Thanks to Sean, the owner here, I now know how to make my wife a more nearly-perfect latte. He showed me how to hold back the foam so it all ends up at the top of the cup and makes two per cent milk taste and feel like cream.
That extra level of skill and attentiveness to customer relations comes from an owner-operator. One of the nice things about indie coffee shops is that they are operated by owner-operators. A nation of shop-keepers, as they used to call the Brits, can also be a nation of socially and otherwise skilled people who express themselves through their work and relationships.
The chapter on food jobs in my book, Food for City Building, expresses that hope for the future of food in Toronto and elsewhere, and I thank Sean and his secret latte methods for bringing that ideal to life. Wayne r