Or: Making A Good Coffee Isn’t As Easy As It Looks

It’s no secret that I really enjoy a good cup of coffee – cappuccino, flat white, latte, macchiato, espresso, I could go on… it doesn’t matter, I like them all. It depends on the time of day, what I’m eating, and what country I am in, as to which I prefer.

My preference is country specific as they all have their specialities while some have no speciality and are very tea focused. It helps to be flexible. Some people use the Big Mac Index to know their spending power in each country, I use coffee for my standard measure across countries. Nothing to do with cost. Everything to do with coffee itself.

As an example, there are very few places in Hong Kong that make a cappuccino well, however, it tends to be too much froth and not much of anything else. To this end, it is better to ask for a latte. This is a cappuccino by another name and  you will need to add your own chocolate to the top. Don’t be fooled by the name.

Then there is Vietnamese coffee. I have written about this here. Vietnamese coffee in Vietnam. It’s definitely one of my favorites – what can go wrong with condensed milk in your coffee? Incidentally this is also how we drank our coffee in Madagascar as they didn’t have milk in the area I stayed. The coffee wasn’t made quite the same way though once the condensed milk is in, I’m prepared to use my imagination while waiting for my simultaneous coffee and sugar high.

Yes, I’m aware of how this makes me sound and yes, I do like smashed avocado on toast with tomato and poached eggs too. We all have our preferences. We also all have our quirks.

Now you would think with all this coffee drinking, I’d be able to work a ‘proper’ coffee machine. I’m fine with a French Press, a stove top espresso maker, a Vietnamese coffee gadget and I can even work the kettle if I’d like a tea. This post is not about tea. Anyway, I can grind my own beans and heat milk on the stovetop without it burning. For every other style coffee, I need to leave the comfort of where I am.

One of the 974 things I like about coffee is the process of making it.

I am staying with my Best Woman and her husband at the moment and they have a ‘proper’ coffee machine.

Today was my first time giving it a whirl. I was under close supervision. It was for the best.

I poured the whole beans in and ground them. I pressed them into the little gadget thing a bit harder (I was making coffee not learning the technical names), I heated the milk (and had a minor spillage) to 70 degrees, I extracted the coffee into two cups, I poured, then cleaned the machine. I even knocked the coffee out of that little gadget thing into the special bin that you belt it against so the coffee falls out. Something very satisfying about doing that part.

Clearly I’m not so good at making sure we each get an even amount of the beverage and won’t be opening a cafe anytime in the near future.

It’s an Australian latte with a HK twist. It’s Chinese New Year after all.

It tasted how it should for the style coffee.

More practice required.

* Thanks to The White Stripes for the title to this post. You can buy their first three albums on white cassette – going old school!