History Main / StarbucksSkinScale

* Comedy-Musician Stephen Lynch has the song 'Vanilla Ice Cream', in which the lyrics go: "I like-a them black girls, them brown girls, them café au lait / Caramel girls and mocha girls just blow me away".

-->-- ''[[EarWorm La Vida Loca]]'', Ricky Martin.

* In a [[TheAllConcealingI blink-and-you'll-miss-it viewpoint character description]] characteristic of NeilGaiman, Shadow of ''AmericanGods'' is described as having a cream-and-coffee complexion. Whether that means he's [[ButNotTooBlack Not Too Black]] on his mother's side, [[ButNotTooWhite Not Too White]] on his father's side, or even the less-likely-in-context "dark cream in some places, light coffee in others" has been [[InternetBackdraft hotly contested]] amongst fans.

* In his ''[[{{ptitlebga5e439}} Callahan's Crosstime Saloon]]'' series SpiderRobinson references and expands upon the concept with the following speech, delivered by a drunken Irish Sidhe:

* Mentioned in ''{{Everworld}}'' when describing people in a city. From latte to espresso.

* TamoraPierce does it more than once. In the CircleOfMagic universe, Briar and Lark have "honey brown" skin and Daja and Frostpine have "dark chocolate" skin.
** If I recall, the twins from ''Cold Fire'' are also described as having honey-brown skin.

* In StephenColbert's 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner, he describes [[WashingtonDC Washington, D.C.]], as "the chocolate city with a marshmallow center." Two years later, the city's marshmallow center has received its own [[BarackObama chocolate center]].

* {{Angel}} once described Jasmine as "mocha."

* ZeroPunctuation often describes the ButNotTooBlack skin tone as "dipped in tea" e.g. Sheva Alomar from ''ResidentEvil 5''

** [[UnfortunateImplications That]] [[StupidSexyFlanders sounds]] [[ImAHumanitarian delicious]].

* In the ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'' movie, an old lady sitting next to Bullseye on a plane rambles on about her daughter in law eloping with "this semi-colored fellow from London. What's the word for that? Mulatto. Just let's say he had a little cream in his coffee."

* The above quote from "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin, combining this trope with LatinLover.

Black and Latino characters in fiction are often described as having a skin color that looks like some kind of coffee beverage. This is especially likely if the character in question is of mixed race or if they are meant to be attractive. Sometimes those two concepts will be [[ButNotTooBlack mixed together]].

You may find comparisons of "honey" for the range of golden-browns associated those of Central and South American heritage with the use of "chocolate" or "mocha" for darker shades. This can be a reference to the South American origin of chocolate, sometimes, and the use of a mixed drink specifically to indicate a mixed heritage. "White" skin is most often compared to "cream" or "milk" and you may encounter mixed characters who have "some cream in their coffee". ''Cafe au lait'' is another favorite, which resembles the look of coffee and milk.

When describing the skin of a black person, just calling someone "black" is BeigeProse, it won't stick in the mind, and also incredibly inaccurate. The colours of "black" skin vary more - even more widely than the colors of "white" skin.

This trope most often occurs in literature, where the audience can't see the character's skin color, but it is occasionally used in visual media like movies or theatre when one character describes a second character.

* Cuban sugar sellers used to advertise the colors of their various sugars in relation to pictures of women with analogous skin tones. They ranged all the way from "wild" (dark brown) to "refined" (lily white), with every color in between.

** That sounds delicious.

* Cuban sugar sellers used to advertise the colors of their various sugars in relation to pictures of women. They ranged all the way from "wild" (dark brown) to "refined" (lily white), with every color in between.

* In a [[TheAllConcealingI blink-and-you'll-miss-it viewpoint character description]] characteristic of NeilGaiman, Shadow of ''AmericanGods'' is described as having a cream-and-coffee complexion. Whether that means he's NotTooBlack on his mother's side, NotTooWhite on his father's side, or even the less-likely-in-context "dark cream in some places, light coffee in others" has been [[InternetBackdraft hotly contested]] amongst fans.

* When anthropologist Karen [=McCarthy=] Brown first meets the Haitian title character in the ethnography ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Mama-Lola-Priestess-Brooklyn-ebook/dp/B0024NLN5C/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1265429908&sr=8-1 Mama Lola: A Voudou Priestess in Brooklyn]]'', she describes her skin as having the color of coffee ice cream.

When describing the skin of a black person, just calling someone "black" is BeigeProse -it won't stick in the mind- and also incredibly inaccurate. The colours of "black" skin vary more - even more widely than the colors of "white" skin.

[[caption-width-right:256:The various shades of humanity.]]

When describing the skin of a black person, just calling someone "black" is BeigeProse -it won't stick in the mind- and also incredibly inaccurate. The colours of "black" skin vary more even widely than the colors of "white" skin.

* The musical ''OnceOnThisIsland'' makes reference to a half-islander, half-French boy - "a beautiful child the pale color of coffee mixed with cream". SoYeah.

** As is Jasper Peavey in ''Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe''.