Dallas Video Festival 2008

I have a problem. I’m obsessed with the cappuccino. If you live in the United States, you probably think of the cappuccino as a few tablespoons of black, bitter sludge topped by airy, stiff, unsweetened styrofoam. But a cappuccino should be a delicate blend of espresso and milk into a velvety-sweet cream that is both dense and light at the same time. It’s nearly impossible to find the perfect cappuccino in America, but I find one just often enough to keep me hooked and searching.

In recent years, though, I’ve been suffering from anxiety. It’s an anxiety over the fact that American coffee culture is so utterly dominated by Starbucks. What does it say about us that we’re a nation of frappuccino lovers instead of cappuccino lovers? THE PERFECT CAPPUCCINO is a personal documentary that traces my attempt to understand my Starbucks anxiety – where it comes from and what it means. It’s an attempt that has comprised a five year-long journey, all over the U.S. and Italy, across the paths of baristas and coffee geeks, cultural critics and business leaders, raising more questions than it has answered.

Why is the Starbucks chain-store model a uniquely American approach to coffee? Is there something in our national character that pushes us toward expansion and mass standardization? Are we a culture that values business enterprise? Or a culture that is ruled by it? And what are the consequences of this way of life?