Crafting the Perfect Latte
Welcome back, Lucky Goats! We know you’re here because coffee means something to you, and the café experience is a huge part of that. The ambience is a mix of the Baristas favorite tunes and a slew of other noises: machinery whirring, metal clinking, liquid dripping, the crackling of a grinder. You see a big appliance in front of you, and a Barista’s head and arms moving swiftly behind it. These sounds and sights may even be familiar to you if you’re at Lucky Goat often enough. But have you ever thought about what these sights and sounds mean, where they come from and how they contribute to the production of your delicious beverage? Let’s go behind the scenes together for an inside look into all of the things that happen in the time between ordering and receiving your coffee.
Your Barista begins by taking the spoon-looking apparatus that holds the coffee grounds—the portafilter, a.k.a portable filter—from the espresso machine. They then hold it up to the coffee grinder, which—you’ve guessed it—grinds the coffee beans into fine particles in a loud, metallic whir. The fine grind size of this coffee, along with the high pressure placed on it via the espresso machine, is what results in your quickly extracted, velvety espresso ground coffee.
Your Barista takes the portafilter and hooks it up to the grouphead with a clink. Then, click! The machine is on and the espresso begins dripping down and forming a stream. A shot glass underneath catches the smooth, auburn liquid. This, in the simplest of terms, is the extraction process, or the way that water filters through the grounds to produce espresso. In only 30 seconds, the time it took you to walk up to the register, your hot espresso is ready.
Now that, we’ve got the creamy espresso shots for your latte, they are transferred from the shot glass into the mug that you’ll drink it from. Now, the only thing that’s missing is the milk! Your Barista holds the pitcher filled with your milk of choice and you begin to hear the hiss of the steam wand before it’s submerged into the milk which acts as an all-powerful whisk, simultaneously heating and injecting air into the milk. After, you hear something that sounds like paper being ripped up, which is the milk being aerated, or infused with air. This creates a tornado-like whirlpool that gives the milk its subtle sweetness and silky texture. With one hand holding the mug and another gripping the pitcher, your barista moves with thoughtful precision to produce elegant latte art, like a tulip or rosetta. The foaminess of the milk created by the steaming process is what allows for this art to be made.
Drumroll, please! This is the part that we’ve all been waiting for: finally getting to see and taste your latte! Your drink is handed to you in a black Lucky Goat mug that warms your hands and heart upon touching it. The silkiness of the milk, the richness of the espresso, all of the sounds and machines and other things that occurred to create this perfect drink that we all love so much. Is your mouth watering yet? Come by and see us. We’ll make you something good. Your drink may even taste better now that you know everything that’s done in order to make it!
Stay caffeinated and stay you.
Until we meet again,
Lucky Goat Coffee Co.
