Coffee has become a ritual - lets not deny it. Gone are the days when the only enjoyment you get from a cup of coffee is the actual drink. My ritual starts from the moment I open the bag - a burst of aroma from my fresh roasted coffee beans and continues through the grinding where I get a second hint into how flavorsome my coffee will be. 

Watching the extraction and the pour into the cup is met with anticipation as I steam my milk to a creamy texture and pour the milk into the cup. Sure, my technique has room for improvement, but thats the journey - each and every cup is a part of me and the result is a more enjoyable coffee, this time a flat white. 

When I sit down to enjoy my coffee, I seem to forget my surroundings, everything falls silent as I draw my first sip.  yum!

Let me start by saying, I mostly enjoy my coffee black, so I rarely need to reach for milk, but when I do, or when I see others preparing milk for their cappuccino or flat white, this one single tip almost always improves the texture of the milk, and the flavour of the coffee.

Do you remember that sound of milk being frothed by some actor on TV? Its sounds a lot like "Pssshhhht...Pssshhhht...Pssshhhht..." as they plung the tip of the steam wand in and out of the milk pitcher. That same motion can be seen at most non-cafe restaurants as they prepare their milk pitcher of milk for your flat white. The problem with all that plunging and action, is that you end up with a very bubbly and soap-suds like consistency to your milk. It ends up being very thick on top from bubbles, and very thin and watery underneath. When you addd that to you your espresso base, you end up with what I like to refer to as a thin cup of coffee.  

The secret to producing great microfoam, which is realy what you want, lots and lots of tiny bubbles all through your milk, making a thick and silky smooth texture is to "steam the milk with the tip only gently breaking the surface until the milik gets to 30c (close to body temp by touch), and then to plunge the steam wans INTO the milk pitcher, and if you can, try to make a whirlpool effect" (be careful not to make too much of a whirlpool, or you risk sucking in more air, creating that Pssshhhht...Pssshhhht... noise and fluffing up your milk too much).

At first attempt, it may not seem like this method will work, but it will, and with a little practice, you will be producing delicious silky smooth milk to pour into your coffee base. When you pour microfoam, you will instantly notice a difference in the pour, and the sound of the pour - it appears thicker, and more consistently textured. 

Let me know what you think in the comments or if this method has helped you.  

Leave a comment below and let me know your single best tip.    

Coffee lovers are less likely to develop the most common type of skin cancer, a new study found. 

The study of almost 115,000 men and women found those who drank three or more cups of coffee a day had a 20 percent lower risk of basal cell carcinoma than those who said no to coffee.
  
"I think we're seeing more and more evidence for the beneficial effects of coffee consumption," said study author Jiali Han, associate professor of dermatology and epidemiology at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health, explaining that java has also been linked to a reduced risk of diabetes and Parkinson's disease. "I wouldn't recommend drinking coffee solely based on this work, but it does add one more thing to the list." 

The study, published today in the journal Cancer Research, sheds new light on a skin cancer that affects 2.8 million Americans each year, and with Australia having a higher incidence of skin cancer, its a great discovery.

Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.  

I am giving away 1kg of Espresso coffee beans to one lucky customer. Leave a comment below, with the correct answer to;

What is the cost of 50x 1kg bags of Coffee Bean Shop coffee, delivered to Darwin, Northern Territory?

A) $64.50
B) $9.90
C) Coffee Bean Shop doesn't deliver to Northern Territory

The winner will be randomly selected from the comments below at 5pm Monday 9th, so everyone has a chance to win. Winner will be announced here Monday. (I will also contact the winner directly).

Leave your answer AND tell us what coffee machine you use, in the comments below for your chance to win 1kg of Espresso coffee   

A Coffee Bean Shop customer asked me today how they can improve the quality of the espresso in the cup. I thought this information might be helpful to someone else, so i would like to share it with you.
The question asked:

I own a breville espresso machine with a non pressurised basket. The coffee espresso drips out over 30mls in fifteen seconds or less. I use the small plastic tamp that came with my machine.The problem is that I don't get good quality crema in espresso.

And the reply is;

Hi,

The lack of crema in your espresso can be for varied reasons;

• coffee beans purchased from the supermarket and other stale coffee beans will lack crema - it can be very difficult to obtain fresh roasted coffee beans from any shopfront or cafe.
• the grind setting you select plays a large part. You might find that a finer grind is what is needed. 
  
• a better tamp feels better in your hand, and can give you a better distribution of coffee in the basket, but the main thing is that you are using one - even the one that came with your machine is fine.

Consistency is your friend with the following;

• you will need 14 grams of ground coffee in the basket. You dont have to measure it, aim for a heaped hump sitting ontop of the basket. usually any extra will naturally fall off the sides of the basket anyway.
  
• tamp with around fifteen kilograms of pressure. If you have bathroom scales at your place, try practicing ontop of the scales to get an idea of what 15kg of pressure feels like
• aim for 30 seconds of espresso pour in the cup.
  

Iif you do all of these things, then the only thing you then need to adjust is your grind. If you get too much coffee in the cup over 30 seconds, your grind is too coarse. if you dont get enough coffee, your coffee is too fine. You are then able to repeat knowing that most everything else is consistent.


I hope that helps. let me know how you get on.