What is a Cortado?

One of my favorite espresso drinks is one that you cannot find everywhere.

It is perfect for fall and spring

(those in between weather seasons)

because it is a warm drink served cooler than most.

It is a cortado.

Cortado means "cut" in Spanish.

So in essence, the drink is espresso "cut" with milk.

The drink is hard to come by,

but my favorite local shop, The Coffee Ethic, let me invade their space so I could write about one of my favorite drinks right now.

The drink is comes in a 4 oz. shot glass with two shots of espresso and steamed milk.

This makes it in between the size and strength of a macchiato and a cappuccino. 

The milk is steamed a little cooler than a macchiato

but with the consistency of milk in a latte.

This basically means that it is thinner or has less foam

but served at a low temp.

I LOVE cortados!

They are beautiful, Spanish and yummy,

and they are perfect for those days when you cannot decide between hot and iced coffee.

I highly recommend them.

(especially from The Coffee Ethic)

-Coffeegirl

All photos were taken by me, and the drink was made by Mallory McWilliams, Barista at The Coffee Ethic.

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What is a Cappuccino?

Drink made and Photo Taken by Jacque Desmarais

"Cappuccino" is a fairly common drink to order at your local coffee shop,

but what is a REAL cappuccino?

It is...

...unlike most gas stations would have you believe.

"Cappuccino" literally means "a small cap" in Italian.

The traditional Italian drink is made with:

This is very similar to a latte.

The main difference is that a cappuccino is served cooler, has more foam, and higher milk to espresso ratio.

In other words, this little 6 oz. drink has a kick.

Crafting the perfect cappuccino is no easy task.

Temperature is important.

The espresso shot is paramount.

The amount of foam is crucial.

And the presentation seals the deal.

One way to test a "perfect cappuccino" is the spoon test.

Lightly, scoop the spoon over the foam.

This should reveal about 1 cm of foam..

...if it is perfect!

Traditional cappuccinos, or cappes, are definitely my favorite drink.

Mine are usually gone in an instant!

Good luck to your coffee endeavors!

-Beth

Cappuccino made and photos taken by Bethany Parry at The Coffee Ethic in AG Headquarters.

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21st Street Coffee and Tea

This week it is time for a coffee shop review!

As you all know, I spent last week in Pittsburgh

and visited many coffee shops.

My favorite being 21st Street Coffee and Tea:

They serve Intelligentsia coffee in an excellent way.

I thought their sign, "We encourage you to taste your drink as served," was well...

*Sigh

I understand the heart behind the sign,

and it made me giggle.

However, it did come across a little awkward to customers.

I got a cappuccino,

as usual.

(I know I am getting predictable.)

It was yummy.

The espresso was good,

but the milk was perfection

with a lovely tulip on top.

My favorite part of the shop was the secret upstairs where you can look down and see their Clover machine.

So cozy and perfect!

I also went back and got 12oz. of Tanzania Edelweiss coffee bean.

I have been enjoying many French presses this week from these beans.

Very citrus and pomegranate like

Overall, I had a fabulous experience at 21st Street Coffee and Tea.

The Baristas were helpful.

The coffee was excellent quality.

The space was creative and cozy.

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Brewing Basics: The French Press

A press pot, also known as the French Press, is a coffee brewing method technique that allows the coffee grounds to steep in hot water and then the grounds are “pressed” to the bottom of the French Press. There are many ways to make a press pot, but The I make my press pots with a technique that I believe best showcases the coffee.

You will need:

1.       50 g Coffee beans

2.       A scale

3.       A grinder

4.       Hot water

5.       A French Press

1.  Shine the French Press with a paper towel.

2.  Zero out the scale with a silver cup on top and set to grams. This means to put the cup on the scale, turn it on, and wait for the reading to be zero before adding any beans. If the scale is set on ounces, press the on button a second time before it reads zero to change it to grams.

3.  Weigh out 50 grams of coffee. 

4.  Grind the beans in the ­Bunn grinder on the course setting. Catch the grinds in the press pot without the lid on.

5.  Steep the grinds in hot water (just below boiling) and fill up to the top silver line. I usually let the water kettle whistle at me or get to boiling, and then take the kettle off the stove for 30 seconds to let it cool down.

6.  Start timer and let the grinds bloom. “Bloom” means to let the grinds saturate in the hot water. The picture to the right illustrates what it should look like at this stage.

7.  At one minute, stir the grinds so that they are all wet.

8.  At three minutes, start scraping the top grinds off using  spoons, as pictured below. 

9.  At four minutes, put on the lid and slowly press down.

10. Enjoy.

I took all of the pictures of my co-worker David in action.

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What is a Latte?

This week for "Adjusting the Grind" I wanted to answer the question:

A Latte is one of the most basic espresso based coffee drinks (coffee brewed on a espresso machine). It is the drink I most often recommend to newcomers because it is a safe, basic drink that you can have fun with if you want.

"Latte" literally means "milk" in Italian.

So why is this coffee drink called a latte?

Well, "Latte" is short for "Cafe Latte".

"Cafe" literally means coffee in Italian.

So if you went to Italy and ordered a cafe latte, you would get a funny look and receive something that looked like this. 

However, Americans changed this. A cafe latte is not a part of the main traditional Italian drinks like the cappuccino. Caffee Mediterraneum, in Berkeley, California, claims to be the place where the American cafe latte was born. According to them, one of their owners, Lino Meiorin, came over from Italy in the 1950's and created a larger cappuccino with more milk to appeal to a wider crowd. 

Today, the cafe latte has become to be espresso + steamed milk.

Compared to a cappuccino, a cafe latte has less espresso to the milk ratio and less foam in the steamed milk. It is also served at a higher temperature than a cappuccino. In a 12 oz. or tall latte (like pictured here), there is  two shots of espresso mixed with steamed milk. 

That is all!

But the great thing about lattes is they are the basis for many other coffee drinks. For example, a mocha is a latte with chocolate. So be creative with your latte, but it fantastic all on its own as well. 

I took and own all of these photos of my co-worker, David, in action.

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Brewing Basics: The Bee House Dripper

Since I am giving away a Bee House, I thought I would give you a tutorial on how to brew coffee on a Bee-House.

First off, a Bee-House is a type of brewing device called a "pour-over". I am giving away a Bee-House from PT's Coffee Roasting Co. Here is what their site has to say about it.

Necessary Tools:

• A Bee-House
• #2 Paper Cone Filters from a local grocery store
• A kettle to boil water in
• A scale
• Coffee beans (24g to 26g)
• A grinder
• A timer

 

How-To Make the Pour-Over:

1. Start the kettle of water on the stove.
2. Weigh 24g to 26g of coffee depending on the type of coffee.
3. Grind coffee to a ground somewhere between french press and drip coffee.
4. Fold the #2 Filter at both ends and place in Bee House.
5. Place Bee House on a cup or something that can hold 12 oz of liquid.
6. When the water comes to a boil, take the kettle off and rinse the filter with the hot water. [This also brings the Bee House and mug to a higher temperature.]
7. Dump hot water.
8. Place cup and Bee House on scale.
9. Put coffee grounds in Bee House.
10. Zero the Scale. And changer to oz.
11. You want the water to be at a little over 200 degrees Fahrenheit, so it is okay to let it sit on the stove for about 30 seconds before actually letting it touch the coffee.
12. Pour water in the Bee House just enough to wet the grounds.
13. Start Timer!
14. Let "bloom" or sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute. [This depends on the age of the coffee. The closer the roast date the shorter the "bloom", generally speaking.]
15. Pour water at a steady pace in a figure 8 motion until the water reached about 1.5 centimeters from the top.
16. Finish pouring very slowing to maintain the height of the water in the middle of the Bee House until you have 13.6 ounces of water.
17. Let the water finish dripping. It should take between 2.5 and 3 minutes.
18. Enjoy your cup of coffee from your Bee House.

 Keep in mind this is how I make my coffee in my Bee House. There are many other ways to make it out there as well. Some Baristas suggest different ratios or pouring techniques. Experiment. Make it your own.

Here is a good video on making a Bee House from Topeca. He uses a slightly different technique than what I shared, but if you are a visual learner this might help:

 If you want to win your own Bee House Dripper, get your friends to follow my blog! Enter my give-away!

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From Seed to Cup: A Tulsa Experience

So today for Adjusting the Grind, I am going to do a coffee shop review for you. This weekend, I did a quick trip to Tulsa, OK, to visit Travis's momma. While I was there, I took the opportunity to check out Topeca, a coffee shop two Baristas suggested I check out.

http://www.topecacoffee.com/

Topeca is located in downtown Tulsa, OK, in an interesting hotel building. The decor is fabulous--very inviting, cozy, and Latin-inspired. It serves a full food menu along with coffee.

The menus are hanging chalkboards behind the bar. My favorite part is how they list each size for the coffee drinks, and next to cappecino it says, "Only the perfect size". Love how they turned what can sometimes be negative (only serving the traditional 6oz or 8oz cappecino) into something special.

The coffee of the day was Santa Ana, a blend of coffee grown in the highest elevations of Finca Manzano. They describe it having a lime fragrance, and it is a fully-washed coffee. However, I ordered a cappecino for there, and a bag of beans of Santa Ana to take home with me.

My cappecino was very good, a little too foamy for my liking, but overall a great drink. I gave the Barista working a lot of grace, though, because the place was packed on a Sunday afternoon. It was evident this was an unusual amount of people on a Sunday afternoon because there was only one Barista and one chef on duty.

Travis's mom ordered a Turkey and Swiss Panini, which she let me try. It was delicious, and so was the side salad with some sort of raspberry dressing.

However, what makes Topeca stand out in my mind is not the atmosphere, the coffee, or the food, (even though all of those things are excellent) but how they source their coffee. The coffee farm, roaster, and cafe is all owned by the same people. This is called a "Seed to Cup" method. Their farms are all in El Salvador and have been around since the 19th Century when the founder brought coffee trees from Colombia to El Salvador. Now, six generations later the legacy lives on through their shop and roaster.

This process allows them to control the quality and create meaningful relationships between farmers and Baristas and roasters. All of the people involved are intrinsically connected on a deeper level. I like that.

They also are able to give back to the communities they grow coffee through an El Salvador non-profit called "Libras de Amor".

I greatly enjoyed my experience at the shop yesterday and my cup of coffee in my El Salvador mug this morning. If you are ever in Tulsa, you should check Topeca Coffee out!

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Adjusting the Grind

I apologize for this post being late. School started on Monday, and the beginning of this semester is proving to be more chaotic than most. You will understand more later. 

To start off, I thought I might explain the title of this new series: "Adjusting the Grind". This is common Barista lingo for changing how course or fine a grind might be on the coffee grinder. It is most often used to refer to adjusting the grind of an espresso grinder.

My boss explained it to me like this. Imagine courser coffee grounds are pebbles and finer coffee grounds are pieces of sand. If you pour water through, which will the water move faster though? The pebbles. In other words, courser grounds allow the water to "move faster" through the coffee; whereas, finer grounds allow the water to "move slower" through the coffee.

Different brew methods call for different grinder settings as well. For example, a French Press, or Press Pot, requires a course setting because the brew time is longer (about 4 minutes), and the coffee grounds sit in the hot water instead of passing through. However, espresso requires a very fine setting because the brew time is so short (about 25 to 30 seconds). 

Because espresso is so fine, it also requires adjustments throughout the day. Any minute change like the weather, time of day, or the espresso machine can affect the espresso's taste. A good Barista recognizes this and adjusts the grinder accordingly.

If you are interested in learning more about adjusting the espresso grinder, this video does a great job explaining the process a Barista goes through:

I chose "Adjusting the Grind" for the title of this coffee series because it is my hope to adjust the way the average person views coffee. The industry is changing, and as a Barista, it is my duty to try to bridge the communication gap between the bar. Coffee education is important to me, and I hope to share my little knowledge with you piece by piece.

So next time you are in a local coffee shop, you can impress your Barista by asking, "How is the espresso doing today?" or "Have you had to adjust the grind, today?"

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What's the Point of Coffee?

Welcome to my new coffee series: Adjusting the Grind.

Adjusting the Grind's goal is to provide the everyday person with tips and tools to better understand coffee.

I hope to provide both education on its history and give fun brewing tips from a Barista's perspective. I will always be open for questions and topic suggestions, so please, feel free to suggest, comment, ask, and voice your opinion. I do not claim to be an expert by any means, but I do love coffee and working as a Barista on a daily basis. 

Today's topic is philosophic in nature:

What is the Point of Coffee?

Is it to stay awake during finals week?

Or wake up after you slept too little the night before?

Or to taste good?

Or to analyze?

Or to bring people together?

Weheartit

I know someone whose response to this question is to taste good. 

Period.

I agree with him to a point. I think the point of coffee is different for everyone though. For me, coffee equals people.

I would rather drink Folgers with friends and family than Esmeralda (that is a really great coffee) by myself.

Even when I drink coffee by myself, it is a ritualized time with myself that I allow to gather my thoughts or just slow down.

In all cultures, coffee is an invitation for friendship, my mom always says.

And I agree with her.

I know, that coffee is inherently an inanimate beverage meant for consumption,

but I enjoy the humanity behind the cup of black water.

The process of making coffee has so much humanity integrated in it 

from the coffee tree to the coffee mug.

I guess, this can be applied to any product,

but I think it is easy to get sucked into the mechanics and details of coffee making 

and miss the humanity.

I love my job because there is absolutely nothing like

listening to a customer's needs,

selecting a product for them,

crafting their drink with heart,

and seeing their face light up as you pass the cup across the counter

knowing you just brightened their day a little bit.

Yes, it will taste good,

but that is not why I made it,

and that is not why I drink it.

What is the Point of Coffee to You?

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