Espresso, Ristretto, Short Macchiato and a G&T

Learn new stuff - it's on the list.  And seeing as I'm currently happily unemployed, seemed like as good a time as any to learn a few new skills. Might come in handy when we hit the dusty road. 

So with my trusty partner in crime against common sense (Belinda "let's do a stand-up comedy course" Dane), we rocked up at our Barista course at 9am one Saturday morning. First up, a bit about The Bean.  I sort of knew that 100% Arabica was the good stuff, but to be honest, that was about it.  Arabica is more expensive and often mixed with Robusta beans to save $$$. Robusta contains more caffeine.  As for "single origin" it's a matter of taste, with some blends containing up to 5 different beans.

Next up, making the coffee. 7-9g of coffee in the basket for a single, 14-18g for a double.  Water should push through at 88 - 92 degrees and 25 - 30ml of coffee should take 25 - 30 seconds to come out. Slower than that, the grind is too fine - time to fiddle with the grinder.  If your favourite cafe is pushing out coffees faster than that - then they are not doing you any favours! Go elsewhere.

Espresso, Ristretto, Cappuccino, Cafe Latte, Long Black, Short Macchiato, Long Macchiato and Flat Whites. So many choices.

On to the fun part.  Engines warmed and machines at the ready.  Coffee into the group handle, tap, press down and lock it in. Harder than it looks, but after a bit of jiggling, we're ready to go. Push the button and out comes the coffee.

Then comes the milk and the art of heating/frothing.  It's all about nozzle position and depth.  Put the two together and there we have it, a coffee.  After making several styles, with mixed success, we thought we'd better taste a few of our efforts - not bad.  Countless cups of coffee later, there we were, proud holders of a Barista Coffee Making Course certificate. 

Was certainly a fun 4 hours and I don't think I'll ever be able to look a coffee in the same way again - now that I'm a professional and all.  I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so don't think I'll progress to the coffee art course - but who knows.

Next up, because you never know when you might need to serve alcohol at somewhere other than at a BBQ or breakfast, we went back and did our Responsible Service of Alcohol course. Drinking responsibly is a whole other thing - which we may or may not yet have mastered. 

So there we have it. We are now armed and ready.