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! 

Kanteen Cafe (Mlbourne, Australia) - Review

154 Alexandra Avenue, 
South Yarra, VIC 3141
(03) 9827 0488
Open Mon-Sat 7am-3pm; Sun 8am-3pm

  ‎

Ah, the muddy Yarra River, with all its bohemian charm. Being from New Zealand and used to lush green native ferns and mossy trunks with plenty of oxygen, the murky yellow moors of the yarra reminded us of the dry unpredictable terror of the Australian terrain. But also just how innovative these people actually are. 
This modern "Kanteen" is a lovely example situated on the bank of the Yarra River. 

Further testament to the imagination of the victorians, its considered how lovely a sunday bike ride must be, destination: Kanteen. You can rent these bikes for something like $2.50 and ride along the river bank all the way to the cafe. Its a very pleasant journey and the cafe your reward. 

The food here will cost about $7 to $13 and ranges from breakfast to lunch dishes. You can check out their menu here. You will find that it is simple, and delicately made with excellent quality ingredients. I cannot say how good the coffee is as its was a scorcher of a day and all we could think of was buying an ice cold drink. 

The cafe sets the mood perfectly by playing lounge music. Combine that with the nature views, the simple but elegant architecture, and you have yourself a very enjoyable atmosphere.

Presentation & Atmosphere: 8.5/10 stars
Quality of Service: 7/10 stars
Value for Money: 6.5/10 stars
Quality of Drinks: 7/10 stars

Overall rating:  7.3/10 stars

Cafe L'Incontro, Melbourne (Austalia) - Review

Cnr Swanston and Lt Collins Streets
Melbourne CBD, 3000  
(03) 9654 6075

Cafe L'Incontro can be easily found along Swanston st as you walk into the Melbourne CBD away from the Flinders train station. It will be on you right. We had just won some money at the casino and were happily spending it on some food and alcohol. It was 10pm on Thursday night and this place was one of the few that was still open. The place was still packed with people, most of whom appeared to be Asians who were just passing through the country and did not speak much English. We ordered a bottle of pinot noir, lamb shanks, and calamari. All that cost us exactly $66 (AUD), which is not too bad considering that the bottle was half of that price.

The service was good. The guy at the counter was keen to crack a few jokes and was a bit of a quirky character. The girl who gave us the bill though did not even know what pinot noir was :P. Our wine arrived almost immediately. The food arrived about ten minutes later, which seemed surprising because the piece of lamb was quite large and thick. I'm not sure how they managed to cook such a massive piece of meat so quick and so tender.

We suspected that it was precooked reheated lamb. Anyway, the lamb tasted OK. It was tender and moist, but just lacking something. I'm not sure what it is, just seemed like it was not fresh. The mashed potatoes were good. Nothing special here. Mashed potatoes is not rocket science - even a 10 year old can make a decent pot of mash so I'm not going to rant about the potatoes. The calamari tasted OK, just OK. It was dry and lacked any real flavour. I had tasted far better calamari before.

The cafe atmosphere seemed average. It appears to be one of those places through which different people pass by all the time. It did not feel like a place which had a loyal following, and I can see why. The cafe was missing soul, a feeling of a cafe, a place where you want to sit down and enjoy the coffee and the atmosphere - the real essence of cafe culture was lacking. However if I was the boss of this cafe I would not care much for this because at such a central location you are always going to get customers. If you are sitting at one of the tables outside you are also bound to smell some horse poo every once in a while as this area often has the city tourist horses with their carriages pass by. I have not tried the coffee at this place, but do not see a reason why I would want too. Overall this cafe is disappointing.

Quality of service: 6.5/10
Quality of food: 5/10
Atmosphere and presentation: 4/10
Value for money: 6/10

Overall rating: 5.3/10

Cafe Brown Sugar, Melbourne (Australia) - A Review

25 Block Place,
Melbourne VIC 3000,
PH: (+61) 3 9639 7577   

Brown Sugar Cafe is located on Block Place, a small alley situated between Collins and Little Collins st. Block Place is a beautiful little alley full of cafes. We were very hungry and craving good coffee. Every corner of this alley was packed with people so you just have to take it easy as you make your way through the crowd.

It has just been raining and some of the tables and chairs were still wet. We found a table but the waiter kindly showed us to another table which was dry. Having a look at the menu the prices seamed reasonable., 15$ - 25$ (AUD) a meal. I ordered a cappuccino and Margarita pizza, while my partner ordered a mochachino with Eggs Benedict. The service was very nice and prompt. Our coffees arrived shortly after we made the order. The quality of the coffee was very satisfying, and seemed to quench our desperate craving for caffeine.

The food arrived about 20 minutes later. The Margarita pizza resembled a pizza bread sprinkled with some salad leaves, and tasted like bread with canned tomatoes and cheese. The Eggs Benedict looked good, like what you would get at any other half descent cafe. Over the last two years in Wellington, New Zealand, I have eaten many Eggs benedict dishes, and after a while they all start to look the same. Both meals tasted pretty good, although I expected the pizza to taste a bit more like an actual pizza rather than a pizza bread. I was too hungry to really care though, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The food portion sizes were quite small for the amount that we paid. Each meal was roughly $15. I cannot remember how much the coffee price was, but I can remember that it was reasonable, same as what majority of the other cafes charge around Melbourne. Overall I would definitely come back to the place for the coffee but probably not for the food given the portion sizes. But that's just me though as my stomach tends to be a bottomless pit.

Quality of Food: 6.5/10
Quality of Coffee: 7.5/10
Quality of Services: 8/10
Atmosphere and Presentation: 7.5/10
Value for money: 6/10
Average rating: 7.1/10

Emily's Place, Melbourne Central, Australia

Emily's Place

ABC Melbourne Central, 211 La Trobe Street
Melbourne Central
Ph:(03) 9654 7971 ‎

Emily's Place is tucked away along a narrow corridor, which leads to the central Melbourne mall. In contrast to the modern, clean finish look of the surrounding shops, bland footpaths, and cheap décor, Emily's Place is covered almost entirely in vanished timber. Coupled with decorations, which look like they've been pulled out of 18th century London, the cafe pulls you in with its comfortable and warm atmosphere. Oh yeah the coffee here is great too.

I personally think this one of my most favourite cafes so far. I say that because somehow among all this chaos you can still find little gems where its just nice to sit back, unwind, and let the weekend begin. 

Quality of service: 7.5/10

Quality of coffee: 8/10

Atmosphere and presentation: 8.5/10

Value for money: 7/10

Overall rating: 7.8/10