The website Wikihow has a good beginner’s guide to creating Latte Art, check it out! It helped me realize that one of my main problems has been how I heat the milk - I’m too focused on creating a nice layer of foam, which is the last thing you want when doing Latte Art.
Add comment May 1st, 2007
The Roasting Plant, a new cafe in New York, has taken coffee roasting to the next stage - roasting on demand, allowing customers to even request their own custom blend of beans. Their automated roasting machines also help ensure freshness, being able to roast whatever is needed, whenever it’s needed. I do wonder how the results are, for I’ve always been a believer of human interaction with the roast - you can’t just set time and temperature, for the ambient temperature and humidity can affect the roast, as can the specific batch of green beans you’re roast. Still, it’s entirely possible that The Roasting Plant’s machines can take this into account. Having truly fresh roasted coffee really DOES make a huge difference in my experience. It’s certainly worth trying. If any of you are near their shop at 81 Orchard Street in New York, stop on in and report back here with what you think! (via CoolHunting)
Add comment April 23rd, 2007
So what does it take for a mega-corporation like Starbucks to invent a new coffee drink? Well, this article over at MSNBC goes through the work that went into the creation of the Dolce De Leche Latte. It took them over a year to get it to the point where it was ready for the public! There’s a neat video about the drink at that site too.
Add comment April 11th, 2007
Photographer Irene Müller has captured some amazing photos of drops of milk falling into coffee. I know, I know, it sounds like a lame thing to spend your time photographing, but the results are incredible! Simply amazing. See the rest of this post for a few samples, or check out her gallery here. She has a lot of other very artistic photography on that site. (via yousaytoo)
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Add comment April 2nd, 2007
I hadn’t had any Kona for years, so when some green beans were given to me as a gift, I was very excited! That excitement faded after roasting the first quarter of a pound, when the results were, well…ordinary. The Kona lacked that special flavor that has always helped it stand out in the past. Thinking maybe I had over-roasted it, I backed off on my roasting profile for the second quarter pound. Still no better. I do think it’s likely to be a fault of my roasting style; I prefer beans that have been roasted well into their second crack. Shop around for roasted Kona beans, and they typically have a much lighter appearance, leading me to believe that roasting beans as long as I do takes away the subtle characteristics of the different coffees. Before I roast the final half a pound of Kona, I’m going to order a few more varieties of green beans to really test out this theory - I’ll roast some like normal, then stop some shortly after the first crack. I’ll report back on my results once done!
Add comment February 21st, 2007
About this time last year, we reported on some coffee by Caffe Sanora that contains very high levels of doctor-recommended anti-oxidants. They’re back in the news again, this time with a press release discussing some of the testing that has been done to validate their claims (you can read the press release here). If you’ve tried this coffee, please add a comment to this entry letting us all know what you think!
Add comment February 3rd, 2007
Italians sure do take their espresso seriously. Thank goodness too, for imagine what the coffee giants of the world may do to it otherwise? The latest news from Italy is that the National Institute for Italian Espresso has officially declared what a cappucino is. No, it’s not what you order at Starbucks. A proper cappucino contains a 25ml shot of espresso in a 150-160ml capacity ceramic cup. Add to that 125ml of milk (containing a minimum of 3.2% protein and 3.5% fat) that has been frothed and steamed to a temperature of 55C. Lastly, add sugar and stir gently, though I imagine that last step could be modified to suit personal tastes. Now, I’m not quite sure how these numbers add up, for if you froth 125ml of milk you’ll end up with quite a bit more than that volume, and thus your 150ml cup will be too small! This will require some further investigation. Anyway, Italian culture dictates that cappucinos are typically enjoyed in the morning; drink one after lunch and the Italians will know you’re a tourist! You can read more about this over at The Guardian.
Add comment January 1st, 2007
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