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I had the fortune of visiting a small town in Tasmania, the name of which I wont mention.
There were two coffee shops that I tried. One served a flat white to me in a cup almost as big as a soup bowl, It was way too hot, sorry did I say way too hot? I meant to say WAAAAYYY to hot!!! Burnt my tongue, and you all know the taste when milk goes beyond 74 degrees...
So I gave up there, couldnt drink it, couldnt taste it either thanks to the burnt tongue.
The other cafe had a pretty reasonable coffee, all things considered. They use the same Australian Fine China standard coffee cup that I use at home. The coffee didnt have any concerning aftertaste so typical of your average coffee - rancid, bitter, sour, ashtray character - none of that.
So I decided to have a chat with the guy. I wanted to not sound like a know all or anything, just that I happen to appreciate a good coffee. One thing led to another and I found myself behind their machine. One group handle was kept in their (two group) machine, the other group was empty. I suggested keeping the other group handle hot, theres a fair chunk of metal in the handle and the shot can suffer if the handle / basket arent up to temperature.
They seem to keep the baskets clean, flushing them out after each shot, which is good. And they keep the wand clean and reckon they back flush every night.
So I got hold of their double shot handle and dosed up, he explained he didnt like the grinder, it was a pig to set up. So they dont touch it.
Went to pick up the tamping tool to tap the basket before scraping / levelling, no tamping tool. Only this little plastic one that is nearly a centimetre smaller in diameter than the baskets they use, or the bump on the doser, which also suffers the same size deficiency compared to their baskets.
I told him the single most important thing he could do to improve his coffee was to get a real tamping tool that fits his baskets, explaining how water will take the easiest path etc...
So using the north south east west method to get the tamping done (and NE NW SE & SW...) I poured the shot.
This is all getting to latte art, they served consistent enough coffee (which was even more surprising when you see the tamping methods). But it would have been so easy for them to add a bit of latte art if they steamed the milk properly then did a bit of a wiggle with the pitcher.
So we get to the milk. Open the fridge - only skinny milk. No full cream milk, he says they only use the skinny milk. Alarm bells are now ringing, this guy said hed done a coffee course. I didnt discuss the merits of full cream milk - cheaper so the profits per cup would be higher, more consistent at producing microfoam for latte art, better taste for those that dont ask for skinny.
Look for the pitcher. There are a few to choose from, two standard size but with funny wide pour spouts, and a really large one. All have been used, some a while ago by the look of them.
I made my double flat white that I was getting to, got some christmas-tree like pattern on it but nowhere near good because the commercial machines have even more steam than I have in my VBM, and theres either on or off with it. I got a whirlpool, but it happened pretty fast with enough milk for 1 cup.
It sat there for 3 or 4 minutes while we discussed things, then a coffee order came through, he made a latte (with no foam on top, more like a flat white in a glass), and also served the coffee I made.
I felt bad for him, he has so much potential to produce a great coffee, but simple things are letting him down. Its unlikely I will be back there to have a coffee any time soon (like this year), but Id like to be able to offer further advice to get him on the right track.
Should I? Or do I accept that he thought I was a know-all who was having a dig at him and let him continue to let his customers down compared to the nirvana they could have if hed make a few changes.
There were two coffee shops that I tried. One served a flat white to me in a cup almost as big as a soup bowl, It was way too hot, sorry did I say way too hot? I meant to say WAAAAYYY to hot!!! Burnt my tongue, and you all know the taste when milk goes beyond 74 degrees...
So I gave up there, couldnt drink it, couldnt taste it either thanks to the burnt tongue.
The other cafe had a pretty reasonable coffee, all things considered. They use the same Australian Fine China standard coffee cup that I use at home. The coffee didnt have any concerning aftertaste so typical of your average coffee - rancid, bitter, sour, ashtray character - none of that.
So I decided to have a chat with the guy. I wanted to not sound like a know all or anything, just that I happen to appreciate a good coffee. One thing led to another and I found myself behind their machine. One group handle was kept in their (two group) machine, the other group was empty. I suggested keeping the other group handle hot, theres a fair chunk of metal in the handle and the shot can suffer if the handle / basket arent up to temperature.
They seem to keep the baskets clean, flushing them out after each shot, which is good. And they keep the wand clean and reckon they back flush every night.
So I got hold of their double shot handle and dosed up, he explained he didnt like the grinder, it was a pig to set up. So they dont touch it.
Went to pick up the tamping tool to tap the basket before scraping / levelling, no tamping tool. Only this little plastic one that is nearly a centimetre smaller in diameter than the baskets they use, or the bump on the doser, which also suffers the same size deficiency compared to their baskets.
I told him the single most important thing he could do to improve his coffee was to get a real tamping tool that fits his baskets, explaining how water will take the easiest path etc...
So using the north south east west method to get the tamping done (and NE NW SE & SW...) I poured the shot.
This is all getting to latte art, they served consistent enough coffee (which was even more surprising when you see the tamping methods). But it would have been so easy for them to add a bit of latte art if they steamed the milk properly then did a bit of a wiggle with the pitcher.
So we get to the milk. Open the fridge - only skinny milk. No full cream milk, he says they only use the skinny milk. Alarm bells are now ringing, this guy said hed done a coffee course. I didnt discuss the merits of full cream milk - cheaper so the profits per cup would be higher, more consistent at producing microfoam for latte art, better taste for those that dont ask for skinny.
Look for the pitcher. There are a few to choose from, two standard size but with funny wide pour spouts, and a really large one. All have been used, some a while ago by the look of them.
I made my double flat white that I was getting to, got some christmas-tree like pattern on it but nowhere near good because the commercial machines have even more steam than I have in my VBM, and theres either on or off with it. I got a whirlpool, but it happened pretty fast with enough milk for 1 cup.
It sat there for 3 or 4 minutes while we discussed things, then a coffee order came through, he made a latte (with no foam on top, more like a flat white in a glass), and also served the coffee I made.
I felt bad for him, he has so much potential to produce a great coffee, but simple things are letting him down. Its unlikely I will be back there to have a coffee any time soon (like this year), but Id like to be able to offer further advice to get him on the right track.
Should I? Or do I accept that he thought I was a know-all who was having a dig at him and let him continue to let his customers down compared to the nirvana they could have if hed make a few changes.
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