Coffee

When a couple of us got together and found an office to share, D. and K. brought an espresso machine they had no space for at home. Working days I use it twice: once to start the day, once directly after lunch. I like how it’s a ritual to use it, there are so many steps involved; heating the cup, frothing milk in a pitcher, measuring coffee, packing it, brewing, pouring milk, cleaning the filter.

One thing I didn’t expect was frothing being the tricky bit. I always thought it was getting the espresso right, given that you so often get sour coffee in coffee bars. I still haven’t got the hang of frothing, but I look forward to returning after my vacation and apply the CoffeeKid method.

These things bring out my inner geek. I want to do it right.

One thing I’ve realized is that I prefer cappuccino to caffè latte. Cappuccino, when done right, is a double espresso with two thirds creamy milk, and when it is served this way, which is rare, it’s unbelievably good.

At home, I used to do poor man’s lattes by heating milk in the microwave, frothing it using Ikea’s electric frother (which is really great; don’t be fooled by the price), then stirring in freeze-dried coffee. But lately, I’ve been thinking about getting a moka espresso maker. Spontaneously swinging by Ikea yesterday, I bought theirs. It looks good and is in stainless steel; with a glass ceramics stove you can’t use the aluminum ones. We’ll see how well it performs.