Barista Training
Mike and Kel Hastie Sunday Night Church Cafe
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Types of Coffee Espresso 30mL shot of coffee
CafĂŠ Latte 30mL shot of coffee + Steamed milk + 3-5mm milk foam Piccolo Latte Similar but only 30-50mL milk Cappuccino 30mL shot of coffee + 1/2 Steamed milk + 1/2 milk foam + chocolate Long Black Hot Water + 30mL shot of coffee
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Flat White 30mL shot of coffee + Steamed milk
Hot Chocolate 30-50mL melted chocolate + Steamed milk
CafĂŠ Mocha 30mL shot of coffee + Hot Chocolate + Steamed Milk + Milk foam + Chocolate Ristretto 15-20mL shot of coffee (Extra short over-extracted espresso)
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Espresso The most important part of the coffee is 30mL of espresso coffee (known as a shot). It should have a thick layer of oil on the top known as the crema. To extract the oils, high temperature water (98degC) is pushed through the coffee at high pressure (9bar). This is the purpose of an espresso machine. To control the pour under these conditions, three things need to be considered‌.
1.Grind The flavours and oils are best released into the water by grinding the coffee. As soon as the coffee beans are ground the oils start evaporating. Fresh coffee must be made immediately after grinding. Espresso coffee requires a fine grind which restricts water flowing through it allowing the oils to be extracted.
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2. Dosing Dosing is the technical term for the amount of coffee placed in the group handle. If it is over-filled then the handle will overcompress the coffee. If it is under-filled then the grinds will not have sufficient compression to control the water flow. The best diagnosis for dosing is after pouring the coffee. If the puck (left over coffee in basket) has deep indentations in it then it was overdosed, or if it is soggy it was underdosed.
3. Tamping The final process is to compress the grinds in the handle. This is done by pushing a tamper into it, taking care to tamp evenly to the edges. If you don’t do this then the water will be pumped through the areas of least resistance and resulting in an uncontrolled pour. A firm tamp (about 15kg) is necessary.
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The Golden Rule It is very difficult to perfect the grind, dose and tamp, although the grind should really be the only variable. To work out how fine the grind should be— use the golden rule*...
An espresso shot should be 30mL poured in 30 seconds. The coffee should start pouring from the spout a couple of seconds after pumping and should appear honey like, being thick and golden. As the shot comes to completion it will start to blonde (get lighter). This process shows that the oils have been almost completely extracted. If you pour beyond the blonding the shot will become bitter. Look for blonde stains in the shot as you pour. *This rule can be broken when pouring particular coffees. For instance a ristretto (15-20mL) may be poured over 30sec, producing a thicker, overextracted shot. By being shorter, it doesn’t suffer from the bitterness of a normal overextracted shot of espresso
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Underextraction If the espresso (30mL) is poured in less than 30 seconds then the water has not been in contract with the grinds long enough to extract the oils. The resulting shot will be sour and weak. This can be caused by pour tamping which results in channelling. Chanelling occurs when the water is pumped through a path of least resistance in your ground coffee. It can also be caused by a coarse grind.
Overextraction The reverse is true when the espresso takes longer than 30seconds to pour. The oils are over extracted and the resulting shot will be bitter and very strong seen as a very dark coffee (often with a brown ring around the edges—burnt oils). This can be caused by too fine a grind and in some cases too heavy a tamp.
A good appreciation of under and overextraction is best made by watching and tasting shots of coffee. Adding milk can mask the flavour making it difficult to perfect your shot.
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Milk Foaming the milk is quite difficult and often not done properly. It’s best done in two parts. First fill the jug with cold milk, up to the bottom of the spout (usually about half way) and purge any water out of the steam wand.
1. Surf
Sink the steam nozzle just below the surface of the milk and then turn the steam on full power. Raise the nozzle until air starts sucking in with the steam (listen for a kissing/hissing sound as the wand kisses the surface of the milk. DO NOT create bubbles) When the milk gets warm (about 40degC) sink the wand. The milk should have increased in volume by about 1/3 (latte milk) or 1/2 (cappuccino milk).
2. Sink
Sink the steam wand deep and start a whirlpool to mix the milk When the jug is too hot to hold (about 70degC) stop steaming.
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The resulting milk should be shiny, containing only the tiniest bubbles and it should be uniform. Once the milk is foamed it will start separating and the foam will form on top and the milk will separate to the bottom. It is therefore best to pour the milk straight away. Often the barista will bang the jug to remove any unwanted bubbles and then swirl it to avoid any separation. Pour steadily into the centre of the shot. This will stabilise the crema so that the final drink will have a shiny golden surface. At first it might be necessary to use a spoon to hold back foam so that your flat white doesn’t become a marshmallow topped cappuccino. In time you will learn the speed of pouring to appropriately distribute the foam.  A slow pour will pour out more foam  A fast pour will pour out less foam.
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Machine Basics Water Reservoir
Cup Warming Tray
Brew Switch
Brewing Group Spout Group Handle
Steam Wand Nozzle
Drip Tray
Double Basket
Single Basket
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Cleaning People often don’t realise how oily coffee is. The oils from the coffee can make quite a mess. The oil makes a mess of the appearance of the machine but it also starts developing inside the group and can effect the taste of the coffee. Similarly milk will burn onto the steam wand and looks unsightly and contaminates further foaming. After each coffee Run water through the group, using the basket to restrict flow which removes loose grinds. Wipe the steam wand clean (don’t use the chux you clean the table with!) Flush the steam wand (to avoid calcium build up) Check water level and empty drip tray if necessary. After several coffees (each week or at the end of a busy day) Wipe the entire machine down Flush the steam wand in a jug of water. Use a blind filter to backflush water through the group. This can be done with a special cleaning product(IMPORTANT: only do this on machines with 3-way solenoid—see next page) Soak the group handle and basket in cleaning product After 6 months Descale the machine using citric acid or equivalent
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Types of Machines Heat Exchanger (e.g. NS Oscar)
Steam Wand 3-way-solanoid Group
Steam
Heated Water Power to boiler
Drip Tray
Pump
A heat exchanger machine is capable of pouring shots of coffee and steam milk simultaneously. Note that if steam power is reduced due to excessive use, then the boiler is not reaching temperature and the water will not heat sufficiently for pouring shots.
Page 12 Barista Training Single Boiler (e.g. Silvia) Steam Wand 3-way-solanoid Group Steam
Heated Water Power to boiler. 2 heat modes: pour/steam Drip Tray Pump
A single boiler must manage pouring and steaming at separate times. This requires the management of the boiler as it cycle between the two heating modes.
Thermoblock (e.g. Sunbeam) Steam Wand
Pump Heating thermoblock
Thermoblocks are ‘instant’ water heaters. They produce low pressure steam and make texturising milk difficult. Some have different modes (pour/steam) with similar heating and cooling cycles, others have twin thermoblocks
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FAQ Q A
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When I am pouring my shots the coffee just gushes out. What am I doing wrong? This is commonly caused by the grind being too coarse. If you are on the finest setting that your grinder can go to then perhaps your grinder is not suitable. Many domestic grinders are not compatible with the pressure produced by semi and full commercial espresso machines. Why is there no crema on my shot? This can be caused by a couple of things. Firstly you might have underextracted your shot which means the oils aren’t extracted properly and therefore no crema. See ‘The Golden Rule’. Secondly, your beans might not be fresh. If the beans were roasted months ago or they were ground hours previously then the oils may have evaporated. When are beans fresh? Beans should be used about 4-7 days after roasting and not later than 3-4 weeks. If beans are used too early they will have a sharper flavour.
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I don’t have a grinder. Can I get a café to grind the beans for me? This is possible but will not produce good coffee. The reason is that you will not be able to adjust the grind leaving only tamping and dosing to control the flow rate of the pour. These are not effective methods to do so. The ground beans will also lose their oils very quickly, and you will have difficulty getting any crema.
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Why can’t I create a whirlpool in my milk? Learning your machine and the fine adjustments of the steam wand can take time. If using a boiler machine then slightly angle the steam wand and sink it deep (but not to the bottom) to push the milk around in a circle. If you are using a thermoblock machine you may need a larger angle and a reduced depth (you might need to ’surf’ longer too) to push the milk around because of the reduced pressure in steaming.
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How long does the machine need to be on before I make coffee? A boiler machine should be on for 30-45min before you make coffee. This is to bring the entire machine (including the group head) up to a uniform temperature. This can be done faster by running hot water through the group and steam wand. A thermoblock machine takes very little time to heat up because of it’s ‘instant heating’ design.
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