Coffee buyers guide

Buying a coffee can be very risky, indeed.  Every minute of every day, someone, somewhere is assaulted with bitter and burnt and wimpishly limp coffee. Oh, the pain. Oh, the inhumanity!

Thankfully, there are steps that can be taken to avoid this cursed fate; a simple set of rules that can be practiced by anyone with an interest in good coffee.

We’ve taken the liberty of listing these below: a set of five observable acts that are critical to the craftsmanship of a quality cuppa.  Tick them off before ordering your next cappuccino, and re-take control of your coffee destiny. 

Step 1 - Listen for the coffee grinder
Freshly ground coffee is the foundation of a quality espresso.  And when we say “freshly ground”, we mean “the first thing you hear when you place your order is the sound of the coffee grinder being switched on”.

All the lively flavours that a coffee has to offer are still trapped within its volatile grounds soon after grinding.  Every second after grinding, though, the coffee is reacting with oxygen, and before long – sometimes after a mere 30 seconds – you’ll find yourself with ground coffee that only produces dull and stale-tasting espresso. 

Step 2 - Watch the Dose & Tamp
This is where the barista fills the filter basket with freshly ground coffee (“the dose”) and then firmly tamps it down (“the tamp”).  Sounds simple – but it ain’t.

Firstly, the filter basket needs to be spotlessly clean and free of any residual grinds from the last espresso (as these leftover grinds have nothing left to offer us, except burnt and bitter flavours).

Secondly, the correct amount of coffee has to be dosed and evenly distributed around the basket (in order to ensure all the coffee flavours are evenly extracted).  Thirdly, the coffee in the basket needs to be level and firmly tamped.  If the barista applies too little pressure, then you’ll get a watery espresso with a weak golden-topped crema. 

Step 3 - Time the Extraction
The “extraction” is the amount of time it takes for the espresso to dribble out of the basket.  Generally speaking, if it takes less than 18 seconds, then you’re not going to get all the flavour that the espresso has to offer – whereas if it takes more than 25 seconds, you’re going to get a burnt coffee.

Step 4 - Listen to the Milk
Lattes, Cappuccinos and Flat Whites are only as good as the milk that’s poured over the espresso. 

Well-steamed milk sounds like a whisper: the gentle wheeze of the steamwand blowing a mist of micro-bubbles, creating luxuriously-textured milk with a luscious, creamy gleam. Run a mile from milk that’s been relentlessly “stretched”: where the milk is made to scream and hiss and spit like a cornered cat. 

Step 5 - Watch for the Art
This is the culmination of all the above steps. It means a freshly ground coffee has been properly dosed and evenly tamped and sufficiently extracted to give a rich, hazelnut, speckled crema. It means that the milk has been steamed to a silky smooth consistency with a creamy thick foam. And it means, most importantly, that your barista knows precisely what he’s doing and has likely poured thousands of hours of experience into your very cup.