That Life Saving Liquor (How to Make Coffee)

It’s winter again and noticed this blog hasn’t had many recent posts, we’ve been busy of late, settling into yet another city, Auckland city, having come home from Melbourne, Alex and I have taken our time to find suitable work and finally, it seems we are clear for take-off.

A is at another company and I am working for a small boutique in one of Auckland’s more fashionable suburbs. As always, budgeting has been a challenge but we always take time out to go café-hopping. I was watching a video of another you-tuber who made her own chicken-dumpling soup for her family and kids. She mentioned something which stuck – teach your kids to cook and it will nurture a lifetime love of food and this helps them to look after themselves later in life. I think I my case, this has been absolutely true.   Inspiring me to deliver words of wisdom in this next exciting post:

We’ve all enjoyed it, it’s what keeps us going and let’s be honest, got me through most of my uni-essays and personal challenges, it is the amazing…….Coffee! Why coffee you ask. Triumphs and tribulations aside, coffee has remained a dear and loyal friend through the years. Many don't know how long it takes to prepare this humble life saver.

..grown in tropical regions of the world with hot climates, high rainfall and good drainage. The green beans is one of the two seeds from the cherry of the coffee tree. A coffee tree takes four to five years to mature, after which it can produce enough cherries to yield one kilogram of roasted coffee each year. There are two main species of coffee tree: Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephoris, commonly called robusta….[from Godfrey, J. Cafe L’affare (eds.).2010, ‘How to Make Really Good Coffee.’ Random House; Auckland.

The coffee then goes through an arduous process of picking (by hand), processing (involving soaking to remove the husk), sorting and grading and finally roasting. This is done by a gas-fired rotating drum tumbling the green beans constantly throughout the roast cycle. Lighter roasts have a lighter fruit flavour while darker have an alluring bitter, smoky and burnt characteristic…(Godfrey et al)

Encouraged, we purchased our own industrial home coffee-machine, complete with tamp, milk frother and pressure gauge.  See below:

Home Coffee Machine

Like anything, home-‘barista-ring,’ started a mega -challenge. Mainly due to the urban snobbishness of Welly youth proclaiming you have to have some “2 years experience” making coffee to call yourself a professional.

Boiled right down, all it is is this:

1)   Get yourself a grinder (about 40 bux from your homeware store) and grind up your beans.  

2)  Grind about 8-10 tablespoons of coffee and place in tamp pictured above on the bottom-left. Push down with the cap of a juice bottle about the same girth as the tamp circumference.  Push as heavy as twice your elbow’s weight that’s 25-30lbs of pressure (People’s Coffee (2013). Peoples Coffee Barista Book; New Zealand. p42). When ready, slot into the “group head of the coffee machine,” seen above.

3)  Now get your latte glass, and press one shot delivering 30ml of “extraction.” A good extraction should be like a heavily-reduced gravy sauce, if any thinner, you haven’t applied enough pressure. Go back to step 2.

4)   Now let’s froth the milk. Full fat milk produces the best results but if you are watching your figure, trim milk requires a slightly longer process of texturing. You can adjust this later. Fill up the texturing jug shown above half way. Place the coffee machine nozzle just below the surface of the steam wand, turn the dial to release the steam. As the milk warms and grows, the nozzle should be kept at the top of the milk to continue to “stretch the milk.” (Remember from highschool chemistry, molecules of milk expanding but keeping its elasticity like polystyrene or dough). Once the side of the texturing jug feels too hot to touch, i.e. you can’t keep your finger on it for longer than a second, the milk is done. Turn off the dial immediately ….[from Godfrey, J. 2010, ‘How to Make Really Good Coffee.’ Auckland; Random House.p20.

1)   Swirl the milk in the texturing jug for 4 seconds, then remove with a desert spoon, the top layer of foam. Pour onto your 30ml extraction.

Here are NZ’s most popular coffees:

Ristretto - 70ml demitasse cup (the tiny cup), 30ml extraction

Short Black – 70 ml demitasse cup, 50ml dbl shot

Macchiato - 70 ml demitasse cup, 50ml dbl shot, a splash of textured milk by spoon on top

Latte -  220 ml glass, 40ml shot, 180ml lightly textured hot milk

Long Black – 150ml cup, 90ml hot water, 50ml dbl shot, extraction poured on top of water    undisturbed

Flat White – 150ml cup, 40ml dbl shot, 110ml lightly textured milk

Cappuccino – 190ml cup, 30ml dbl shot, 170ml textured hot milk            (ibid, p25-39)

Lastly, see some photos of a visit to Wellington Embassy Theatre, where we enjoy a good read, our favourite brew and for me it seems a lie down, see you next time and hope your coffees turn out great! Bon-appetite!