Taking Tips from a coffee champ

Taking Tips from a coffee champ
Scottie Callaghan is a former world Latte art and Barista Champion. Here are some of his tips for making the perfect coffee. I first met Scott when I did my barista training at Danes Coffee academy and I have followed his carreer closely. He is a truly amazing Barista

There are many coffee varieties available and the foundation of the coffee is the ESPRESSO

The espresso is the star. If you get the espresso right and only heat the milk once to 65 degrees celcius you will achieve a delicious coffee. If you get it wrong you will probably need to add lots of sugar to make it taste OK.

The base of all the coffee drinks on the Australian menu includei flat white, latte, cappucinno, mocha is an espresso, a ristretto, a double espresso or a double ristretto.

A ristretto is the first 15 mls of the espresso pour or extraction. An espresso is the first 30 mls of the espresso pour or extraction.

What determines the flavour of each particular coffee is the base, whether you use a ristretto or an espresso.

Each particular menu item can be served with any one of the four options as the base.

If a ristretto is used as the base then your coffee will be quite weak, if a double ristretto is used it will taste strong but not bitter.

If a double espresso is used your coffee will taste strong and bitter.

Once we have our coffee base, all we need to do is heat our milk on the steam wand, create some froth while doing so and control the level of thickness of the froth.

This thickness of froth on the top, and the size of the cup the coffee is served in are the only two factors that determine what your coffee is called.

A cappucinno for instance might have 15mm of throth while the flat white might have 3mm. The Latte will be served in a glass.

So it is important to to get the espresso shot right and only heat the milk once.