BARISTA COURSE

ESPRESSO : BREWING 1

1. Dosing
First step is dosing. This means packing the coffee grinds into portafilter.

- What to keep in mind?

Make a nice even mountain of coffee grinds in the portafilter for easier distributing.
Hold the portafilter horizontaly lined and centered with the grinder.

2. Distribution
Second step is distributing the coffee in the portafilter.
Turn the small mountain into an even flat field that’s ready for tamping.

- How to distribute?
1. Tap the portafilter once gently against the grinders forks to eliminate any air
pockets in the mass.

2. Tap the basket with the palm of your hand on both sides three times gently.
You can direct the coffee by inclining the handle a little.

In distribution you will want to aim for perfection. Anything else but an even flat field
will lead to problems with tamping and therefore with brewing.
By the words of famous Matt Perger himself:

“If you can’t imagine a tiny Tiger Woods using your grinds as a
world-class putting green, you are not trying hard enough.”
P.S. : Good distributing tools are a good investment and will pay themselves back in
the quality of your espresso.
 ESPRESSO : BREWING 2

3. Tamping
By tamping you compress the coffee grinds to a flat bed with even density for even
resistance against the water.

- What to keep in mind?

The water from the espresso machine hits the bed of coffee grinds in your portafilter
with a 9 bar pressure. Water will always find the easiest way to pass any obstacles.
So if the density of you grinds is not uniform, water will pass from where it’s the
easiest and you will end up with channeling. This leads into unequal brewing and sour
and bitter taste.

- How to tamp? 90°

1. Hold the tamper comfortably and naturally just like a doorknob.

2. Get portafiler on the edge of the counter lift your elbow in the air creating a straight
line of force down from your elbow.
3. Tamp slowly and soft and make sure that you tamp perfectly horizontal. No twist,
no spin, just tamp!
.. If your tamping isn’t horizontally balanced or the grinds get cracked you can’t fix it
so knock it out and try again.

- Adequate strength ?
You need just enough strength to press all the air away from the grinds. It feels when
you push the tamper against the counter.
There’s no point pressing the grinds after that..
 ESPRESSO : DIALING

Tasting
What is good espresso? How does it taste? A good espresso has a fruit like acidity, sweetness and a nice mouthfeel. It’s not bitter, roasty or sour.

EXAMPLE:
~recipe : 18g in - 36g out (balanced)~
Full of flavours, balanced, fruit-like acidity, smooth mouthfeel, sweetness and balanced flavours the linger in mouth after swallowing
~recipe: 18g in - 26g out (under extracted)~
Sour (sourness is different with acidity. it’s a negative character that will make you pucker your lips, stick your tongue out or might feel sharp on the
sides of the tongue). Under-extraction occurs when you haven’t taken enough flavour out of the coffee grinds. There’s still a lot left behind that could
balance out the following undesirables.
~recipe: 18g in - 46g out (over extracted)
Bitter, dry sensation in the mouth, empty flavours. Over-extraction occurs when you take too much of the soluble flavours out of the coffee resulting
in unfavourable flavours.

How to adjust?
Change always only one variable at a time. Otherwise you can’t make sure how you came to change the taste and you will be lost.
OPTIONS:
1. dosing up or down
2. extending or shorten extraction
3. grinding finer or coarser and keeping the same recipe

KEEP IN MIND! Changing grind size is tricky and make huge difference. If you are very far from your goal, change grind size. For fine tuning the flavor
change the recipe.
 MILK : STEAMING

Why to steam?
Steaming is a way to incorporate hot air into the
milk and by this to change the texture,
temperature and taste of the milk. Milk is
supposed to come softer, smoother, velvety,
sweet and warm.

What to keep in mind?

Cold milk is easier to handle and will make
nicer texture.
When you are taking in air it should make a
quick chirping sound. If you are taking in too
much air the sound will be loud and frankly
quite horrible.
When mixing the air into the milk you want to
see a flat whirlpool. The intention is to mix the
air into the whole pither of milk. Milk should
move all the time and not start bubbling.
Mixing the milk horizontally will keep the
aerated milk separated from the non-aerated
milk because of their weight difference.
SO : Keep the steam wand and the pitcher
straight all the time to create vertical rotation.
 MILK : STEAMING

1. Fill a clean pitcher with cold milk

- cold milk is easier to use and makes a nicer texture

2. Clean steam wand by letting some steam out

3. Place steam wand in a straight position

4. Place pitcher on the steam wand with the tip of the wand halfway submerged under the milk
- steam wand center of the pitcher

5. Turn steam fully on - look for milk to spin and listen for a chirping sound from the air
being drawn in

6. After few seconds, move pitcher upwards slightly to stop introduction of air and to start
mixing the air all through the milk

7. Just before the pitcher becomes too hot to touch, turn steam wand off

8. Let some steam out of the wand to get rid of any excess milk and wipe the wand clean
immediately
- milk proteins stick to the steam wand really hard if left to dry!

9. Tap pitcher on the counter to break small bubbles and then rotate the pitcher by hand to fully
mix the air in and to create a nice shine to your milk.
 M I L K : L AT T E A R T

Latte art and pouring

Latte art is all about speed, distance and location

Speed
With faster pouring you get the more textured part of
the milk with more micro-foam and slower pouring you
get more liquidy part of the milk. The aim is to get even
amount of them both.

Distance
The further away from the coffee surface you pour the
more milk dives underneath the surface of coffee.
The closer you get the more of the microfoam stays
afloat.

Location
This naturally defines the location of your latte art.

Latte Art
Start the pour quite high above the surface to mix the
milk with the coffee. Aim your pour in the middle of the
cup.
When cup is almost half full, move the pitcher closer
to the surface of the coffee, so that the spout almost
touches the surface to create your pattern.
Raise the pitcher upwards and cut through right in the
middle for symmetry design.
 L AT T E A R T : PAT T E R N S

Monks Head Tulip

The start for learning Start by pouring a smaller Monks

any pattern. Pour head. Continue by pouring an-
slowly right in the other smaller Monks head right
center of the cup. in the center of the “crack” and
“push” the first one backwards.
Tilt the cup a little at
Finish with a heart and ct throgh
the end while lifting
the whole pattern with the milk
the pitcher away and
flow.
stopping the pour.

Heart Rosetta
Start by pouring a Start pouring a heart but this
Monks head. time start wiggling the pitcher
When the cup is full a little from side to side. When
slowly lift the pitcher cup is half full continue wiggling
up and cut through while gently pulling the picther
the pattern with the backwards. Finish the design by
milk flow. cutting through the pattern with
the milk flow.