for the love of coffeee

this week I fell more in love with coffee...

I took a Barista course with Katy & Dean and learned so much about the history of coffee, how they are roasted, the different types of beans, blends, origins etc.  It is believed that the coffee bean was first consumed in Ethiopia, not as a roasted bean but as a raw berry  used for tea.  Then someone thought lets roast it to make it less bitter... but then that actually made it more bitter, so they thought lets boil it! They drank the liquid it was boiled in and voila! Coffee as we know it today was born somewhere around the Arabian Peninsula.  Coffee was prepared and consumed the way modern day Greeks & Turks drink coffee prior to the Italian invention of the espresso machine.  The espresso machine forces nearly boiling water (92-96 degrees) under pressure through finely ground coffee beans resulting in a higher concentration, thicker consistency and stronger flavours, a good rule of thumb for a good espresso ensuring all other constants are fixed, is to extract 30 ml of coffee in 30 seconds.  During the class we did just that; practised extracting delicious espresso, learning the techniques of frothy and textured milk and tricks of the trade to ensure that we always have the best possible tasting coffee.  

Result: 

I LOVE coffee even more!!! I want to buy an espresso machine just so I can make delicious coffee every day.  It makes me appreciate the good baristas who have served me delicious coffee because it is not an easy trade... there is so much art to it.  (I swear it is not the extra large cappuccino I just drank talking).  For instance this latte art is awesome and I want to make cool things like this one day. 

Image taken from: http://x-weird.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/beautiful-cafe-latte-art-designs.html

p.s. filter coffee sucks