slightly larger version, it wouldn’t taste the same.
“I get it, and I DO love your coffee, but I still want a bigger drink” you say. Okay, we hear you, so ….
The Double
We sat down and tried to think of a way we could satisfy the request to offer a larger drink, but stay true to our values and not jeopardise the taste of the drink itself, and we came up with “The Double”.
If you’re heading out and want a larger drink for that long journey, then you will soon be able to get a Takeaway Double in your favourite coffee. You get twice the milk AND twice the espresso, so you get the same great tasting drink you’ve come to know and love, just literally double the size.
The only thing that doesn’t double is the cost, as we’re adding just 50% of the original price.
“So, what if we want to sit in and enjoy the ambiance of your shop, but still want a larger drink – can we get a double if we’re sitting in too?” Well, sort of.
Refills
We were going to look at getting larger in house cups to do a sit-in double aswell, but since we serve our milk based drinks at 60-65c for maximum flavour and enjoyment (again, another topic for another day!) we didn’t think this would be ideal since the drink would cool too quickly by the time you got to those last delicious mouthfuls.
So instead we have decided that the best option would be to offer a refill for the same overall cost – ie. you buy your first drink for the normal price, then a refill for 50% of that original cost. Simply bring your cup back up to the counter and we will refill it with the same drink and charge you half the amount of the initial cup.
And of course, don’t forget, if you bring in your own takeaway cup, you’ll also save 20p on the original price of your drink!
So, there we have it. Larger drinks that taste exactly the same as they usually do, at a discounted price and we get to maintain our integrity, producing drinks that we think taste amazing.
We genuinely take on board what our customers say and if it’s something we can accommodate, we will try our best to do it! If you have another idea or request, simply leave a comment below, or send us an email!
We can’t guarantee we can make it happen, but we can absolutely guarantee that we will consider it thoroughly and do what we can.
Thank you so much for reading and we hope to see you in the shop soon for a coffee … make mine a Double.