History Main / StarbucksSkinScale

* Creator/CreeSummer's "Curious White Boy" is a black girlfriend's complaint to her white boyfriend. In the lyrics, she questions her boyfriend's intentions with her by asking if she was his "Coffee-colored remedy for your / [[WhiteGuilt Hangover from history]]".

* Used in ''Film/BringingDownTheHouse'' when Peter's friend [[Creator/EugeneLevy Howie]] sees [[Music/QueenLatifah Charlene]] for the first time. "Swing it, you cocoa goddess..."
* In ''Film/{{Hallelujah}}'', which had an all-black cast, Chick the MsFanservice character is called "high yellow" by a darker-skinned black man.
* ''Film/DaughtersOfTheDust'': Viola's cousin Mary is called "Yellow Mary", although Viola somewhat sourly notes that Mary isn't actually all that light-skinned.
* In ''Film/{{Bridesmaids}}'', Annie's douchey, lecherous boss flirts with her Black coworker, calling her Kahlua due to her skin tone and even stroking her arm (but then quickly speaks up with a request for her not to sue him for touching her).
* ''Film/LosingGround'': Sara plays the lead in a ShowWithinShow about the "tragic mulatto". She is a black woman who is lighter-skinned than either her husband Victor or her adulterous LoveInterest Duke.

* In a [[TheAllConcealingI blink-and-you'll-miss-it viewpoint character description]] characteristic of Creator/NeilGaiman, Shadow of ''Literature/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 hotly contested amongst fans.

* WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation often describes the ButNotTooBlack skin tone as "dipped in tea" e.g. Sheva Alomar from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5''.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Lestat de Lioncourt's term for biracial (black/white) skin is "cinnamon," which he [[MixedAncestryIsAttractive fetishizes]].

* ''Prom'' by Laurie Halse Anderson has a "dark coffee" girl and a "caramel" guy (with "hot-fudge eyes," no less).

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''And her skin's the color of mocha''\\

When describing the skin of a black person, simply calling them "black" or "brown" can sound underwhelming (or even insensitive, depending on the context). The colors of "black" or "brown" skin vary even more widely than the colors of "white" skin: Common comparisons include "honey" or "caramel" for the range of golden-browns, with the use of "chocolate" or "mocha" for darker shades. "White" skin is most often compared to "cream" or "milk," with "peaches and cream" being a fairly common term to refer to fair complexion with pinkish undertones. Non-food descriptors include "ebony" for black skin, and "ivory" or "alabaster" for white skin. You may also encounter mixed-race characters who have "some cream in their coffee". ''Cafe au lait'' is another favorite, which resembles the look of coffee with milk; ''cafe con leche'' is often used for the same tone when the individual in question is of hispanophone origin (whether [[LatinoIsBrown Latin American]] or a Spaniard).[[note]]That said, it's also used for mixed relationships involving a brown-skinned Latin American and a White person, so the reader should be attentive.[[/note]] Occasionally other color metaphors will be used; some will be based on food and some will not.

The reason food and drink terms are so commonly used to describe skin color might be because human skin color is usually in very neutral tones (brown, beige, cream, etc.), and most foods, aside from fruits and vegetables, are neutral in tone as well. Also, food and drink is something the audience is almost guaranteed to be familiar with, since we all need both to live.

--> "She had brown, wiry hair and skin that can only be described as the color of the inside of an apple. The mushy ones not the cool, crisp ones."
* Cynical Jewish comedienne Julia Gorin, who has a relatively swarthy complexion, has described herself as a "toasted Jew", and once complained that she fell into a sort of racial UncannyValley where's she's too dark to pass for a stereotypical blond beauty and too light to count as [[RaceFetish "exotic"]], so neither white men nor [[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt black men who like white women]] find her sexually appealing.

* The first issue of ''ComicBook/TheSpirit'' revival featured a dark skinned woman named Ginger Coffee.

* 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? [[RacistGrandma Mulatto]]. Let's just say he had a little cream in his coffee."

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

* In ''Literature/TheGreatGillyHopkins'', the title character's teacher i s "tea-colored."

* ''Literature/TheHateUGive'': Starr's (white) boyfriend once tried to nickname her "Caramel" after her skintone. [[InnocentlyInsensitive He genuinely didn't mean anything by it]], but she found it annoying and a bit fetish-y, and called him "Marshmallow" in response. He got the point, and didn't do it again.

* "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Music/RickyMartin describes a beautiful woman with the skin the color of mocha.

* Music/{{Labelle}}'s song "Lady Marmalade," about a black/Creole prostitute. "Mocha chocolata ya ya," etc. and her skin "colour of cafe au lait."

* This is very common in UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}ian culture, where the very large mixed-race population means that a kind of shorthand is more or less necessary. The agency responsible for the country's census, IBGE, even had to short the possible answers to the question "what is your color or race?" down to five options [[note]]Black, White, Mixed, Indigenous or East Asian[[/note]] due to the overwhelming number of terms given by the general population in previous census.

Black and other nonwhite characters in fiction are often described as having a skin color that looks like some kind of food or drink, usually a 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 mixed [[MixedAncestryIsAttractive together]].

When describing the skin of a black person, just calling someone "black" or "brown" could sound underwhelming. The colors of "black/brown" skin vary more -- even more widely than the colors of "white" skin. You may find comparisons of "honey" or "caramel" for the range of golden-browns with the use of "chocolate" or "mocha" for darker shades. "White" skin is most often compared to "cream" or "milk," with "peaches and cream" a fairly common term to refer to a fair complexion with pinkish undertones, alongside non-food descriptors such as "ivory" and "alabaster." You may also encounter mixed-race characters who have "some cream in their coffee". ''Cafe au lait'' is another favorite, which resembles the look of coffee and milk; ''cafe con leche'' is often used for the same tone when the individual in question is of hispanophone origin (whether [[LatinoIsBrown Latin American]] or a Spaniard).[[note]]That said, it's also used for mixed relationships involving a brown-skinned Latin American and a White person, so the reader should be attentive.[[/note]] Occasionally other color metaphors will be used; some will be based on food and some will not.

The reason food and drink terms are so commonly used to describe skin color might be because human skin color is usually in very neutral tones (brown, beige, cream, etc.), and most foods, aside from fruits and vegetables, are in neutral tones as well. Also, food and drink is something the audience is almost guaranteed to be familiar with, since we need food to live and all that.

This concept is more common in the United States than in most other English-speaking countries, both because of the USA's greater diversity and (somewhat paradoxically) its rigid color line. There are many Americans who are ethnically ambiguous enough that they won't be assigned to a clear-cut race. All too often, anyone who isn't a paler pinkish-yellow than a medium-rare pork chop (''especially'' if they were born into Islam or one of the "Eastern" religions, or do not speak English as their first and preferably only language) will not qualify as "white", instead being referred to as "olive" or "beige" or just plain "[[AmbiguouslyBrown brown]]."

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 theater when one character describes a second character. In the former case, it's become regarded as something of a cliché (if not quite a DeadHorseTrope), to the point of "how to write" guides advising aspiring writers to avoid it (especially as some might find it objectifying to be described as food). It's also fairly common in advertising -- for example, 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 "[[UnfortunateImplications refined]]" (lily white), with every color in between. Cosmetics is another industry in which this is widespread, which needs to describe a whole range of skin tones to sell products and often resorts to food to make their products sound appealing.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' once described Jasmine as "mocha."
* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Raj's skin is frequently compared to caramel, both by himself and by others. One character even says she wants to dip an apple in his face.

* Played for laughs in ''Series/OneDayAtATime2017'' when the fair-skinned Elena realizes that unlike the rest of her Cuban-American family, she is light-skinned enough to be perceived as white:

* Similarly, on one episode of ''Series/Room101'' the guest wanted to banish celebrities who wear so much fake tan that they look like [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory Oompa-Loompas]]. The host presented various photographs of such celebrities that the guest had to place on a color scale ranging from 1975 Music/MichaelJackson to 2005 Music/MichaelJackson.
* In one episode of ''Series/WillAndGrace,'' when Grace is about to dump a man played by Gregory Hines, Will wonders why, since not too long before, Grace was pouring milk in her cappuccino to show him what pretty colors their kids would be.

This concept is more common in the United States than in most other English-speaking countries, both because of the USA's greater diversity and (somewhat paradoxically) its rigid color line. There are many Americans who are ethnically ambiguous enough that they won't be assigned to a clear-cut race. All too often, anyone who isn't a paler pinkish-yellow than a medium-rare pork chop (''especially'' if they were born into Islam or one of the "Eastern" religions, or do not speak English as their first and preferably only language) will not qualify as "white", instead being referred to as "olive" or "beige" or just plain "brown."

* While not specifically referencing coffee, Wanda Sykes did use this in a comedy routine. She mentioned how the "random screenings" at airports weren't really random, mentioning that they had a Benjamin Moore paint chart at the gate, and if you were darker than "khaki," you were getting screened.

* Labelle's song "Lady Marmalade," about a black/Creole prostitute. "Mocha chocolata ya ya," etc. and her skin "colour of cafe au lait."

* This is very common in UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}ian culture, where the very large mixed-race population means that a kind of shorthand is more or less necessary. The agency responsible for the country's census, IBGE, even had to short the possible answers to the question "what is your color or race?" down to five options [[note]]Black, White, Mixed, Indigenous or Asian[[/note]] due to the overwhelming number of terms given by the general population in previous census.

* This is very common in UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}ian culture, where the very large mixed-race population means that a kind of shorthand is more or less necessary. The agency responsible for the country's census, IBGE, even had to short the possible answers to the question about "which is your color or race?" down to five options [[note]]Black, White, Mixed, Indigenous or Asian[[/note]] due to the overwhelming number of terms given by the general population in previous census.

* This is very common in UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}ian culture, where the very large mixed-race population means that a kind of shorthand is more or less necessary.

* Used in ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' when describing people in a city as being "from latte to espresso"- logical, since one of the characters actually works at a Starbucks.

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

* The French film ''{{Metisse}}'' (derived from mixticius, meaning mixed, compare the Spainish and Portugese term Mestizo) was called ''Cafe Au Lait'' in the US as a DoubleMeaningTitle reference to the mixed race characters, mix of the characters races and the french style coffees they all drank.

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* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' once described Jasmine as "mocha".
* In one episode of ''Series/WillAndGrace,'' when Grace is about to dump a man played by Gregory Hines, Will wonders why, since not too long before, Grace was pouring milk in her cappuccino to show him what pretty colors their kids would be.

** Shirley refers to the half-Palestinian Abed as a "caramel angel".

* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Raj's skin is frequently compared to caramel, both by himself and by others. One character even says she wants to dip an apple in his face.
* In ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'', biracial (black/white) skin is referred to as "cinnamon".
* Played for laughs in ''Series/OneDayAtATime2017'' when the fair-skinned Elena realizes that unlike the rest of her Cuban-American family, she is light-skinned enough to be perceived as white:
-->'''Penelope:''' You and your brother are of different shades. \\
'''Lydia''': Yes, Papito is a beautiful caramel, and you are... Wonder Bread.

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When describing the skin of a black person, just calling someone "black" or "brown" cound sound underwhelming. The colors of "black/brown" skin vary more -- even more widely than the colors of "white" skin. You may find comparisons of "honey" or "caramel" for the range of golden-browns with the use of "chocolate" or "mocha" for darker shades. "White" skin is most often compared to "cream" or "milk," with "peaches and cream" a fairly common term to refer to a fair complexion with pinkish undertones, alongside non-food descriptors such as "ivory" and "alabaster." You may also encounter mixed-race characters who have "some cream in their coffee". ''Cafe au lait'' is another favorite, which resembles the look of coffee and milk; ''cafe con leche'' is often used for the same tone when the individual in question is of hispanophone origin (whether [[LatinoIsBrown Latin American]] or a Spaniard).[[note]]That said, it's also used for mixed relationships involving a brown-skinned Latin American and a White person, so the reader should be attentive.[[/note]] Occasionally other color metaphors will be used; some will be based on food and some will not.

* The novels of E. Lynn Harris describe characters like this.

* Music/TheRollingStones' "Brown Sugar" contains the refrain lyrics "how come you taste so good... / ...dance so good... just like a black girl should".

** The Human Color Wheel. It goes from "Music/{{Seal}} to [[EternallyPearlyWhiteTeeth Seal's teeth]]!

* Played for laughs in ''Series/OneDayAtATime2017'' when the fair-skinned Elena realizes that unlike the rest of her Cuban-American family, she is white-passing:
-->'''Penelope:''' You and your brother are of different shades.
-->'''Lydia''': Yes, Papito is a beautiful caramel, and you are... Wonder Bread.