Lakota Training:
From Front to Back! (3)

Grinders * Brewers * Espresso

These machines are at the very heart of our business. If they go down, we go down. This equipment is VERY expensive. Please treat it with respect. Of course you will get extensive training on these machines but the following are important guidelines.


Grinding Coffee - Guidelines to Remember:

* All house coffee gets ground on #6 for brewing into air-pots.

* When you place a filter inside the brew-basket, it must be placed with care. The grounds should be shaken to level them out and the filter spread wide open. This prevents coffee grounds from finding their way into the air-pots, thus into our patrons coffee cup...sadly creating a cup that is... NOT good to the last drop!

* It is also very important for you to cultivate the habit of checking the grind setting every time before you begin grinding. We've discovered over years of experimentation that it's impossible (given our current technology) to UN-grind coffee!

* When you place a half pound or one pound bag of coffee in place to grind, do not hold onto the bag. The grinders are designed to automatically shake the coffee grounds to the bottom of the bag. The only exception to this rule is if you are grinding a larger amount of coffee into one of the five pound bags. In that case you need to stay close and pat the back of the bag while it grinds to make sure that the grounds do not back up into the grinder. This is very hard on the grinder and will clog it up. When this happens, the grinder must be dis-assembled and cleaned out. It's embarrassing to have to tell someone you clogged up the grinder...especially the person who has to clean it out!

Do Not Re-grind coffee!

* This seems obvious but sometimes happens by accidentally pouring ground coffee into the grinder. If this happens, you must vacuum it out thoroughly and immediately. If someone has inadvertently mixed ground coffee with whole bean, throw the coffee away. It cannot be ground in our store grinders. This is another reason why we do not save any coffee bags that have had coffee grounds in them. Recycle them with the newspaper downstairs. Please - Never reuse these bags!

Grinding Coffee for Our Customers

* Whole bean coffee has an excellent shelf life of 3 weeks or more.

* Ground coffee has a dramatically reduced shelf life of 5-7 days before it is noticeably getting stale.

This is good for our customers to know. It will help you sell grinders and train our customers to grind their own coffee at home.

We sell a lot of bulk coffee to our local customers. You will spend a fair amount of time scooping whole bean coffee and grinding coffee into the bags shown below.

We prelabel our coffee bags and keep them stocked in the drawer beneath the grinders. When someone makes a purchase, we write the name of their coffee onto the label with a sharpie. From time to time you will need to label coffee bags for that purpose.

This is the way our coffee bags should be labeled:

Drip Makers - Flat bottom filter: Drip grind #6

Drip Makers - Cone shaped filters: Drip grind #4 or #5 (per request)

French Press: #12 (If you've never tried coffee from a French Press, you should give it a go. This method of brewing is considered tops by many of "the experts".)

Percolator: #13.

Espresso: #2

Turkish Grind on #2 (We prefer not using #1 at all - It clogs up the grinder)

Note: If someone requests a flavored coffee ground Turkish, grind it on #3 or the equivalent. The flavoring oils are a bit sticky and its too hard on our grinders.

Just Brew It!

We use 4 ounces of coffee for all air-pots.

We grind all coffee on #6 for store brewing.

Once again for emphasis: Level coffee in the filter & make sure the filter is pressed against the walls of the brew-basket.

If the coffee pours into a cup without those beautiful golden bubbles appearing on top, then there are probably grounds in the coffee and it must be replaced with a fresh pot.

Espresso Section: Some Terminology and Instruction

1. Espresso is actually a method of brewing that employs hot water “pressed” through finely ground coffee. It produces a syrupy bittersweet shot of wonder that is the concentrated “essence” of coffee.

2. Espresso Blend is a blend of coffees specifically chosen to enhance the espresso’s quality. It is widely believed that a single coffee cannot provide all of the necessary elements for a great espresso.

3. Espresso Roast is a specific roast to a certain degree of darkness (proprietary) to decrease the acidity and bring out the best flavor of the coffees used in the blend.

These three points differ, sometimes dramatically (for better or for worse) with each specialty coffee company you may visit.

The machine pictured below is what we use at our main store and is more than likely the machine you will be trained on.

Our espresso machines are semi-manual, meaning that you, the Barista, have a certain responsibility to monitor the espresso shot. The shot is done when the crema starts to become a lighter tan. That tan color is the beginning of over-extraction. DO NOT RELY ON THE MACHINE TO KNOW WHEN THE SHOT IS DONE.

Please let us know when there is a problem; don't wait until our espresso is FUBAR.

Barista

If you are successful here, this is what you may become; a person who has achieved an expert level at the art of making espresso based drinks. A Barista should also possesses a broad knowledge base of All Things Coffee, which is what this training is all about.

The word "Barista" is an Americanized term derived from the Italian word for bartender, as most espresso is served from behind a cafe counter or "bar". Internationally, the average age of a Barista is 35 and they are highly respected in their profession.

Steaming Wands

These are the steam pipes on either end of the espresso machine that magically froth the milk into creamery foam for our espresso based specialty drinks. You can see them at the left and right on the espresso machine pictured above.

Brewing Time

The time it takes water to pass through the grounds. It's recommended that brewing time be kept to around 30 seconds. Brewing time can be directly manipulated by the grind setting. Finer = longer brew-time. Coarser = shorter brewing time.

You'll notice a special grinder for espresso and decaf espresso in every good espresso bar. Excellent espresso can only be produced by a burr grinder where two burrs rotate opposite each other to crush espresso beans to a consistent grind size, maximizing aroma and taste.

About Espresso Grinders:

* Espresso grinders should not be run more than 15 seconds at a time.

* You may need to change the grind a few times a day as the coffee will swell and condense with the humidity and barometric pressure. Your trainer will explain how to do this.

* Espresso will flow like MAPLE SYRUP if ground correctly.

* To make espresso finer for a slower pour - adjust clock wise. To make it more coarse to speed up the pour - adjust counter clock wise. Please make sure your trainer clarifies how this is done.

Crema

Crema is the creamy foam which appears on top of a well-brewed cup of espresso. The crema color varies between pale and reddish brown depending on the brew process and coffee strength.

What does excellent Crema tell us?

1. That the coffee is fresh.

2. That the coffee is fully and evenly extracted.(thick and rich - should support a teaspoon of sugar!

A hand held device housing a small filter basket that holds espresso grounds in place for brewing.

Doser

A doser is the part of an espresso grinder that dispenses a predetermined amount of coffee grounds into the porta-filter for brewing.

Froth

Froth is the foam covering the surface of a cup of espresso, cappuccino, latte, etc. It's a result of rendering and aerating the milk via the steaming process.

De-scaler

An agent commonly used in powder, pod or liquid form for cleansing espresso machine parts. De-scaler removes deposits from boiler and brewing mechanisms to keep your machine healthy and consistently produce the highest quality results.

A tamper is a hand held tool used for compressing the grounds within the filter basket. This process is referred to as "tamping" and is extremely important in producing a high quality shot of espresso. Please make sure that you understand how to tamp properly.

In our next section we will address the remaining territory behind the espresso bar...!

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