Espresso Course, Day Two

Holy cow. If you had asked me two days ago how snobby I was about coffee, I would have responded that, while I am discerning in the coffee I drink, I’m not too picky. If you ask me how snobby I am about coffee now…

Catherine's Handiwork 

Let me start with a disclaimer: there is still SO MUCH I don’t know about coffee. I wouldn’t even begin to call myself an expert, because there’s so much more I could learn (and plan to). That being said, I have learned quite a bit in the past two days thanks to the espresso course at Kaffeine and it has forced me into what I would consider ‘coffee snob’ territory.

Tonight we focused on espresso drinks that incorporate milk (cappuccinos, lattes, flat whites, etc) and how to steam milk. At the very end we learned about latte art and how much practice and patience it takes. We started off trying a new coffee Catherine recently got from a customer. She brewed it using an aeropress, a handy-dandy home brewing toy that I fully intend to invest in.

We then tried cascara, the dried skin of the cherries of the coffee plant steeped in hot water. Oddly enough, it tastes like a fruity herbal tea…with even more caffeine than a regular cup on coffee. BAM. After that we tested a ristretto…a shot of espresso that’s even shorter and stronger than a regular one. A little bitter for my taste, but it was definitely a good one.

Cascara

We finally came to the part where we began learning how to steam milk for the drinks. We practiced with water that had a little bit of detergent in it; when prepared the same way detergent looks surprisingly similar to steamed milk. After quite a bit of practice with detergent we advanced to real milk. Suddenly we were learning the techniques involved in latte art and I realized how severely I had underestimated the number of things a barista has to keep track of when pouring up a drink.

My heart!

I’ll go ahead and pat myself on the back…as it turns out I’m pretty handy at latte art. Don’t get to excited, I screwed up more than I got it right…but I did get it right. I managed a heart design on my second try, so Catherine had me move up to a rosetta. I never got a perfect one, but I got pretty close! Maybe coffee really does run in my blood…

My (almost successful) rosetta!

All in all it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in London. It showed me that there are actually people out there as geeky about coffee as I am...more geeky than me in fact! I know a little bit more now and am super excited to learn even more. I’ve got new questions to ask when I visit coffee shops, and more tools to help me in judging them.

All the coffee Florence and I made for a 'fake order' Catherine gave us. Oy.

It’s like I said before…coffee is really all about community. So go, find good coffee, but more importantly find a good community. 

Catherine (right) and Florence (left)