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My 15 year coffee journey as a home barista

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  • My 15 year coffee journey as a home barista

    Hi all.

    Just realised it has been 15 years since I started making coffee at home, so I decided to share my story.

    I got my first espresso machine in 2005. I was in university, and I got it as a birthday present from my girlfriend. It was a basic Sunbeam machine, that cost about $150. I used a Delonghi mini blender to 'grind' cheap supermarket beans. It probably made a terrible frothy drink, but there was novelty in using it. After a white I rarely used it, pulling it out to make coffee for friends who were impressed I was making coffee from scratch using whole roasted beans, as most of them were drinking takeaway coffee from Starbucks or Gloria Jeans, and would not even have seen what a roasted coffee bean looked like.





    After a few years of this, I upgraded to the Rancilio Silvia + Rocky combo in 2011. It was a big investment at the time, at a cost of around $1300. I tried beans from a few roasteries, and ultimately decided to settle on supermarket beans again, for cost reasons. I decided that beans only stay fresh for a week after opening the bag anyway, so no point spending $$$ on quality beans. This was true to an extent, as I could see a big drop-off in quality from the 1st day and the 7th day after opening a bag of beans. I bought Coles branded beans for years, only because I was able to buy 1kg beans for $12, with an expiry date close to 11 months which meant they were roasted less than a month ago. Coffee didn't taste great and my frothing and pouring was very average, but occasionally turned out well like the example below. I was making coffee on weekends and mornings off only.




    2 years ago I upgraded again to the Rocket Giotto Evoluzione R, after going to a mate's place who served a cafe quality flat white from his ECM machine, which I didn't think was possible from a home machine. I got a Helor 101 hand grinder which he recommended as a cheap alternative to more expensive options. I upgraded my grinder to the Baratza Sette 270Wi, which helped to cut down the prep time by accurately dosing 15g into my basket within 0.1-0.2g margin of error.

    I found a local roaster in Pymble in the upper north of Sydney where I live, who sold good quality beans for $10 per 250g. For two years I bought 1kg at a time, but found the quality gradually declining towards the 4th bag.

    So I finally decided home roasting was the way to go, and while I was waiting on my local supplier to get the Gene Cafe roaster back in stock, I came across threads about the Kaffelogic Nano 7, and jumped on it.





    A few weeks on, I couldn't be happier. I'm currently drinking a Colombia/Peru/India/Ethiopia blend, all from BeanBay, and am enjoying cafe quality coffee every morning from home!






    So at this point I wonder what the next step is? I think it will be learning the characteristic of each type of bean, by finding the time to do cupping sessions at home. I have no idea what the characteristics of each bean I use are, and lump them together hoping a blend of 4 beans will produce a balanced flavour. It's not bad, and in fact it's pretty good, but in a few years I hope to be able to know how to produce a well balanced blend from knowledge rather than by chance.

    Thanks for reading!

  • #2
    Covalatt - thanks for the interesting and entertaining 'short story' of your coffee-journey.
    You are a lot more 'progressive' than me. I am still using my original set-up of Diadema Perfetta + Rocky, bought over a decade ago.
    Bit like a marriage really - where over time, you learn to compensate for each other's failings and inadequacies and appreciate the strengths.
    I have been thinking that if my Super ever recovers the $60K it has lost, I might celebrate by upgrading to the Rocket Giotto Evoluzione and a better grinder. I will have a close look at the Baratza as I like the compact dimensions. I was thinking Mazzer but they are big, expensive and way above my needs.
    You have also mastered the Latte-Art which I have decided is pretty much beyond my ability.
    My enthusiasm runs out at roasting however. While I can still buy great roasted bean from BeanBay I will probably stay lazy. More power to you.

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    • #3
      Informative story Covalatt, pics always help.🙂

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      • #4
        Nice journey!

        Originally posted by Covalatt View Post
        enjoying cafe quality coffee every morning from home!
        I reckon you're probably doing better than a lot of cafes!

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Rocky View Post
          Covalatt - thanks for the interesting and entertaining 'short story' of your coffee-journey.
          You are a lot more 'progressive' than me. I am still using my original set-up of Diadema Perfetta + Rocky, bought over a decade ago.
          Thanks Rocky I hadn't heard of a Diadema but upon looking it up it looks like a great machine. Once you have an E61 group head, upgrades will give less and less improvement IMO.

          The Baratza Sette 270Wi is a fantastic grinder. The automatic dosing saves me measuring 15g of beans in the early morning, all bleary eyes and clumsy. It has next to zero grind retention, meaning the first 1/2 of the grind in the basket isn't from yesterday morning. I looked at Mazzer grinders as most good cafes tend to use them, but I don't think they offer much to the home barista, who needs single dosing.

          As for home roasting, I put it off for years thinking it must be difficult, and when I did the maths it would take about 3 years for the roaster to pay itself off. Currently my 15g of roasted beans costs me about 22 cents, down from around 58 cents when I was buying the $10 per 250g bags. But my beans are fresher than ever before!

          As for the latte art, these are some examples of what I used to consider decent enough to take photos of, prior to watching videos on Youtube and practicing.



          My biggest mistake was being unwilling to change my technique once I was achieving these sorts of 'kind of okay' results.

          Turns out my technique of swirling the milk around in a smooth merry-go-round after the initial stretching, as opposed to a more choppy vortex, was the mistake.

          I'd highly recommend this video tutorial (I've watched loads but this one is the best IMO): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyPaQYsRvWc

          My my latte art looks like this:



          It's still not perfect but that's what practice is for, right? So keep trying!

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Agrajag View Post
            Nice journey!



            I reckon you're probably doing better than a lot of cafes!
            Thanks Agrajag! It's a claim that I've made at various times previously, and looking back it probably wasn't true.

            I mean my coffee even a few years ago was often better than cafes that focus on selling breakfast or cakes/bakes goods, that didn't care about their coffee and served burning hot weak drinks in a large mug, but not anywhere near a decent cafe.

            Still my coffee isn't anywhere near coffee from a good cafe, but I've had plenty of coffee worse than mine in even 'proper' cafes.
            Last edited by Covalatt; 15 July 2020, 03:05 PM.

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            • #7
              As someone just starting out, this is really interesting and motivating to read. Thanks!

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              • #8
                This is.. AWESOME! Thanks so much for sharing, love stuff like this . And man your latte art has improved heaps, the rosetta on the bottom right of the recent picture is phenomenal.

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                • #9
                  Covalatt--Thanks for sharing your coffee journey, I love seeing the progression as people strive to improve their coffee experiences!

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                  • #10
                    Great read.
                    i disagree with a few things in the vid.
                    Although I’m not a fan of the vortex style of steaming, especially with HX or dual boiler, the results are in the cup.
                    Made me think about my own coffee journey.
                    Thanks for your memories and making me think on mine

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                    • #11
                      Thanks Ronin but what are you doing differently when it comes to steaming? For me, changing my rolling from a smooth whirl to a more choppy vortex has made a big difference to my microfoam and latte pour.

                      I had some people over yesterday, and managed to do three flat whites with a fairly consistent microfoam in each one, something I wasn't able to achieve prior to the vortex rolling technique as per the video tutorial above.

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                      • #12
                        And this morning's effort:


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                        • #13
                          https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HIuHvciUS9g
                          This link is prob the closest to mine.
                          i think you’ll find most baristas use this type of technique, but again the results are in the cup.
                          if you are texture how you like successfully and consistently they it’s right for you.
                          the commercial machines have more steam but with some practice it’ll be easy with the whirlpool also

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                          • #14
                            Thanks I've seen that video before, but it was so quick with the steaming power of a commercial machine the whole process is literally 8 seconds from start to finish.

                            Baristas probably use this technique as they are working with commercial machines like the one in the video.

                            My technique is not that different, but has two distinct stages with stage 1 being the stretch and incorporating air bubbles into the milk, and stage 2 being the whirling vortex which homogenises the frothed milk so give it just the right thickness to produce latte art. I haven't timed myself but I'd guess probably about 20-25 seconds from start to finish.

                            But as you say, the results are in the cup and there are lots of different ways to achieve silky microfoam that pours well.

                            I've just seen this video by Will Young, founder of Campos Coffee. He uses a Breville to do a great rosetta, but his technique is again different:

                            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stGGrugpa-g

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                            • #15
                              I think you’ll find he uses the whirlpool technique, just with the jug rotated.
                              instead of using the spout as a reference point on the steam want he has it rotated 90deg.
                              I use the spout on the steam wand, but it’s more about workflow. I use one hand to hold the jug whilst doing other things. You’d be surprised how much it can fee up time in a busy environment. Rinse a jug or clean a bit etc

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