Coffee is made by infusing roasted and ground coffee beans in boiling water. There are many coffee styles including espresso, cappuccino, latte, etc. Most coffee is made with an espresso machine, which uses steam pressure to speed up the brewing process. Proper maintenance and cleaning of the machine is important. Good coffee beans should be fresh, uniform in color, and release an aroma when ground. Following correct procedures for grinding, tamping, and extracting the coffee is necessary to produce a quality crema. Milk is frothed with steam and added accordingly to different coffee styles. Coffee is presented with attention to details like cup placement and garnishing.

1. Chapter 15
Coffee

2. Coffee
Coffee is made from the roasted and ground
beans (seeds) of the coffee bush, which are
mixed by various methods of infusion or
decoction into boiling water; this is then strained
to remove the sediment.
Coffee, whether ground or not, should be kept in
an airtight container.
Coffee is usually made by percolation — that is,
by boiling water filtering down through a
receptacle containing the ground coffee beans.

3. Styles of coffee
 Commonly requested styles of coffee include the
following:
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Short black or espresso
Long black or lungo
Cappuccino
Café latte
Flat white
Caffè macchiato
Mocha coffee
Vienna coffee
Iced coffee
Turkish or Greek coffee
Decaffeinated coffee.

4. Styles of coffee

5. The espresso machine
Most good coffee is nowadays made in an
espresso machine. An espresso machine
uses steam pressure to speed up and
reinforce the percolation process.
(Espresso means ‘pressed out’ as well as
‘express’ in Italian.)

6. The espresso machine

7. The espresso machine
Parts of the espresso machine
– The group head is the part of the machine
from which hot water is expressed onto the
ground coffee beans held in the filter handle.
– Filter handles hold the ground coffee under
the group heads. They may be single or
double spout handles.
– The steam wand or arm is used for frothing
milk. The wand dispenses dry steam under
high pressure.

8. The espresso machine
– Automatic machines have a press-button pad
with options for single or double cup fills,
while semiautomatic machines simply have
an on/off switch for controlling the coffee
level.
– Some machines will have separate dials for
boiler pressure and pump pressure, while
others combine the two.

9. The espresso machine

10. The espresso machine
Maintenance of the machine - daily
– Wipe steam wands (arms) after each use. Clean them
thoroughly after each day’s trading.
– At the end of trading all machine surfaces should be
thoroughly cleaned.
– Filters should be removed from filter handles and
washed out.
– Group heads and filter handles should be cleaned
with a fine brush or thoroughly sponged out.
– The water supply to the machine should be turned off
overnight.

11. The espresso machine
Maintenance of the machine - weekly
(or more frequently depending on usage)
– Back-flush groups with a blind filter and
suitable detergent (obtainable from your
coffee supplier).
– Remove end nozzles from steam wands, soak
them in hot water and, if they are obstructed,
clean the small outlets with a pin or fine
needle.

12. Coffee beans
Good coffee beans are:
– uniform in appearance, not spotted, discoloured or
charred
– free of impurities
– light and dry
– free of any stale or rancid smell
– not black
– not damp or oily.
When they are ground, good beans will release
a mouth-watering aroma.

13. Making good coffee
The first sign of a good coffee is that it
should have a rich creamy texture, called
in Italian the crema (meaning cream).
To prepare coffee with a good crema you
must not only use good-quality freshly
ground beans in a well-maintained
machine, but also follow the correct
procedure.

14. Making good coffee
Preparing the coffee
– Select the appropriate filter handle (single or double
measure), remembering that two cups of coffee can
be made from the same handle.
– Measure freshly ground coffee into the filter handle.
Strong coffee will require a double measure handle
for a single cup.
– Tamp or press ground coffee down into the filter
handle. This may be done with a separate tamper, or
with a tamper fixture on the grinding machine if one is
available.

15. Making good coffee
– Insert the filter handle under a group head in
the espresso machine.
– Turn the filter handle to hold it firmly in place.
– Place cups or glasses under group outlets.
– Activate the machine.
– While coffee is filtering into cups, prepare the
milk, if required.

16. Making good coffee

17. Making good coffee
Preparing the milk
– Fill the frothing jug with the required amount of cold
milk. Very cold milk froths best.
– Angle the jug at about 30°. When the steam is
injected this angle gives the milk a whirlpool motion
which helps to froth it satisfactorily.
– Turn the steam wand on for a few seconds before
putting it in the milk. This will dispel excess moisture.
– Immerse the steam wand or arm just below the
surface of the milk and open the steam tap fully.

18. Making good coffee
– When preparing a caffè latte, for which the milk
should be less frothy than for a cappuccino, the wand
should be inserted more deeply into the milk so that
less air is sucked in.
– As the froth develops and the milk expands, use two
hands to hold the jug and lower it so that the steam
wand remains just below the surface of the milk.
– Continue to inject steam into the milk until the jug is
too hot to touch, but be careful not to boil the milk.
– If you have enough froth before the jug is sufficiently
hot, change the angle of the jug so that it is upright
and the froth-making whirlpool effect is lessened.

19. Presenting the coffee
1. Place the cup or glass on the working surface
without its saucer.
2. Carefully add the milk (if required) to the coffee.
3. If necessary, a spoon may be used to hold
back excess froth.
4. Sprinkle chocolate garnish (if required).
5. Place the cup on the saucer, with the spoon to
its right, and present it to the customer.

20. Presenting the coffee
6. If coffee is served in a glass it should be
presented with a neatly folded napkin (to
allow the customer to pick up the glass
comfortably).
7. Customers ordering coffee with still milk
may prefer to milk their own coffee to
taste. In that case hot milk may be served
in a small jug beside the cup for them to
help themselves.

21. Presenting the coffee

22. Presenting the coffee

23. Irish coffee
To make a good Irish coffee you require the
following:
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an Irish coffee glass
good black coffee, preferably espresso coffee
Irish whiskey
a sprit measure
aerated cream
sugar (Demerara sugar if available) and sugar spoons
a bar spoon
a saucer and doily or napkin for the coffee glass.

24. Irish coffee

25. Other liqueur coffees