Craig and I recently attended a barista course.
We did it for fun and for a writing assignment for RedBalloon (you can read more about our day here ).
I really didn’t expect that we would walk out of there qualified to be a barista, nor that we would enjoy it as much as we did.
Not only did we learn the art, science and passion for making coffee we learned so much more about coffee itself.
I made this one– Pin it if you think I’m clever?
Here’s a few tidbits about coffee before we pass it over to you:
Did you know?
- There are 2 types of coffee: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica is superior.
- The longer you roast the coffee the more powerful the flavour, the least the more bitter.
- America has really bad coffee because they are more interested in the caffeine hit. In order to get the caffeine hit they have light roast coffee, which is more bitter. (AHA moment).
- Italians can sit and drink espressos all day because they have full roast coffee which tastes stronger, but has much lower caffeine.
- Coffee is a sponge and will absorb everything around it so don’t keep it in your fridge next to the garlic.
- Best way to store it is in a vacuum container in a cool, dry, place.
- Frothing the milk is not that difficult, you just have to know the technique.
- To get the perfect cup of coffee you need: 7g coffee per 30mls water, 18kg of pressure when tamping, 92 degrees celsius water passing through for 25-30 secs. (I kid you not – it’s a science).If you make the perfect cup then one customer a year can be worth $2,000- $3,000
So next time you sit down at a cafe (I hope they know how to get all the conditions right) and the coffee tastes great, be sure to give your thanks because a lot more work went into it then you ever realized.
I’m not too sure that we’ll be the ones serving you the perfect drop. We did pretty good on the day and have followed it up as best you can on a home machine, but I’m not sure if I’m true barista quality yet. The 18kg thing was just a little too hard for me to consistently master.
So over to you:
Please share
Are you like an American or Italian, or an Aussie (somewhere in between).Are you latte, cappuccino, flat white, espresso or something else?Full cream, skim, soy, almond or coconut milk?
Where’s been the best place/country you’ve ever had a coffee?