Life if short - enjoy your coffee

Coffee is a rocket science, unfortunately many cafes have rocket engineers who can only do as much as lighting a firework rocket. I'm not saying I've got a PhD in coffee making, but my morning brew definitely is an enjoyable treat. Down below I'm only going to touch espresso based coffees, simply because other types are a little far away from what I'm used.


Cups

I hate this cup

The item that you have your coffee in doesn't seem like something that could make a significant difference, but yet there is a few companies out there which make cups you can't easily lift with a handle. So you have your coffee in front of you, you touch that little tiny handle and there is no grip, can't put your finger inside it neither, it is too small, if you decide to try to lift it with one hand  it fells like anytime it can slip away, and all of your hot beverage is gonna end up on the table. The only way out, is to use two hands, lower down your head and drink like a Neanderthal. If I  had an opportunity to meet the person who designed those cups I'd ask him/her to have a sip using one hand only and then I'd just watch the embarrassment. So if you are ordering cups for your bar/restaurant/cafe make sure you try them before, it has to be comfortable to use. Another thing is cup's temperature, it gotta be nice and warm, a little hot even, just so it doesn't cool down the liquid, but rather isolates it from the surrounding.

Grind

Grinder - this magical machine will turn beans into powder. Size of a grind is highly important for brewing good coffee. Having it too big will not extract heavier, darker flavours and you will end up with a bit sour light brew. Very fine grind can make extraction nearly impossible and will give only
couple drops of overly bitter and thick espresso. Setting up you grinder is not as easy task as it might seem. Machine that is in constant use generates a lot of heat what causes the grinding mechanism to expand and produce coarse grind. Therefore, having a timer next to your espresso machine and monitor the speed of extraction is a good idea when you have a high demand for coffee.



Espresso

Something very typical for Italy, so common that they don't even say espresso but 'un caffé' when they want it and it always is espresso in return. Regardless of where you are going to order it, it'll be good, even places that are not a quality cafes or restaurant deliver a quality espressos. (one that you can dream of when entering a Starbucks).  If your coffee is based on it you got to make sure it stays on Italian level. To make a good one you need to put suitable amount of your perfectly grind coffee in your portafilter. How much it is depends on the basket, important thing is to fill it fully and evenly. Once it is loaded just press it with adequate force,(hard enough) then clean the rim of your basket and securely place in the machine. Optimal extraction time varies between 20-30 seconds, depending on what style of coffee you would like to get. When finished you should get a coffee cake out of basket - perfect for a cake prank.

Milk

If you are a real man or a woman who's a real coffee lover, you will have it black, however there are some exceptions (e.g. hangover) when you are allowed to have a cappuccino or any other white coffee. When it comes to milky ones I think I've seen everything that could go wrong, burning hot milk, big air bubbles or coffee crema larger than milk foam in a cappuccino, these are things you want to avoid. Working with milk isn't the easiest parts of coffee making, but I'm sure that everyone after a bit of practice can achieve a pretty decent level. Two important aspects are temperature and texture. To create a foamy milk start by placing a steamer just beneath the milk surface. This will aerate your milk really quick, after few seconds move steamer deeper inside your jug. Second step is clarifying the foam structure into tiny small bubbles. To do so, you need to get milk spinning inside the jug, holding it on the right angle with steamer next to the jugs wall will cause just that effect.

Milk spinning in a jug

Temperature - coffee is a hot beverage, but hotter doesn't mean better. Milky coffees should be around 65C-70C. Obviously you're not going to measure temperature each time you steam milk. Holding the bottom of a jug with a left hand will allow you to control temperature, when it gets to the point that you can't touch it freely anymore then your milk is just about right temperature. If you still have some big bubbles in your milk after steaming process, you can swirl the milk inside the jug and then gently hit its bottom on the hard and steady surface. This should destroy the enemy.



Latte art

I never expect to get a latte art on my hot beverage, as long as milk and coffee crema look good and healthy I'm happy with it. However, getting a nice drawing on your coffee can make you smile and that's the true goal of all hospitality businesses. There are people in this world who's skill in pouring milk over the espresso became an art. It takes a long time and lot of patience to become 'latte artist' but effects can be really pretty. Mastering right moves will allow you to control milk in the way it creates certain shapes and then the only thing that stops you is your imagination. Here is a pretty good video explaining how to enter latte art world : Latte art tutorial

Latte swan

Your favorite part - coffee machine cleaning

We all love this time in the night when it comes to close the coffee station. Just fucking do it it is essential to keep it clean !!!