Of Flat Whites, Viennas and Mochaccinos… at about a square peg in a round hole

Of Flat Whites, Viennas and Mochaccinos…

8 Comments Published by square January 22nd, 2006 in Thoughts

I made my first cup of coffee today.

No, no. I don’t mean coffee from a Percolator or a French Press, Turkish Briki, Stove Top Espresso Pots or Automatic Drip Machines; (types of coffee makers). And definitely NOT from instant coffee. Hell no!

I made my first cup of barrista-styled, professional quality coffee, using the huge ass coffee machine at the cafe I work at. My manager walked me through the basics – grinding the beans, setting it and compressing it into the shot measure/attachment thing-um-a-jiggy, to scalding milk and pouring, all careful and scientific steps to create the perfect Flat White.

It was fun! And quite intimidating I tell ya, for a virginal coffee-maker/barrista pretender.

And the verdict? My Flat White, I was told, was almost perfect! Pretty good for my first cuppa.

Then I came home, dug out my Sunbeam home coffee-maker and tried my very best to impress my old man. And boy, was it bad. The espresso was weak, crema fleeting, and the milk. Let’s not even go there.

Now the question on my coffee-excited mind is: was it the machine, or the person that made the homemade Flat White taste like Instant Coffee?

Boy, what I would give to get an E61 Rocket. It’s a beauty I tell ya. Look at it.

8 Responses to “Of Flat Whites, Viennas and Mochaccinos…”

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1 vic Jan 23rd, 2006 at 4:57 am

Hey Square,

Cool – constructing your own blog!

Great start to 2006 – keep it up.

vic
-hope you remember who-this-is
2 square Jan 23rd, 2006 at 10:38 am

Um… Are you Keen?

(Now that just sounds a bit weird… Hehe.)
3 Ego Cogito Jan 23rd, 2006 at 10:39 pm

My guess is that the beans you used at home were not as fresh or as good quality as the beans at the cafe. Fresh is always best and if coffee is not stored properly or has not been freshly ground, you will get watery crema and it will just taste blah!
4 vic Jan 24th, 2006 at 1:14 am

You got it, Square – yeah, I am keen!

Please do drop me a line at my email addy – I wrote you at your old addy, guess that’s not functional right now, just like your old web site which I tried visiting.

If you have the time, would like to catch up with you.

vic
5 square Jan 24th, 2006 at 1:21 am

Ego: Seems to me you’re quite a coffee lover… The beans were French Roast, bought from the cafe, a few months old, but freshly ground… Although I can’t say it was stored quite that properly.

But perhaps the machine did have something to do with it. It’s a pretty basic one… Suppose I’ll just have to reinvestigate it…

In the meantime, I’m drinking some store bought organic blue mountain (beans), brewed in an Automatic Drip. Doubt it’s top quality, but it does have a really nice bouquet… Taste wise, it’s only so-so…
6 square Jan 24th, 2006 at 1:23 am

Vic, if it’s the blog you’re referring to, this is the reincarnation of it; if it’s the good old Victorian Theatre Company website, it’s being redesigned to use WordPress for easy maintanence… I’ll drop you a line soon anyway (got your email…)
7 Ego Cogito Jan 24th, 2006 at 6:56 pm

Month old beans! :O Never!
8 square Jan 24th, 2006 at 10:15 pm

Ego:

Hehe… Blasphemous isn’t it.

Just to let ya know, me and a mate are actually building a coffee blog, and will be sure to blogroll ya. It might not be much, but it’ll hopefully be informative and interactive. Will let ya know when things work out.

Ta.