Your espresso machine is just the beginning. With a little patience and some basic tools, you can really impress your guests with coffee art. Here are some simple directions to make chasing hearts. It’s up to you to choose who you want to show your art off to.
Tools
You will already have these in your kitchen. You need a small stainless steel jug, a teaspoon, a tablespoon and a metal skewer.
Brown Base
Heat a jug of milk and swirl it to get a silky texture, as you learned in the previous post. Pour the milk into the centre of a glass of coffee in a steady stream, in the same spot. The milk will disappear under the crema and leave a smooth, brown base for you to create your art on.
Chasing Hearts
Prepare a glass of coffee and add milk to make a brown base, as above. Foam some milk in a jug. Use a teaspoon to put three dots of foam on top of the brown base. Put your metal skewer about an inch deep into the crema and in one circular movement, draw it through the middle of each of the three dots. And voila! Three hearts, chasing each other around the top of your coffee.
There’s more about espresso machines at http://espressomachinecenter.com
Coffee Essentials
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Once you’ve chosen your espresso machine and got used to using it, you’ll want to be able to make coffee for your friends and guests. Here are some coffee essentials to cover most occasions:
Espresso or short black. 30 ml coffee in a small cup.
Long black 30 ml coffee and half a cup of hot water, in a cup. My favourite.
Latte 1/3 coffee, 2/3 milk and a little foam in a glass with a napkin around it.
Flat white 1/3 coffee, 2/3 milk and a little foam in a cup.
Cappuccino 1/3 coffee, 2/3 milk and a lot of foam in a cup, with chocolate on top.
Macchiato Espresso or short black with foam.
Piccolo Latte Espresso with milk and foam in a small glass.
Mocha 30 ml coffee with hot chocolate in a tall glass.
Vienna long black with whipped cream and chocolate on top.
Iced coffee scoop ice cream, 1/3 cold coffee, 2/3 cold milk, whipped cream and chocolate in a tall glass.
When you’re ready to get really fancy, you can make pictures in the foam on top of your coffee like leaves, flowers, tear drops and hearts. You can even get them to separate out into layers, which looks impressive if you’re serving coffee in a glass.