Latte Art Workshop

My birthday present....yes....you might be wondering...but her birthday was in December...but in between the Latte Art Workshop occuring once a month and me working on the ships.....Liezl finally managed to find a date for the two of us to execute my birthday present....Liezl also invited her friend Craig as well as Johnny.....so Saturday 9am, it all started.....

Latte Workshop 8th June

First we learnt how to make the perfect espresso

-grind the beans according to the gringer's instructions....fine for espresso pots, medium to coarse for french press

-fill the pot to the top, smooth it even

-temper (the harder you temper, the more dense, the more bitter...thus less tempering means less strong)

-then execute the espresso....ideally in 30s, you make a 30ml espresso....that is the ideal

When the espresso starts running into the cups...its called rat's tails...and believe it or not....when the coffee comes out from 2 nozzles it is a better coffee than coming out from a single nozzle...have a look at my rat tails....

My attempt at espresso

After that...time to learn how to make the perfect foam....milk will be steamed to between 60 to 65 degrees, then fill milk a third of the way in the jug, place the nozzle into milk, just so it touches milk......make bubbles, then swirl the jug for velvety texture....bump jug air bubble up (hit jug on table), pour milk from one jug to another to mix and ensure the right amounts are in each jug for 2 cups.....now the hard part is....while you do all this the coffee is coming out to make the perfect espresso, espresso is being executed...and you must watch the machine to sop espresso after 30s....BUT if you concentrAte too much on timing, your nozzle goes in too far and no foam at all forms.....and if you let the one jug stand too long.....then the milk and foam seperates...which i kind of liked....cause then i could add more foam than milk to my cappuccino.....and here some pics....

Me trying o get it right

Liezl designing a leaf

Liezl succeeding

Me tempering

Liezl, Johnny and me

After that.....we started to learn how to do foam designs....and man...that is not easy at all....with some help i managed to do a type of tulip...alone...totally...let's not go there....and then for the rest of the course (total 3hrs) we practiced making perfect cappuccinos and got some sandwiches at the end....hell..the amount of milk we went through....amazing....so...hiw do you pour foam...you tilt the cup, start pouring the milk into the middle of the cup (first will be asmall blob), then slowly pour milk around the cup until almost the top (while doing that ake jug further away from cup), then bring the cup closer again, which will push out th foam and you can start your designs.....(a heart: blog in the middle and then pull the jug away from you, leaf: blob in the middle and pull jug towards you. fern: make about 4 swiggles towards you and pull out). I earnt a lot and now i definitely want to to the basic Barista course....let's see whether i can find some more pics....

A type of tulip....i think.....

Espresso and the crema on top (a good espresso has crema)

Let' temper (pot filled to rim and as you temper is becomes dense and smooth and is no longer filled to the rim)

A beautiful heart

To end this blog....i would like to thank Liezl for organising such a great birthday present...loved it....then again...i love cappuccinos so...what a great gift.....

Also...the pics used in this blog are photos mostly taken by Craig Barendson and Liezl van Rensburg....so thank you again...the photos are absoloutely amazing...and definite talent..

 

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