You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Machinary' category.
Just thought I’d speak about super automatic machines.
Much as the guys on Too Much Coffee will put these sort of machines down I have a few good words to say about them. Don’t take this as a crusade though.
The one thing that machines are good at, any type of machine, is replicating things exactly the same over and over again. In coffee terms it means that you will get consistency over and over again from a super automatic machine. That may mean the same bad cup of coffee over and over again but at least you know where you stand.
I’m a fan of super automatics, not because of the cup quality which comes out of them but for the awareness and buzz they have created in the business. A lot more people are asking about espresso and the process of extraction than ever before. I’m sure it has a lot to do with the super automatic. 5 years ago how many people would have a cup where the coffee had been ground seconds before they receive it. I’m guessing very few indeed.
So much as these machines are not liked thay have helped the cause of the aficionados by helping spread the fresh coffee word.
Anyway, the reason for this post is that I’m going to do a tasting during organic fortnight with one of my friends at his deli in Jesmond, Newcastle. I want to serve Espresso Latte and Cappuccino samples with organic coffee.
I have a Simonelli microbar which I can use which is Tanked and perfect for the location. So I set about it with my Bag of Mexican organic beans the manual and an enthusiastic manner to see what results I could get.
The first espresso I pulled was thin with no crema and exited in a stupidly fast 4 seconds. This was due to the factory setting I presumed. Looking at the cake in the disposal bin I could see the puck with huge grounds and a great change in colour through it and a bit damp.
So.. An extra second on the grinder giving me more coffee and a fiddle with the grind brought the extraction time to 12 seconds with the start of some crema on the shot. Woohoo I thought , I’m getting somewhere.
A few more tweaks and I had the extraction time at 18 seconds with a pretty good crema although quite blond.
Two of the additions the new Microbar has is a pre infusion system which I had not played with untill now and a tamping system. I introduced a tamp and a pre infusion and I had a shot of 20 seconds with an extraction which only started to blond right at the end. Hurrah.
A little play with its steam wand and I was rolling some microfoam and botching some latte art like the amateur I am.
See under… yuk.
Thoroughly impressed with the machine – for a super automatic.
So now I’m all set to wow his customers next friday with my ‘modern’ Latte art next friday.
I need to spend some time on a machine, god i’m gettig rusty
All the best
Apologies for the Lateness of this post: so much to tell you guys not enough time.
Anyway I wanted to talk/rant about a new machine which has drawn my attention and also a lot of others in recent week and the benefits it brings to small/medium roasters like ourselves
It’s a single brew ‘filter’ machine, which will enable cafe’s to serve quality specialty coffee (and by that I mean single origin and not mocha choca latte) quickly and correctly.
The Clover has parameters which the barista can change for each specific coffee thus creating easy to use extraction profile. I have seen a lot of comment on blogs and news article praising its versicitility. Having not played with it myself I will have to reserve judgment until early 2007 , the expected time of a UK release. I can’t wait. The prospect of a large amount of people tasting the subtle flavors that we see in the cupping room is an exiting one. The Idea of someone stepping into their local cafe and have a constant, fantastic cup of coffee that’s not stewed or badly made really gets my juices going as an trainee roaster. Hopefully it will change the ‘instant coffee’ culture that we see around us and force retailers to up their quality train their staff properly.
The pessimist inside me brings me back to my favorite pet hate. Operator laziness. I can spot holes for the operators to slide through. I like to think of these so called ‘baristi’ like water, they will always take the route of least resistance. I’m sure lots, if not most will neglect to change the profile for each coffee, just as they will forget to backflush there espresso machine for 10 days. So its still down to each individual operator to get things right.
A good example of something similar to this is when Malcolm (my uncle) and I were in Seattle being taken on a tour of the city by Dietrich coffee Roasters and were taken to Costco. They had recently purchased a roaster from them and were roasting in store. Gushing at the prospect of showing us his profile roaster at work with a form filled packaging machine in tow we were shown the controls and the process from start to finish. He then revieled to us at the end of the demo that the monkey who had been operating the machine had set the wrong roast profile for the coffee they were supposed to be roasting.
Although this was a little daunting at first, seeing someone produce well roasted coffee from a shop floor with little or no experience, that comment made me feel a little more at ease. The roasters craft is safe for a few years yet.
As a part time barista the clover makes me feel good about coffee and what we can offer to the public.
So, the clover is a development in the tools of a barista, not replacement of them. Just as the profile roasting system was for the roaster.
Viva La Barista
Recent Comments