Tweet
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Coffee Loving Pets of All Breeds...
May I present to you, speaking as a highly underqualified coffee snob.....
My tip of the week for great coffee.....
"Relax!"
In the last week or two, Ive been really stressed because I have to move house this coming weekend. Work has been crazy and in general my nerves have just been a little more frayed that normal.
During my work days (work from home) Id made a few less than impressive coffees. Sour, Bitter, Cold, Bad 80s Afro Milk Froth and wondered to myself why my seemingly consistent technique was failing me.
I realised that because Id been feeling so stressed or busy or whatever that each time Id be making coffee it was this rushed "have to get back to what I was doing" exercise.
This led to me unconsciously doing things like:
* Forgetting to run a blank shot through to make sure the basket and portafilter were nice and temped
* Rushing my tamps leading to channelling and inconsistent extraction
* Using too much steam pressure which caused the milk temp to sky rocket before I had a chance to stretch it properly or just ending up with big ugly bubbles.
* Not pre-warming my glass giving a luke warm at best result
So today when I went downstairs for coffee I told myself not to rush and to just relax.
I pulled a nice single basket with no channelling and a nice firm dry puck result. The shot tasted extremely well balanced though maybe a *little* sour to start, but much better than average. It did run a little longer than Id have liked (34seconds or so). So I tweaked the grind a little coarser for next time. The milk texture was great and i got the whole whirlpool thing happening with some decent microfoam. If I had a clue how to do latte art I might have been able to do something with it.. LOL..
All in all a very nice coffee!
So if you are getting a bit frustrated with with your coffees.. just remember to breathe, relax and chill out, because in some granola-eating hippie kinda way your stress will come through in your coffee.
... and lets face it.. who wants to sip on a nice hot cup of stress? ;-)
cheers
Lachlan
May I present to you, speaking as a highly underqualified coffee snob.....
My tip of the week for great coffee.....
"Relax!"
In the last week or two, Ive been really stressed because I have to move house this coming weekend. Work has been crazy and in general my nerves have just been a little more frayed that normal.
During my work days (work from home) Id made a few less than impressive coffees. Sour, Bitter, Cold, Bad 80s Afro Milk Froth and wondered to myself why my seemingly consistent technique was failing me.
I realised that because Id been feeling so stressed or busy or whatever that each time Id be making coffee it was this rushed "have to get back to what I was doing" exercise.
This led to me unconsciously doing things like:
* Forgetting to run a blank shot through to make sure the basket and portafilter were nice and temped
* Rushing my tamps leading to channelling and inconsistent extraction
* Using too much steam pressure which caused the milk temp to sky rocket before I had a chance to stretch it properly or just ending up with big ugly bubbles.
* Not pre-warming my glass giving a luke warm at best result
So today when I went downstairs for coffee I told myself not to rush and to just relax.
I pulled a nice single basket with no channelling and a nice firm dry puck result. The shot tasted extremely well balanced though maybe a *little* sour to start, but much better than average. It did run a little longer than Id have liked (34seconds or so). So I tweaked the grind a little coarser for next time. The milk texture was great and i got the whole whirlpool thing happening with some decent microfoam. If I had a clue how to do latte art I might have been able to do something with it.. LOL..
All in all a very nice coffee!
So if you are getting a bit frustrated with with your coffees.. just remember to breathe, relax and chill out, because in some granola-eating hippie kinda way your stress will come through in your coffee.
... and lets face it.. who wants to sip on a nice hot cup of stress? ;-)
cheers
Lachlan
If you could do those things when youre unconscious, Id be very impressed ;D
Comment