Saturday, May 05, 2007

Geek Terminal : Coffee from the Heart

Are you a coffee lover, or are you a caffeine addict? Think about it.

Introducing Danny, one of the rare certified barista in Singapore. He makes coffee from the heart. Though I am not a coffee drinker, but I learned quite a bit from him just by his explanation while making a cup of espresso. He's one of the partners of Geek Terminal.



If you want to know more, go over for a cuppa. Just like the crowd of people that was there last nite, you might just taste your best coffee!

OK. Back to photo blogging.

This is "Coda di topo" or "mouse tail" in Italian. The flow out is determine by the coarseness of the grind and also the flow of water. Barista can take a look and know if other barista has done all the basics correct.



The espresso, which is approx 20 ml. (If I heard correctly.)
Correction: 30ml. (thank Danny for the correction)



Next it is to froth the milk for top up the espresso. In some places, you see a thermometer in it, but for an expert barista like him, he knows exactly when the desired shine and thickness of the frothy foam is achieved. (see his hands acting as a thermometer, and his eyes on the milk)

Doing it correctly, it should start with cold fresh milk and milk should not be heated beyond 70 C. When milk is heated or steamed, the lactose or 'milk sugar' becomes more soluble and the perceived sweetness also increases. It's one reason why if the froth is done properly, you do not need to add sugar to your espresso.



The frothed milk is mixed with the espresso.



The next few picture shows you the 'coffee art', where you get the designs on top of the coffee.






If you realise, the way he pours the milk into the cup, the design appears!
* See the chope chope section below for more pictures of it.. *



Our barista is drawing ping.sg for the group of us that was there.











Turn the cup facing us, there you go. ping.sg espresso.




ok. the chope chope section.
before i go... let me show you another set of coffee art.

Look at this expert do it! The patterns appears by the way he pours the froth milk!







Cool ya, the last swipe of the pour creates the palm like design.

Hope you enjoyed today's post.



Stumble Upon Toolbar

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Keropok, his name is DANNY not Daniel lah.

Thanks for your brilliant photos. They are taken so well. For our new digital, I will know who to look for already. :)

Hope to see you soon in Geek Terminal.

Unknown said...

oopsie.

name corrected.

Unknown said...

Hey Keropok, your pictures rock. Like they say, a picture paints a thousand words. thanks for a very interesting picture. I thought I was doing every thing very quickly, yet you managed to click the essentials. Fastest trigger finger in Singapore.

By the way, the exact pour for an espresso is 30ml in 25-30 secs according to SCAE and SCAA standards.

Ciao!

batman

Anonymous said...

Very cool! Thanks KM!

Anonymous said...

I'm a kopi drinker, without the sugar :D ...so espresso is for me.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for great explanation! I want to drink coffee now! :P

Ming the Merciless said...

Cool design on the cuppucino. He is definitely an expert. I see this cuppucino competition on TV a lot but never met one who can make the palm or heart shape design on the coffee.

ClappingTrees said...

Great photos, Keropok. And great "work" on the cappucino, Danny.

I met the man (Danny) yesterday. Must say that it had been a pleasure and his service is simply impeccable!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin