That sounds like the title for a terrible film, I realise. But I do want to take you on a journey with me; to give you more context about events leading up to the founding of Limited Coffee and why coffee is like burgers. Bare with me 😬
The story starts in 2019 when I was working for an employer reviews platform in Vienna. You have to know that lunch in Viennese office culture is a big deal. You start planning where to go practically as soon as you get to the office and you always leave at 11:40 to skip the queues! I mean, I am not complaining, I’m a massive food lover, after all.
2019 was around the time of the burger boom, fancy burgers were being served up everywhere and everybody had their favourites. Vienna is a big city of roughly 2M people and the food scene is pretty awesome, with so much choice and so much great food as well as loads of trash.
Thursday was always burger day in the office and I only took part in joining the order once. This place was really popular so I thought why not, who doesn’t love a burger?! Then it came and I knew immediately it wasn’t the one… The patty was perfectly cylindrical and looked really dense and I would guess probably it was frozen, too. The toppings were also basic - stanny iceberg lettuce (under the patty of all places - no one needs a slippy slidey burger) and a massive unseasoned slice of cold tomato.
Ok, you may have realised by now that I’m a bit of a food snob. I’m not Mr. Fine Dining but if you’re going to do something, it should be the best ingredients prepared with love.
Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, everyone loved their food. I knew that because of the happy looks on their faces and the comments. Sure, it was fine but not *that* good.
That got me wondering: why do some people love this burger and others don’t? It got me thinking about the different elements in the burger:
The bun
The meat
The cheese
Ingredients
Now, how does this relate to coffee?
If you ask almost anybody if they like coffee, you’ll get something like “oh yeah, I loves coffee me”. It’s safe to say 90%+ of adults in the UK will drink coffee, but if you break that down, most of those probably:
Drink instant coffee at home
Frequently go to Starbucks or Costa
Have “large” milky drinks, probably with some form of syrup/sweetener
Might have a pod machine at home or in the office
These people are “most people” and that’s totally ok, after all, taste is subjective. They’d probably also love the burger place I mentioned earlier. But those same people probably aren’t interested in speciality coffee and that’s ok too. It’s called speciality for a reason, I guess!
Bringing the story together - all recommendations have to come with a pinch of salt and we must consider the source. When someone says that’s the best pizza in town because it’s only £5 and it’s massive - you are not my people. But if you say there’s a Neopolitan pizza place that’s serving incredibly tasty, fresh pizza - you are my people.
All of those experiences feed into our recommendations at Limited Coffee. We know we are not targeting “most people”, we exist to help the enthusiasts or people interested in the best of the best. Our recommendations don’t come lightly, we absolutely stand behind what we showcase, no compromises, ever.
This is also why ‘Dave’s Take’ exists, we want to quantify our recommendations and give you some context behind the ‘why you should choose this one’ - not just because you get loads for your money, but because each offering is selected with care and these are the highlights. That way you can make your own decision as to whether we, in fact, are your people.
We will build trust over time, but I wanted to share an amusing story to highlighting the deeper context of our recommendations.
The story starts in 2019 when I was working for an employer reviews platform in Vienna. You have to know that lunch in Viennese office culture is a big deal. You start planning where to go practically as soon as you get to the office and you always leave at 11:40 to skip the queues! I mean, I am not complaining, I’m a massive food lover, after all.
2019 was around the time of the burger boom, fancy burgers were being served up everywhere and everybody had their favourites. Vienna is a big city of roughly 2M people and the food scene is pretty awesome, with so much choice and so much great food as well as loads of trash.
Thursday was always burger day in the office and I only took part in joining the order once. This place was really popular so I thought why not, who doesn’t love a burger?! Then it came and I knew immediately it wasn’t the one… The patty was perfectly cylindrical and looked really dense and I would guess probably it was frozen, too. The toppings were also basic - stanny iceberg lettuce (under the patty of all places - no one needs a slippy slidey burger) and a massive unseasoned slice of cold tomato.
Ok, you may have realised by now that I’m a bit of a food snob. I’m not Mr. Fine Dining but if you’re going to do something, it should be the best ingredients prepared with love.
Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, everyone loved their food. I knew that because of the happy looks on their faces and the comments. Sure, it was fine but not *that* good.
That got me wondering: why do some people love this burger and others don’t? It got me thinking about the different elements in the burger:
The bun
- normal/brioche
- seeded/unseeded
- toasted/not toasted
The meat
- fresh/frozen
- formed/smashed
- seared/cooked to death
The cheese
- Which cheese?
- Melted while cooking?
Ingredients
- Standard options or can I choose?
- In which order is the burger assembled?
Now, how does this relate to coffee?
If you ask almost anybody if they like coffee, you’ll get something like “oh yeah, I loves coffee me”. It’s safe to say 90%+ of adults in the UK will drink coffee, but if you break that down, most of those probably:
Drink instant coffee at home
Frequently go to Starbucks or Costa
Have “large” milky drinks, probably with some form of syrup/sweetener
Might have a pod machine at home or in the office
These people are “most people” and that’s totally ok, after all, taste is subjective. They’d probably also love the burger place I mentioned earlier. But those same people probably aren’t interested in speciality coffee and that’s ok too. It’s called speciality for a reason, I guess!
Bringing the story together - all recommendations have to come with a pinch of salt and we must consider the source. When someone says that’s the best pizza in town because it’s only £5 and it’s massive - you are not my people. But if you say there’s a Neopolitan pizza place that’s serving incredibly tasty, fresh pizza - you are my people.
All of those experiences feed into our recommendations at Limited Coffee. We know we are not targeting “most people”, we exist to help the enthusiasts or people interested in the best of the best. Our recommendations don’t come lightly, we absolutely stand behind what we showcase, no compromises, ever.
This is also why ‘Dave’s Take’ exists, we want to quantify our recommendations and give you some context behind the ‘why you should choose this one’ - not just because you get loads for your money, but because each offering is selected with care and these are the highlights. That way you can make your own decision as to whether we, in fact, are your people.
We will build trust over time, but I wanted to share an amusing story to highlighting the deeper context of our recommendations.
