Top Design , my new guilty pleasure
Bravo Television new show
Top Design, has become my newest guilty pleasure. Its all me.
If you don't know about the show.. Its the newest reality style television show, with competing designers, shop the Pacific Design Center..Where my office is.
The season finally which I am watching now, they are down to two designers and they have a challenge to design a
LOFT. The loft they are designing is 2 blocks my home.
This show is so all me
How to make the Ultimate Cappuccino
Some of you know that
I love Coffee, especially Cappuccino, or Latte or espresso. Its about time that I share the secrets which will help some of my readers to get the Ultimate Coffee experience.
Great coffee requires the purchase of two basic things.
1 Coffee 2 EquipmentFirst Coffee :The best coffee (espresso) comes from Italy. Stay away from French roast Costa Rican blend Colombian, starbucks. The only coffee I have purchased at a grocery store which was even drinkable was
Peets coffee I would suggest that you keep some around for those times when your really good coffee is all gone and you await your next UPS delivery.
Many brands from Italy are quite good, but my favorites are
Segafredo ZanettiLavazzaIllyDon't buy the whole beans. Yes you read that right, Whole beans are great, but unless you happen to have a commercial grinder you wont be able to grind your coffee fine enough to make really good espresso. There is not a good home grinder on the market which does anything better than Drip or Perk grinds., so just dont bother with even trying. Good Italian espresso is always available in ground form or in pods(Ill talk about that later) Believe me, just get it pre ground.
Equipment :
You need one or two pieces of equipment. and contrary to what you might think, the more expensive the equipment does not necessary give you a better cup of cappuccino !
Cuppuccino - or Latte are basically made from espresso and steamed - or frothed milk. The wrong machine to get would be a cheap espresso - and steamer combo like
krups. Dont get me wrong, Inexpensive espresso machines are not bad for espresso, but they suck when it comes to making the froth, or steamed milk. Depending on what you like you might like to use a
moka pot (sure its old school) But they really work. They don't seem to create the
Crema, but unless you are drinking espresso without milk I have not found that big of a difference between espresso with or without crema. So however you make the espresso, with a moka pot or an expensive or cheep espresso machine in my opinion you pretty much end up with the same good quality espresso. Just as long as you use good quality espresso.
Steamed milk / or Frothing
Here is when it finally gets fun.
The problem I have found with machine after machine after machine. Is home espresso machines all have a steamer but.. They none of them (even pump models) don't have enough pressure to actually to make good froth. Often times you end up with steam and hot hot milk, but not much froth.
Not to mention that using these home espresso frothers, it takes too much time to get them to work. Well over 2 minutes of holding a stainless steel cup under a wimpy steam spout !
The answer - Use a frother ! But there are three types. The good news is they all work. It just depends on what you like
The first one looks like a
French Press Coffee machine. Unbelievable how simple and well this thing works. Put 1/3 of the class picture with fat free milk, pump it with the handle for 20 seconds, and its done.. You have nice froth which you can then put into a microwave for 20 seconds and you have hot froth. Nothing to learn, you dont have to train your ear to listen for
the right size of bubbles. You cant make bad froth with this.. Nice tiny bubbles.
Or a battery powered hand frother like
this. I was shocked how well this worked. Right in your coffee mug, put about 1/3 of your cup with milk. turn on this gadget and move it around for 10 seconds, and you have a cup of froth. The thing works. Pop your cup in the microwave if you want it hot.. then put in your espresso.
Or if you really would rather have steamed milk by all means use a
stove top steamer The reason you would want to go this direction, rather than using your electric steamer, attached to your espresso machine, is this type of heavy duty steamer pumps out at least twice the pressure than any home quality machne I have seen. These things pump out the water steam pressure similar to what you get with multi thousand commercial espresso station. But unless you want to spend 5,000 or more for a commercial espresso machine, you need some other way of getting good quality froth. Any of these techniques can get you professional quality froth.
Happy Drinking
Bob
