Some time ago, I posted a post where I talked about receiving training at a barista school, which I also lead with my husband, here in my country, Venezuela.
I hope you're doing well and that you'll help me read these lines so you can soak up a little of this whole adventure I've been participating in for the past few Sundays. As I've been saying, I was receiving an induction for a beginner's barista course, which covers many areas and depths in this vast world of coffee. In this post, I'm going to talk mainly about the use of the coffee bar, which is where drinks of all kinds are primarily prepared. This time, I was with some colleagues receiving part of the induction that covered that day, in which we touched on the different types of points that I'm going to list below.
Using the Coffee Bar
Espresso Machine Operation
Grinder Types
Espresso Calibration
Tamping
Hygiene and Tool Handling
Appropriate Grinding for the Type of Beverage
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These were some of the points we covered that day, and to be honest, of all these points, the one I think is the hardest to learn is espresso calibration, since it's a very broad field and one we must study and practice many times to achieve the ideal point for making a good coffee that isn't over-extracted, or under-extracted, since the type of grind used to achieve the ideal drink varies greatly here.
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And here in this type of preparation we must manage an ideal ratio for what is the espresso we must also take into account that the first extraction of the machine will throw different types of flavors, However when we go for the second extraction there we begin to calibrate little by little according to the extraction concepts that are bitter sweet and acid and that we can get barista defects also in what is the extraction a very complex and broad world that will allow us to obtain good drinks or bad drinks.
It is also important to highlight that espresso is a 25 to 35 ML drink prepared with 7 to 10 g of ground coffee in a simple filter holder for an espresso machine. It is also important to remember that after grinding the coffee, 60% of the aromas are lost, which is why, on the teacher's recommendation, once we grind, we must prepare the drink instantly.
Additionally, I can recommend that bars use alternative extraction methods, such as pressure, immersion, drip, and marking. This is the method used for French press espresso, B60, and Colbrio, as are the alternative methods that are not machine-based, but rather manual, colloquially speaking.
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Here's a photo of me and a couple of girls working at the bar, calibrating, preparing espressos, respecting lungo, measuring the temperatures, the coffee ratio, and extracting the best we can to achieve a successful and extraordinary drink.
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I really have a lot of material to show you because it wasn't just one day of training, but several in which I learned different types of techniques for working with milk steaming, which is very popular, which is late art. We also make several types of drinks, and I have a good amount of material that I want to show you, but I'll share it in several posts to keep it short since the material is quite extensive.
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So if you're a coffee lover and want to learn various techniques and tricks, I invite you to stay tuned for my posts because I'm sure you'll love it.
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All photos were captured with my Redmi 10 phone and are my own.
