S T E A M F I S T

even monkeys fall from trees

It's dangerous to go alone, take these

Ohay, I'm makin' drinks again!

Not really - the less milk you steam the more demanding the process is on the barista, keep your hands steady and be careful. I wrote a huge post on this some time last year you can probably find for more detailed advice about steaming in general but smaller amounts are always going to be more difficult, especially on a commercial machine. Make sure you're using a reasonable pitcher size for the drink and study your milk chemistry for best results. Good luck!

<3

Hi tumblr! Been a hot minute but if any of you guys are interested in pixel art I’ve been posting daily over at www.twitter.com/dekubub  and I could really use a signal boost as I am looking for work; here are some of my best pixel pieces from this month :)

I’m sorry the coffees are gone. Hope to hear from some of ya <3

Flow.

The purpose of today's training is to defeat yesterday's understanding.

Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra (now known as Corinth). He was punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, repeating this action for eternity. I feel like Sisyphus.

Suck it up.

The artist's job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.

Thank you. Many people use a cinnamon or cocoa shaker to enhance contrast if they're desperate for it, and it works, but this compromises the flavor of the drink and decreases the elasticity of the crema leading to certain restrictions as far as what pours are actually going to work with it. The real keys to maximizing your contrast lie in the espresso itself and in your pouring technique. Getting really familiar with your coffee and your equipment is a necessity if this is something you're after. The reddish-brown speckling you see in much of my content is from the sugars in the espresso being caramelized by proper extraction and getting that to happen is gonna take a lot of trial and error until you really KNOW the bean you're working with. How freshly roasted is your coffee and what kind of grinder are you using? Do you have a really clean water setup for the machine you're extracting with? I backflush my groups and dial in with a small scale every 2 hours or so when I'm on bar and I clean my portafilters inside and out really frequently which has helped me improve the quality of my shots tremendously but it does take time and practice and a lot of OCD. There is an art to every step in the process of preparing specialty drinks and any mis-step, no matter how minor will manifest in the cup somehow. In my mind at least, it's all about looking at every variable in the process and trying to find the weakest links in the chain that you can fortify. Best of luck, and let me know if there's anything else I can clarify for you! -S

Winter's finest.

Big thanks for 9k <3 Posts hit instagram much faster due to my lack of stable WiFi at home but I'll be sure to dump a set or two of stills this evening. Your support means the world to me.

Tulip.

Thank you <3