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We pour about thirty different things on a given week, which is too many to explain to somebody standing at the register with a line behind them. So here is the short list — the ten drinks that earned their place, in the order we would hand them to you.

Before the list, three things that apply to all of it:

• Every drink below is made with coffee roasted in this building, usually within the past ten days.
• Sizes are fixed on purpose. A cortado is four ounces because that is what a cortado is.
• Oat, whole, and skim are all on the bar at no extra charge, and the oat is the barista-formulated kind that actually steams.

The essentials

1. The Cafeteria Espresso. Our house blend, two parts washed Colombian to one part natural Brazilian, pulled as a 2 oz double. Dark cherry up front, cocoa underneath, and a finish that lasts. Everything else on this list is built on it.

2. The Cortado. Two ounces of espresso, two ounces of milk steamed to about 130 degrees — warm enough to be sweet, cool enough that you can drink it immediately. If you only ever try one thing here, make it this. It is the drink the staff orders.

3. The Flat White. A double ristretto under six ounces of tight microfoam. Stronger than a latte and considerably more velvety. Mariana’s latte art is better on this than on anything else, which is not a reason to order it but is a pleasant side effect.

Single origin, brewed by hand

4. The Ethiopian Pour-Over. Rotates by lot; right now a natural from Guji. Blueberry, cane sugar, and a floral top note that disappears if the water is too hot. We brew it at 201 degrees in a V60 and it takes three and a half minutes, so order it when you are not in a hurry.

5. The Kenyan Chemex. SL28, washed, grown above 1,700 meters. Blackcurrant and tomato-leaf acidity that startles people who think of coffee as a brown, roasty thing. Served in a carafe for two.

A single-origin pour-over is not a fussier version of drip coffee. It is a different product, made one cup at a time, and it tastes like the farm rather than like the roaster.

The cold bar

6. Eighteen-Hour Cold Brew. Coarse-ground Brazilian steeped overnight in the walk-in, filtered twice. Heavy-bodied, chocolatey, and quietly very caffeinated. We serve it undiluted; ask for water if that is too much.

7. The Shakerato. A double shot shaken hard with ice and a quarter-ounce of demerara until it foams, then strained into a chilled glass. No milk. It is the most refreshing thing on the menu and almost nobody orders it.

8. Salted Maple Cold Brew. Our seasonal cold drink, and the reason the maple jug in the back needs replacing weekly.

The sweet end

9. The Dark Mocha. Not syrup — we melt 70% single-origin chocolate into the shot before the milk goes in, which is slower and considerably better. Bitter enough to still taste like coffee.

10. The Affogato. One scoop of vanilla gelato, one double espresso poured over it at the table. Dessert, coffee, and a small piece of theater in the same glass.

How to work through the list

If you want to actually taste the range rather than just drink ten coffees, there is an order that makes sense:

1. Start with the cortado to calibrate your palate on our espresso.
2. Move to a pour-over the same visit, so you can feel the difference between an espresso extraction and a filter one.
3. Come back on a warm afternoon for the shakerato and the cold brew, side by side.
4. Save the mocha and affogato for after a meal, when sweetness is welcome.
5. Finish with a straight espresso once you know what the blend tastes like everywhere else.

That is five visits, which is about a month for most of our regulars. Tell whoever is on the bar that you are working the list and they will keep track for you — and if you would rather see the whole lineup first, it is all on the coffee menu.