Coffee is expensive, especially good coffee. While it may not cost as much as a diamond ring, or put a hole in your wallet equivalent to filling the gas tank of a Hummer, everyone wants to have their coffee beans last as long as possible.

Storing coffee is not as difficult as it may seem, though, there are some caveats. Just what do you do after opening that bag of freshly roasted coffee beans? Continue reading Coffee canisters and containers

Here is a step by step guide to drinking coffee! To fully appreciate the coffee and assess it quality an expert will adopt a methodical approach and some of this method will allow you to fully appreciate every sip of coffee you take.

Coffee tasting, or cupping as it also goes by, is the art of trying to taste and smell everything about a specific type of brewed coffee in order to build a flavor profile for it. When cupping, there are numerous things people look for, including aroma, taste, and mouthfeel. Continue reading Coffee Tasting

Foamed or frothed milk is a crucial part of some espresso based drinks, such as lattes and cappuccinos, seeing how it is often the only other ingredient involved. While just about all coffee shops steam their milk using an espresso machine, there are a few ways to do it at home that can yield steamed milk just as good as an espresso machine.

As far as frothing milk on an espresso machine, there are two different styles of steam wands offered by manufactures. One being the standard manual steam wand that requires proper technique, and the other being known as a Pannarello wand, which will automatically aerate the milk to perfection, without any input from the user. Continue reading Frothing milk for coffee

Espresso machines are the heart and soul of the professional and home cafe world. But, much like cars, espresso machines of all makes and models require preventative maintenance to be done on them to ensure their lifespan.

Be it the tiny steam powered espresso machine that can be purchased at any supermarket, or the kind seen in professional cafes that cost thousands upon thousands of dollars, all of them need some love now and again. In this article, I will focus mainly on semi-automatic machines, as they are some of the most common ones used. Continue reading Cleaning Espresso makers

Latte art: the beautiful designs made in espresso beverages that highlight the contrast between the white milk, and the dark espresso.

The trend started around the 1980’s and 1990’s, and latte art has been a growing trend in the professional cafe business, and home barista. Chances are, if you frequently go to a cafe, you’ve had one of these masterpieces perched atop your latte at one time or another. Continue reading How to do a leaf design on a flat white

Here we have some great examples of Latte art or coffee art.

These designs are made by getting the milk to the right micro foamed pour consistency and wiggling the milk into the coffee.

It takes practice both to get the milk right and to develop the correct pour and

flow technique.

Generally you’ll start to pour from high up to mix the milk and create a smooth light brown canvas. Then moving the jug from side to side and across the cup create the veins (this is quite a slow precise movement) then stream the milk up the middle to create the center vein.

The popular leaf design takes around 70 attempts before you get a feel for it and can do it consistently. Continue reading Creating awesome Latte Art