User Archives: Rosso

Two customers from out of town came into the cafe yesterday. They both ordered small cappuccinos to go. When I handed them the drinks, they began to pompously lecture me on how the cappuccinos I had given them weren't actually cappuccinos.

I stood my ground, and described to them the details of what I understood a cappuccino to be; I feel relatively competent to do so considering my experience in the industry. After two minutes of debating, I figured out what they wanted was a traditional cappuccino.

That incident once again reminded me of an interesting trend that seems to be growing more and more prevalent. Customers are ordering espresso-based drinks, completely confident in their order, only to find out that the drink we produce is nothing remotely close to what they thought they had ordered.

This is an obvious issue. Making you, the customer, happy is what we're paid to do at the cafe, so giving you a drink that you weren't expecting isn't our goal. So, with that in mind, this blog post is going to briefly detail the specifics of what we define our espresso-based drinks as. It likely won't be the same as how Phil & Sebastian, Starbucks, or Macs views their drinks, so consider that fact when you read this. Also, I'm going to write an entire blog post in the future about espresso, so I'm going to omit describing the specifics of that beverage for now. The macchiato, latte, and cappuccino are the drinks that I'm really going to focus in on.

Espresso macchiato: Out of all the drinks that we serve at Caffe Rosso, this one might be the most confusing for customers. I've handed out at least three of these small beverages over the past week to confused customers. It might sound pretentious, but Starbucks is to blame for this one.

Macchiato means "marked" in Italian, or at least I'm told that. The latte macchiato, which is what Starbucks actually serves, features a latte "marked" with espresso (and combined with many shots of vanilla and caramel). There's nothing wrong at all with this beverage, but the conflation of the term "macchiato" with this particular drink has seemed to have unfortunately created a bit of confusion within our clientele.

At Caffe Rosso, we serve an espresso macchiato. It's a two-ounce shot of espresso "marked" with two ounces of steamed milk. In this case, the espresso is "marked" with milk, whereas the Starbucks drink is milk "marked" with espresso. Our end product is a four-ounce beverage that emphasizes the subtleties of our excellent expresso. It's served in to-stay cup, as it doesn't take long to drink.

Cappuccino: A cappuccino is prepared with a double-shot of espresso and steamed milk with a minimum of 1 centimetre of foam, which is often assessed by literally pushing the foam with a small spoon. A traditional cappuccino, which is my favourite drink (and the beverage that the customers from out-of-town expected), is served in a six-ounce cup and features milk that is steamed to about 140°F (as opposed to the 150-160°F that we do for other drinks).

Latte: On the other hand, a latte doesn't feature thick foam. Rather, the double-shot of espresso is accompanied with steamed milk with a thin layer of velvety "micro-foam." This is much thinner that the milk that appears on the cappuccino, and is also more conducive to pouring latte art. Compared to the cappuccino, the latte has a slightly thinner taste as there is a greater milk volume to dilute the espresso. This is one of the reasons that competitive bodies such as the World Barista Championship test on cappuccinos rather than lattes.

Americano: This one's pretty simple. It's a double-shot of espresso poured over almost-boiling water.

Americano misto: An americano with steamed milk. Compared to a latte, it has slightly stronger flavour but a thinner texture.

Mocha: A latte with a couple of pumps of delicious chocolate.

Hopefully this guide has helped out in discerning what our menu actually means when it comes to talking about espresso-based drinks. As mentioned at the beginning, this only really applies to Caffe Rosso's menu -- every other cafe in the city will likely have some amendment to the definition we offer. But next time you're wondering about what our menu actually means, be sure to check this blog out. And the baristas are always ready to help!

Until next time.

- James

Hi Pals!

It's your baker, Tiffany, here writing from the kitchen of Caffe Rosso to bring you exciting news about the new menu and to share a lovely recipe with you!

Yesterday we debuted several new muffins and added a few other goods to our repertoire, so hopefully you get the chance to try some of it soon. :) We are featuring Raspberry and Chocolate as well as Pear and Walnut for our muffins this month. We've also added a Chocolate Grizzly Bar, some gluten-friendly cookies and brought back our popular Galettes (this month in Blueberry and Apple-Cinnamon).

I'd like to take this opportunity to announce that we have a new baking assistant, Damien! who will be working with me to make even better pastries and goods for the Cafes. He is a pretty awesome person.

The kitchen has been pretty crazy these last few weeks, working on new things. We are planning to vary our baking month by month depending on what's available in season. There has also been a lot of experimenting with bread here, and we are hoping to be able to make different kinds of breads, other than the ciabatta, for new sandwiches soon! You might even be able to find samples of the bread now and then at Ramsey!

And now onto the recipe! The weather's been so nice this past week (aside from that small bout of rain). Walking around 17th ave I saw plenty of patios filled with people savouring the first real sun in months. So I thought I'd share with you two of my favourite warm weather drinks; the classic Negroni and the less classic Campari Sweet.

This drink is typically served before dinner as an aperitif, but I also like to serve it in a slightly taller glass topped with soda water and drink it after dinner. I don't usually like stronger drinks and was a bit apprehensive the first time I had this, but the vermouth and Campari balance out the gin flavours really well. There is a lovely sweetness that comes through, so it doesn't burn like some alcohol-only cocktails.

If you like sweeter drinks then the Campari Sweet is a great after dinner drink:

I hope you enjoy these recipes! I will be posting recipes regularly here and if you make them (for example today's), send me photos and I can post them on the blog! If you have any questions about baking, any non-essential life questions, or anything else, feel free to email me at tiffany(at)cafferosso.ca.

Have an awesome day!

Tiffany

Here is a picture of my cat:

The French Press, or press pot, is one of the most widely used methods of preparing coffee. There's many reasons for its popularity (ease, portability, relative cheapness, boldness of flavour) and models can now be found in stores ranging from Caffe Rosso to Home Outfitters. However, the proliferation of the French Press doesn't mean that it's used properly. In fact, false assumptions abound about the method.

According to some, you don't need as good a grinder to get as great cup of it as you for an espresso or Aeropress. That's completely false. You must have a decent grinder to make decent coffee, regardless of preparation method; all that the French Press means is larger particles. Another assumption, which is similar to the grinder problem, is that the French Press doesn't require as much attention to details as say, a pourover; this often translates into a French Press being left for 10 minutes after the initial pour while the drinker goes to take a shower. Again, that doesn't work. Using a French Press doesn't mean that you can focus less on the specifics. If you want a good cup of coffee, you have to be invested in it. But it doesn't mean that it has to be difficult.

So with that in mind, here's the process for making an absurdly excellent French Press. As I always mention in other blogs, this isn't a true recipe for success. There's always other variables ranging from water quality to the roast date of the beans, so it's really a generalization that this will make an absurdly excellent French Press. But, if you follow these 10 steps (which have been modified from Intelligentsia and Scott Rao), there'll be a much better chance of   making that elusive cup.

The tools: French Press, scale, timer, kettle, great grinder.

1. Make sure that your French Press is clean. It should be cleaned after it's used, but ensure that it is. Otherwise, you'll be enjoying stale remnants of your last brew.

2. Weigh out 36 grams of coffee. If you want two cups, double it (72 grams for other people like me who are terrible at math).

3. Preheat your French Press. To do this, boil some water, pour it into the press, swish it around a little and dump it back out. This essentially revs the French Press' engine up for use. I'm sure there's a scientific reason for it, but I'll stick with the car analogy.

4. Grind the 36 (or 72) grams of coffee using a coarse setting. The coarseness of the grind ensures that coffee particles don't make their way through the screen and result in you drinking sludge.

5. Dump the coffee in the preheated French Press, which should be sitting on a scale by this point. If it's not, do it. Tare the scale.

6. Pour 500 (or 1000) grams of water a minute off the boil over the grinds. Pour it slowly, and be careful to saturate all of the grind. As soon as the first drop hits the first coffee particle, start the timer.

7. Partially plunge the filter screen about a half-inch below the surface. This ensures that all of the coffee has equal extraction, rather than having a handful of grinds sitting on the surface.

8. At four minutes, plunge the filter screen all the way down. Do this slowly and carefully. Intelligensia recommends skimming the grinds off of the top of the bloom, but we don't do that around here.

9. Pour the entire French Press out into a cup. Don't let some of it sit in the bottom of the press, otherwise the coffee will continue to steep (and will likely over-extract the beverage, which will cause nasty bitterness).

10. Blog or tweet about how amazing your coffee is. Or, come in to tell us.

The French Press can be an incredibly simple and effective way of making a delicious cup of coffee that features a strong body and smooth mouthfeel. But don't be that person who doesn't clean their press, or uses a blade grinder, or steeps the brew for 15 minutes. When you do that, you'll potentially butcher a product which has taken literally years to get to your kitchen; this isn't a guilt trip, but just a fact. If you have any tips that have worked for you in the past, let me know. Try and modify these tips, and hopefully they will help to create a beverage that excites your palette and honours the hard work that's been put into it every step of the way.

Home Sweet Home

 I'm often inspired by my workplace.

Conversations with customers can enlighten me about subjects ranging from vegetarianism to weather patterns. My staff members at Caffe Rosso all push me to be a better barista and worker. And cafes are universally agreed-upon to be the best places to think and read — especially in -30 — so I do a significant amount of both in this spot, and others around the city.

But one thing I've noticed over the years of working in the coffee industry is that some customers just don't know how to interact with their baristas. I often contrast it with the waiter-customer relationship: Mostly everyone knows the drill when it comes to ordering, complaining, tipping and being courteous in a restaurant, but cafes seem to be different worlds for some. This blog post (as every other one I write) isn't written to patronize you as the customer, but to help strengthen our relationship and further our collective coffee experience.

So with that being said, here's some pointers:

1. Understand that the system works like this: (1) Order at the till (2) Walk to the counter, or sit down and wait for your drink (3) Chat with your barista, or with your friend, or to yourself. This may seem brutally obvious to some, but I've had dozens of people try to order a sandwich while I'm steaming milk on the espresso machine, or wait for their latte by the pastry case. It's seems illogical, but I get it. A lot goes on in a cafe, and sometimes your mind is elsewhere. But if you follow the three handy steps listed above, you get your drink faster, and you'll be less frustrated!

2. Don't be embarrassed if you don't know what an item on the menu is. There's a lot of weird Italian lingo in the coffee industry (perhaps because the first wave of coffee emerged from there), but that doesn't mean that we all speak Italian, or have the faintest clue of what certain names actually translate as. But if you don't know what a macchiato is (which wouldn't be surprising, as certain chains based out of Seattle have confused the term, but that's another story), or are confused about what an americano misto is, that's alright. We've all been there at some point. Ask us what it is, and you won't end up with a drink you didn't expect to have.

3. Acknowledge that a good product takes time to make. There's no offense intended by this, but if you want a latte made in 10 seconds, go to somewhere like Tim Hortons. We, and other fine third-wave shops around the city, take a lot of pride in pulling our espresso properly, steaming our milk to the right temperature and pouring art into the cup. Each of those steps takes time. And if there's a line-up in front of you, realize that we have to get through those drinks before we gets to yours. There's plenty of magazines and newspapers around the cafe to read, and we play some pretty good tunes, so sit back and relax for a couple of minutes. Or, come chat with us!

4. Tell us if you're displeased with a product. This takes a lot of humility on both ends; it's sometimes awkward to tell your barista that they screwed up, and it's even more awkward for the barista who poorly represented the business. But, as the barista who first trained me once said, the mark of a good barista (or worker of any kind) is how they make up for their mistakes. So let us do that for you. Those in the coffee industry have a bad habit of showing that something sucks (or just isn't amazing) by leaving it half-full on the counter. That's a huge disappointment for the person that made it. If something doesn't satisfy the customer, whether they're a professional or a regular customer, we'd love it if you told us. Engage in the conversation about how to make the product you receive better. Coffee's still a young industry, and we're all still learning.

5. Recognize that we're human. This matters on a number of levels. Firstly, because we're human (and not machines), we sometimes screw up. That's alright. If you can bear with us, we'll make it better for you somehow. Secondly, we can only make so many dozen drinks before we have to take a 10 second break to drink some water or use the washroom. We're not slacking. Rather, by taking a couple of seconds to breathe, we're de-stressing and making the whole system more efficient. Finally, interact with us on a human level. Although lots of urban theorists argue that the city turns us into cogs (look at Georg Simmel's work as an example), I have enough faith in humanity that we can make our interaction at the bar more than a business transaction. I'm not going to go all hyper-emotional on you. Let's just try to connect as humans.

There's plenty more that I could add, but I doubt that many will read this far. Hopefully this will continue to further the discussion about coffee, customer service and cafes. If you have any questions, recommendations or comments, feel free to post them at the bottom. I'll be more than happy to chat.

Brew it right - the first time!

Not many people would leave a freshly baked loaf of bread out on the counter for a week. For one, it would likely grow mold, which obviously isn't appetizing. But even if it didn't do that, it would become stale and hard. The bread would be nearly tasteless by the time you got around to eating it, and wouldn't offer any suggestion of uniqueness or artisan craft.

So why do people do the same kind of thing with coffee? For those in the industry, it's tough to explain. Perhaps it's because the coffee beans themselves don't actually develop physical signs of age. Or maybe it's because corporate shops and supermarket brands have developed an expectation that bags should have best before dates of six months to a year on them. Either way, it's destroying the hard work that the growers, pickers and roasters have put into it, because coffee is a crop that is extremely responsive to factors such as time and air.

This blog entry isn't intended to shame you for keeping beans too long. We at Caffe Rosso care about coffee, and simply want you to have the same (hopefully excellent) experience that you'll have in our shops. With that in mind, here's a couple of tips to keep in mind when buying beans.

- Look for a roast date on the bag. We're not talking about a best before date, or a date scooped. Once green beans are roasted, they begin to oxygenate at an accelerated rate. Once they're ground, that rate will increase exponentially. It's important to know when the coffee was roasted in order to establish whether the company deserves your hard-earned money.

- Use the coffee within a 30-day period. At the shop, two weeks is our limit, but we have a significantly higher consumption rate than what we expect you to have at home (if that's not the case, invite us over). After a month, the unique qualities of the coffee will have disappeared, and you'll be brewing brown water. If you're alright with that, then feel free. But if you want to actually taste the flavour notes that expert tasters have picked out (in our case, it's the gents over at Phil & Sebastian), then you'll want to use the beans within that window. There's exceptions to this, of course. I've had some great shots of spro at the 30-day mark. But use fresh when you can.

- Because of the tip above, buy in small quantities. Caffe Rosso and P&S all sell their coffee in 3/4 pound (340 grams) bags. We're not just trying to rip you off. That amount is intended for you to use within the window mentioned above. Once that's out, you'll buy more. That way, you're ensuring freshness and flavour in every cup (providing, of course, that you're brewing it correctly). There's no way that you'll get through the four pound bags that the supermarkets sell. This isn't a marketing ploy. We want you to enjoy everything great about the coffee.

- Grind when you need to. Don't pre-grind beans, and let them sit for days. They'll lose their flavour overnight, and will contribute to a very mundane cup of coffee. We get that grinders can be pricey, but it's by far the most important part of your home set-up: It makes sense to invest. We have some relatively inexpensive ones at the shops if you want to take a look.

- If you're using the coffee for manual or automatic drip methods (regular coffee maker, pour-over, Aeropress), let the coffee sit for a day or two after roast. This allows the beans to "de-gas." If you don't go that, the coffee with be too fresh, and the taste will be muddled. If you're using the coffee for espresso, let the coffee rest for eight days before using. It's the same principle. Too fresh means that you're not getting all the flavours of the coffee. We religiously stick to this rule at the shop.

- Try not to freeze beans if you can help it. Whether to freeze or not is a super contentious topic in the coffee world, but it just makes sense to stick by the rules listed above. Buy what you need, use it within the time-frame and you don't have to get into a heated debate on some geeky forum about it.

- Store your beans in an air-tight container, preferably with a one-way valve in it to release the CO2. After closing, we store our beans in their original bags by using a hair straightener to seal the top. Let us know if you need ideas for your home set-up.

Follow James on Twitter @jameswilt

If there's one thing I've learned in the two-and-a-half years I've spent working in the coffee industry, it's this: All the customer cares about is the final product. Fancy machines, beans and grinders are a nice addition to the cafe, but unless the espressos, macchiatos, lattes, hot chocolates and drip coffees are tasting exceptional, then it's all for show.

As a result of this, I'm going to attempt to keep this introductory blog and future posts as simple and straight-forward as I can. The information and writing will hopefully speak for itself, just as our coffee hopefully speaks for itself. Jargon will be minimized, the ego which makes many baristas (and writers) infamous will be dropped at the door and your learning and enjoyment will be prioritized. Feel free to call me out if this blog doesn't actually represent those ideals.

It's time for that "introduction" part of the blog. My name's James Wilt. I'm a full-time journalism student at Mount Royal University, a freelance writer for Fast Forward Weekly and a part-time barista at Caffe Rosso. Coffee is a massive passion for me, and I relish every opportunity I have to drink it, talk about it and write about the subject. Caffe Rosso is my third formal coffee job, following two years working at the House Coffee Sanctuary in Kensington and six months at Fratello's Analog Cafe in the Calgary Farmers' Market. I'm by no means an expert on the subject, and am always open to learn more about it.

Dave Crosby, the owner of Caffe Rosso, has graciously given me this space to blog about coffee. Topics that he's brainstormed for future blogs -- which will hopefully be posted weekly -- include technical advice for brewing (how to use an AeroPress), varieties of coffee (similar to wine), the process of cupping and the concept of seasonality. I'm completely open to writing about any topics that you're interested in, so be sure to suggest ideas.

I'm looking forward to dialoguing with you and collectively working towards making better coffee.

- James

The World Barista Championship starts June 2 to 6th.  We will be watching!

The World Barista Championship (WBC) is an international coffee competition that focuses on "promoting excellence in coffee, advancing the barista profession, and engaging a worldwide audience with an annual championship event that serves as the culmination of local and regional events around the globe."

A small video from BBC World Barista Championship 2010

Each competitor will be preparing 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos, and 4 signature drinks in a performance within 15 minutes.   The 2011 World Barista Championship will have 53 competitors each serving a different coffee and story to judges.

To watch the World Barista Championship.