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I feel like ThunderGod and I are following extremely similar paths here! Went for my interview Tuesday and ordered a latte before I made myself known. Milk was a bit hot, no obvious attempt for any latte art, and milk contained lots of moderate sized bubbles - think Aero bar. The one I had this morning was much the same, and the mouthfeel had a milkshake feel.
Did my first two hours today. First 30 minutes was a steep learning curve naturally but improved after that. Some of the things I saw during my induction:
I must say the particular gripes above were as shown to me by the guy doing the interviewing who appeared to be some kind of consultant for the managers; I did notice some rejected doses, cooling flushes and portafilter cleaning from the duty manager.
Once I got on the machine myself I realised how difficult it was to get anything other than the results Id already seen by using their frothing technique, so I started introducing elements of my own technique, viz cooling flush, portafilter clean flush, settling knock before tamp, stopping the brew before blonding, surreptitiously sinking jug remnants that belonged in a museum and gently texturing the milk rather than trying to blow it out of the jug. As a result of the last point I was able to make two reasonable lattes with a respectable attempt at a rosetta, something the consultant noticed and commented on accordingly. Though the double or quad hole steam tip is something thatll take some getting used to.
Got home, fired up Miss Silvia and enjoyed adding beautifully silky smooth microfoam to a slowly poured double espresso!
So my initial :
was somewhat tempered by the thought that I may be able to improve some of the practices given time. Theyre basically getting the whole operation of this store right to then replicate on the others, so hopefully some suggestions get taken on board. How much I would have liked to adjust the grind a bit finer, for example. Anyway today was just a trial, so well see if they decide to keep me on or not. Even if I never go back its been a good experience!
Greg
P.S. I did think about taking one of my tampers along to use but figured Id toe their line for the first day!
Did my first two hours today. First 30 minutes was a steep learning curve naturally but improved after that. Some of the things I saw during my induction:
- No-one adjusted the grinder and nothing was mentioned about this
- Dose was followed immediately (i.e. no settling knock or smoothing) with tamp via the grinder-attached undersized convex plastic tamper (a spring loaded version with the portafilter supported by a plate, so not the usual rigid monstrosity but only a minimal improvement). Some pre-brew pucks were obviously lopsided even after the tamp
- Brewing was via volumetric touch-pad which was rarely interrupted
- Despite the above, most streams of espresso from the double portafilter were similar in thickness to each other, but this varied between the thickness of the inner and outer of a ballpoint pen - no hope of any droplets!
- Crema was well and truly there but often exhibited a palish colour, probably from channeling due to the uneven particle distribution
- Milk texturing was done by generating heaps of froth at the start of the process and then plunging the wand into the jug to mix it in. Results were thus not surprisingly copious quantities of moderate sized bubbles, which explains the results I noticed in my previous two lattes
- Texturing time was based on the sound of the milk rather than time or temperature (not necessarily a problem but Im used to a thermometer, and I found the sound method to be difficult when the noise got up)
- Fresh milk often added to the remnants left over from the last cup
I must say the particular gripes above were as shown to me by the guy doing the interviewing who appeared to be some kind of consultant for the managers; I did notice some rejected doses, cooling flushes and portafilter cleaning from the duty manager.
Once I got on the machine myself I realised how difficult it was to get anything other than the results Id already seen by using their frothing technique, so I started introducing elements of my own technique, viz cooling flush, portafilter clean flush, settling knock before tamp, stopping the brew before blonding, surreptitiously sinking jug remnants that belonged in a museum and gently texturing the milk rather than trying to blow it out of the jug. As a result of the last point I was able to make two reasonable lattes with a respectable attempt at a rosetta, something the consultant noticed and commented on accordingly. Though the double or quad hole steam tip is something thatll take some getting used to.
Got home, fired up Miss Silvia and enjoyed adding beautifully silky smooth microfoam to a slowly poured double espresso!
So my initial :
was somewhat tempered by the thought that I may be able to improve some of the practices given time. Theyre basically getting the whole operation of this store right to then replicate on the others, so hopefully some suggestions get taken on board. How much I would have liked to adjust the grind a bit finer, for example. Anyway today was just a trial, so well see if they decide to keep me on or not. Even if I never go back its been a good experience!Greg
P.S. I did think about taking one of my tampers along to use but figured Id toe their line for the first day!
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