Diaries of a Motorcycle Bride

The makings of a failed coffee barista June 29, 2010

This morning, I was very conscious of my coffee and how I made it- right from the moment I turned on the espresso machine.

This is because when I was in SG, my friend Choops bought me a coffee appreciation class as a birthday present. For someone who dreams of opening a cafe in the near future, this gift was a real God-send! Even now the thought of it continues to bring smiles to me.

From the class, I was able to gleam the finer details of what goes into a good coffee, the different ways of coffee brewing. As this was only an appreciation class, we did not get to go into the actual  barista (someone who makes coffee) training.

So today it was with full of my trainer’s rebukes and reprimands that I went about making my espresso. I was now more conscious of the things I was doing WRONG.

Such as:

1) Using a machine whose manufacturers boast of having 15 bars. This is the beginning of the most basic machines, which I reckoned would have earned me a sneer from the trainers. They most probably would ask, “Buono what?”

2) However I did warm the machine beforehand. I gave it a headstart of 1 hour- during which I had time with my Bible and God. So that’s 1 point to me for doing the warm-ups.

This next picture would however set me back a few points.

3) Firstly, I did not use coffee beans at their prime (2-10 days after roasting), nor freshly ground beans (coffee ground ahead of time loses its flavor almost immediately). Instead I used coffee powder from off the shelves bought sometime last year- its packaging already dusty and it was on special too-  which is way below the halfway mark of my coffee jar, indicating it’s been lying in the jar for sometime.

4) However the powder was made of beans meant for espresso making and they came from a local coffee manufacturer. This I am proud of-no matter what the trainers would say- because I am supporting Thai coffee with every bag of supermarket coffee powder I buy!!

5) Plus I no longer store my coffee in the fridge- apparently this is bad for the coffee- so this would help salvage some points.

6) Oops I didn’t measure out the coffee- it’s supposed to be 7-8 grams. All I know is that my stomach can’t take too much coffee, so I always deliberately under-pack my basket. I should probably switch to decaffeinated but then that would almost definitely bring on another barrage from supposed-coffee connoisseurs. Oh what a miserable coffee nerd-wannabe I am!

7) Again I am breaking another rule here. I should be tamping the coffee using a force of 15kg. In other places I’ve read that I should press down on the tamp in a direction somewhere in the southwest (?!).

In my own defense, my working arm for tamping was still aggravated (I’ve been suffering from a sore right arm/ elbow for some days). And I haven’t got a digital scale that can measure the force of my tamping. So there!

8) And here- ahah, finally- I am using a porcelain cup as prescribed for cappuccinos and Americanos. Oh but wait, I only drink lattes, which are supposed to be delivered in glass cups. There goes another point…

9) On the topic of water, this is slightly tricky. The book says I should use clean (filtered), cold and fresh water. In this country where water is bought or run from the tap using a mightily expensive filter, my household has chosen to buy our water in large drums costing us 20 baht each drum.

So while I wouldn’t exactly call it fresh, at least it’s not fresh off the tap. It could be worse- I could be using mineral water, which is an apparent no-no according to other sources!

10. Another point taken off: this is for not monitering  the extraction time of 25-30 secs. How I do it is by looking at the color of the espresso- the best part is the crema which is golden brown. When the liquid turns white, as above, it means the good stuff has stopped running.

11) Now I’m not sure how much really is 30-45ml in volume. I should really be using a tiny measuring glass for that.

12) So I’ve steamed the milk and made my latte. According to my formula, it’s one shot of espresso and the rest topped up with steamed milk. BUT according to my trainers (who learnt it from some bigshots from the original source themselves somewhere in the capital of coffee in Italy), it’s gotta be 1 shot combined with steamed milk and 0.5cm foamed milk.

And as you can see, my latte art is so not there yet so I won’t be grading myself on it

Fianl verdict? Was my homemade latte as yummy as a cup of local kopitiam kopi-si?

When I had my first sip, it tasted nutty. And almost bland, as if too watery.

Then I remembered I just had a peanut butter sandwish before the coffee-which explains the nutty flavor. As for the blandness… well, that might be because I had added insufficient coffee in the basket (I have a weak stomach remember?).

So would I have passed the test?

If I was a purist, I shudder to think the points I would have awarded to myself.

Then again I’m just a coffee nerd wannabe. Every step taken is a step gained forward. Keep brewing girl! That cuppa is going to come through one of these days!