Dan Goes to Barista School in Christchurch, NZ

Dan had the rare privilege today of getting a private tutoring session with an experienced veteran of the cafe and catering industry.

Richard Loffhagen, our friend, host and the owner of Simply Catering in Christchurch, New Zealand, opened up his business on a Sunday afternoon to show Dan how to make the perfect cup of coffee. Today's plan was to teach him the techniques involved in making New Zealand's most common and most uniquely-named coffees: the "long black" (essentially a cafe americano) and the "flat white" (a little bit like a cappuccino, but much better).

Dan was thrilled to grind the beans, fire up the machine and brew up some amazing espresso. But he had quite a bit of trouble frothing up the milk (or "stretching the milk" as the pros say). It has to be done just right, and the temperature can't be too hot or too cool.

According to Richard, it should take me a minimum of 200 cups of coffee to get competent at making a good flat white. Starbucks could surely use him as a consultant.

And when you think about the work his staff does while they are crafting these perfect cups of coffee--ringing up and prepping food orders, greeting customers and running all the other aspects of a high quality cafe--this job is far harder than you can imagine.

Here's a few shots of Dan getting taken to school:


Pressing the grounds:


Okay, not too bad for a first try...


You need to pour that frothed milk a bit more aggressively...!


After drinking about five cups of Dan's "mistakes," we were all smiles and ready to bounce off the ceiling. It was a great day.


For any of you who might be interested in learning about brewing professional-grade espresso-style coffees, here's one of the primary resources Richard used when he was learning this discipline: Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques by David Schomer



This post is gratefully dedicated to Richard and Colleen Loffhagen.