So you wanna be a barista?

I love coffee!  All my close friends know this to be true.  Even my students know if I am missing my morning Java.  I have loved coffee since I was a child sipping it off a saucer that my Mom would share with me.  Although I am a great lover of coffee I cannot admit to being the best maker of coffee.  Well that has to change if I am to have the best lil ole coffeehouse in Dayton :-).

I am a pretty good cook.  I love to bake.  I love mixing drinks.  I should be able to make a good cup of coffee, right?  Well I decided not to leave it up to chance.  I decided to seek out training.  Enter, Deeper Roots Rosters out of Cincinnati.  Deeper Roots is a small coffee roster that has a great focus.  Their facility is housed in an old dairy farm.  The owners are very cool and interested in educating folks on good coffee, brewing techniques, pulling premium espresso shots and constructing awesome coffee drinks.  Sounds like a great place for me to start.

On May 5th I traveled to Cincy with three other excited students who were eager to become baristas.  My daughter & best friend Kayland, my niece LaSada and a fellow coffee enthusiast Stephanie spent our Saturday learning the history of coffee, about the coffee plant, how the beans are harvested and how they are processed.

Once again I am reminded about just how complex this coffee industry is.  It is very scientific.  Very purposeful.  Full of many strategies.

 
Our trainer Courtney is a well trained award winning barista.  She shared so much information with us.  We all had a chance to go through the cupping process.  Cupping of coffee tasting is the practice of observing the tastes and aromas of coffee.  From cupping we experienced several techniques of hand brewing.  WOW!  Who know that the various processes of hand brewing would offer so many different taste.

We are on our way to becoming the "Real Baristas of Dayton!"

Next stop espresso.  OK is there any real need in me saying that after this session everyone was literally bouncing off the walls.  Especially me!  I am surprised I didn't get sent to the office for having too much fun.  I went way pass my limit.  But I loved it.

I digress.  Back to my serious student side.

The process of pulling espresso shots is very simple but highly scientific.  There are important elements to be considered when pulling the perfect shot of espresso: grind of the coffee, water filtration, temperature and pressure.  A compromise in any of the elements can truly prevent you from pulling the perfect shot.  We all learned that the hard way.  What you don't want to taste is a bad shot of espresso.  YUCK.

  Above you see a great looking and tasting shot of espresso.  Bravo!

Next up, milk steaming.  Oh what a sweet sound and a delightful taste of frothy milk.  This process was not as difficult as handling pulling shots of espresso.

Finally we are ready to build drinks.  Cappuccino, lattes, macchiatos, and yes latte art.  I cannot believe how much I am enjoying coffee.  Just coffee.  No sugar, no syrup, nothing but coffee.  Although I am developing such a deep appreciation of coffee I now make an awesome vanilla latte.  My latte art has a long way to go :-).

  LaSada's first attempt at latte art produced what we think is a Lima bean.  What do you think it looks like?