The basics that make every cup better

Before we get to methods, five decisions that apply to all of them — and that together make more difference than any machine.

1. Fresh coffee, freshly ground. Roasted coffee is at its best between one and six weeks after roasting; ground coffee loses most of its aroma within hours. If you buy whole beans, grind them only just before brewing — and if you buy ground coffee, buy small packs or individually packed portions. Store coffee airtight, dark and cool, not in the fridge.

2. Good water. Your cup is 90 to 98 percent water. Ideal is fresh, cold tap water of medium hardness; very hard water (limescale) should be filtered — a jug filter that reduces carbonate hardness is enough —, very soft or distilled water extracts flat. Water that has been sitting in the boiler since yesterday is not a good idea: always refill with fresh water.

3. A scale. Spoons and eyeballing forgive a lot, but not enough. A kitchen scale that reads in grams turns “roughly” into a recipe you can repeat — and shows you what you are changing when something does not taste right.

4. The right temperature. 90 to 96 degrees for almost everything; never boiling. Without a thermometer: bring the water to the boil and wait 30 to 45 seconds. And pre-warm the cup — a cold cup costs an espresso ten degrees and half its crema.

5. One variable at a time. If something is not right, change one thing — grind, dose, time, temperature — and taste again. Whoever changes three things at once learns nothing.

Espresso in the Reniala System (R1)

The system is built so that these instructions can be short: dose, tamping, pressure and temperature are tuned to the ten-gram pod and do not change. What remains is the handling — and a few habits that make the difference between good and very good.

You need: an R1 (or another Reniala System machine), a Reniala pod, fresh water, a preheated cup.

Parameter	Value
Pod	Reniala, 10 g
Yield	approx. 25–30 ml (espresso)
Extraction time	approx. 25–30 seconds
Water	fresh, medium-hard, filtered if your tap water is hard

Step by step

1. Fill the tank with fresh water. Switch the machine on and let it heat up — on the R1 that takes a few minutes; the ready light tells you when.
2. Blank shot: without a pod, run a short shot into the cup. This flushes the brew group, brings it up to temperature — and warms the cup at the same time. Pour the water away.
3. Place the pod in the holder, flat, with the tab facing inwards. Insert the holder and close it.
4. Put the cup in place, start the shot. The espresso should begin to flow after two to four seconds — first in dark drops, then as a thin, even stream that turns lighter towards the end.
5. Stop when the stream turns pale and watery — on the R1 the automatic does that for you. Drink immediately: an espresso is a drink with a shelf life of about one minute.
6. Remove the pod, rinse the holder briefly. The used pod is filter paper and coffee.

If it doesn't taste right

• Watery, pale, ran through too fast: pod not seated properly in the holder, holder not closed — or an E.S.E. pod (44 mm) instead of a Reniala pod. Check.
• Hardly any flow, drips, bitter: machine scaled up or brew group dirty. Descale, flush.
• Little crema: coffee too old, cup cold, machine not up to temperature. Fresh pod, blank shot, patience.
• Lukewarm: blank shot forgotten. The cup is the most common heat thief.

Espresso with E.S.E. pods

The 44-millimetre pod with seven grams is the open standard: it fits every E.S.E. machine — from the LT1 and the La Piccola to the pod adapter in a portafilter — and makes brewing independent of grinding and tamping. What remains is the machine.

You need: an E.S.E. machine or a portafilter with an E.S.E. basket, an E.S.E. pod, fresh water, a preheated cup.

Parameter	Value
Pod	E.S.E., 44 mm, 7 g
Yield	25–30 ml Espresso · 15–20 ml Ristretto · 50–60 ml Lungo
Extraction time	25–30 seconds (espresso)
Temperature	90–94 °C, set by the machine

Step by step

1. Heat the machine, blank shot to flush and warm the cup.
2. Place the pod centred in the basket; fold the paper tab inwards or lay it flat against the rim — it must not get between the basket and the gasket, or it will drip.
3. Lock in the basket; on portafilters a little more firmly than with loose coffee, because the paper has to be compressed.
4. Start the shot, stop after 25 to 30 seconds at 25 to 30 millilitres (on automatic machines the volume is programmed).
5. Remove the pod, rinse the basket.

If it doesn't taste right

• Runs through in 15 seconds, thin, sour: pod too loose in the basket, paper tab acting as a channel. On portafilters: use the pod basket instead of the standard basket.
• Doesn't run or drips, bitter: scale or a blocked shower screen. Descale; on pod machines flush the brew chamber.
• Tastes papery: blank shot forgotten or pods stored badly (open, damp). Keep pods individually wrapped, cool and dry.
• Different results with the same pod: temperature. Wait 30 seconds between two shots so the boiler can recover.

Espresso on the portafilter — dialing in

The portafilter is the method with the greatest potential and the most variables. The good news: there are only four, and three of them you set once and leave alone. What gets readjusted every day is the grind size.

You need: a portafilter machine, a grinder to match (stepless adjustment), tamper, scale reading to 0.1 grams, timer, fresh beans (7 to 21 days after roasting).

Parameter	Starting value (Doppio)
Dose	18 g in the double basket (16–20 g depending on the basket)
Yield	36 g in the cup (ratio 1:2)
Extraction time	25–30 seconds from pump start
Temperature	92–94 °C
Pressure	9 bar
Grind size	fine, "like fine salt" — starting point, to be adjusted

Step by step

1. Heat the machine for at least 20 minutes (heat-exchanger/dual boiler 30). Leave the portafilter locked in so it warms up.
2. Weigh the dose: basket on the scale, tare, grind 18 grams. Always the same dose — it is the constant.
3. Distribute: break up clumps, level the surface — with a needle tool (WDT) or by tapping lightly and sweeping. No mounds, no holes.
4. Tamp: straight, with even pressure, until the coffee stops giving — levelness matters more than force. Wipe the rim.
5. Flush the brew group briefly, lock in the portafilter, scale with cup under the spout, tare, start timer and shot at the same time.
6. Watch: after 5 to 8 seconds the first dark drops, then a thin, even stream, the "mouse tail". Stop at 36 grams in the cup and read the time.
7. Adjust: under 22 seconds — grind finer. Over 35 — coarser. One click of the grinder per attempt. Dose and ratio stay put until the time is right. Only then taste and fine-tune.

If it doesn't taste right

• Sour, thin, short finish, pale crema: under-extracted — grind finer, longer shot, possibly one degree hotter.
• Bitter, dry, astringent, dark thin crema: over-extracted — grind coarser, shorter, possibly cooler.
• Sour AND bitter at once, patchy crema, spurting: channeling — distribute better, tamp straight, check the dose, don't overfill the basket.
• Different every day with the same settings: the coffee ages and degasses — older beans want finer. And: is the grinder clean?
• Too much crema, big bubbles, unsteady shot: coffee too fresh (under five days). Wait.

Ristretto, Lungo, Doppio, Café Crème

Four drinks from the same machine, distinguished only by volume and time.

Drink	Coffee	In the cup	Time	Character
Ristretto	7 g (single) / 18 g (double)	15–20 ml / 25–30 ml	15–20 s	sweet, dense, little bitterness, less caffeine
Espresso	7 g / 18 g	25–30 ml / 36 ml	25–30 s	the reference: balance of acidity, sweetness, body
Lungo	7 g / 18 g	50–60 ml / 80 ml	40–50 s	lighter, more bitter compounds, more caffeine
Café Crème	7–8 g	approx. 110–130 ml	40–60 s	the Swiss cup: mild, long, fine crema
Americano	Espresso + hot water	120–150 ml	—	espresso aromatics, filter strength — not a lungo

The Ristretto is the espresso at its sweetest moment, because extraction stops before the bitter compounds arrive — which is why many baristas prefer it for milk drinks. The Lungo is the opposite: it pushes extraction right into bitterness. If you want a "long coffee" without that bitterness, make an Americano — espresso as usual, then add hot water. And Café Crème is a chapter of its own: not espresso plus water, but a separate, coarser, longer extraction — made in Switzerland with its own grind and its own basket.

The Moka — Bialetti's pot done right

The Moka doesn't make espresso but a coffee of its own: at around 1.5 bar of steam pressure, strong, dense, bittersweet, honest — the coffee half of Italy wakes up to. Almost everything that tastes bitter and burnt in Moka coffee comes from too much heat and too long on the stove. Both can be avoided.

You need: a Moka (Bialetti Express for gas/electric, Venus or an induction Pulcina for induction), medium-fine to finely ground coffee (coarser than espresso, finer than filter), hot water, a tea towel.

Parameter	Value
Coffee	the funnel loosely full — don't press (approx. 15–18 g for the 3-cup pot)
Water	up to just below the safety valve, PREHEATED
Grind size	medium-fine — finer than filter, coarser than espresso
Heat	medium to low
Duration	3–5 minutes until the first flow

Step by step

1. Boil water in the kettle and fill the base to just below the valve. Preheated water is the most important trick: the coffee then doesn't sit on hot metal for minutes before the pressure builds — that prevents the metallic, cooked taste.
2. Insert the funnel, fill with coffee: loosely, up to the rim, level it with a finger or the back of a knife. Don't press — the Moka doesn't have the pressure to get through a tamped bed.
3. Wipe the rim of the pot (coffee grounds on the thread make it leak), screw on the top — with the tea towel, the base is hot.
4. Put it on medium heat, lid open. After two to four minutes the coffee begins to flow: first dark and slow, then honey-coloured, steady.
5. As soon as the stream turns pale and the pot starts to gurgle and hiss, take it off the heat — that is the moment. What comes after is steam and bitterness. Some hold the bottom of the base briefly under cold water to stop the extraction at once.
6. Stir briefly (the first coffee is stronger than the last), pour into preheated cups.
7. Let it cool, rinse with warm water, no detergent, let it dry open. The thin patina of coffee oils protects the aluminium and the taste.

If it doesn't taste right

• Bitter, burnt, metallic: too hot, too long, cold water to start. Lower heat, preheated water, off the stove sooner.
• Thin, sour, watery: ground too coarse or too little coffee. Finer, funnel full.
• Spurts, comes in bursts: ground too fine or pressed — the pressure builds up. Coarser, don't press.
• Leaks from the thread: gasket old or coffee grounds on the rim. Wipe the rim; replace the gasket every one to two years.
• Tastes of old pot: it hasn't been used for a long time or was washed with detergent. Brew two or three pots "empty" and pour them away.

Hario V60

The V60 is the instrument with the greatest control — and therefore the one on which filter coffee is best learned. Everything you do can be tasted in the cup: the pouring speed, the number of pours, the grind size. The following recipe is a proven starting point; from here, everyone develops their own.

You need: V60 (size 02 for two to four cups), matching paper filters, scale, kettle (ideally with a gooseneck), timer, medium-fine ground coffee.

Parameter	Value
Coffee	15 g (for one large cup) · 30 g (for two)
Water	250 g · 500 g (ratio 1:16–1:17)
Temperature	92–96 °C — hotter for lighter-roasted coffees
Grind size	medium-fine, "like granulated sugar"
Total time	2:30–3:15 minutes including drawdown

Step by step (for 15 g / 250 g)

1. Put the filter in the V60 and rinse it with plenty of hot water — that removes the paper taste and warms the dripper and carafe. Pour the water away.
2. Add the coffee, level the surface, put everything on the scale and tare. Start the timer with the first water.
3. Bloom (0:00–0:40): pour 40 to 50 grams of water (about three times the amount of coffee) in circles so that all the grounds are wetted. The bed swells and bubbles — CO₂ escaping. Wait 30 to 40 seconds.
4. First pour (0:40–1:15): slowly, in circles from the inside out, without hitting the edge of the filter, up to 150 grams. The water level should sit about two centimetres above the bed, no more.
5. Second pour (1:15–1:45): up to 250 grams, same movement. At the end, pour gently once around the rim so that grounds clinging to the wall are washed back into the bed.
6. Let it draw down. The bed should be flat at the end — not funnel-shaped, not with a high rim. It is through at 2:30 to 3:15.
7. Swirl the carafe, pour into preheated cups. Hot, the coffee tastes thin at first and gets sweeter as it cools — waiting a minute pays off.

If it doesn't taste right

• Sour, thin, through too fast (under 2:15): ground too coarse — grind finer. Or hotter water.
• Bitter, dry, too slow (over 3:30): too fine — grind coarser. Or fewer pours, less stirring.
• Tastes hollow and bitter at the same time: channels in the bed — pour more evenly, don't skip the bloom, don't pour straight onto one spot.
• Bed lopsided or rimmed at the end: too much centre, too little edge — pour circles more evenly, rinse the rim at the end.
• Flat, papery: filter not rinsed, or water too soft.

Variation — the 4:6 method (Tetsu Kasuya, world champion 2016): 20 g coffee, 300 g water in five equal pours of 60 g every 45 seconds. The first two (40 per cent) determine sweetness and acidity — a bigger first pour = more sweetness —, the last three (60 per cent) the strength. Grind coarser than usual. A recipe that treats filter coffee like a dial.

Chemex

The same physics as the V60, but with thicker filters and a larger volume — and therefore a different character: the clearest, most tea-like, most precise cup filter coffee can give. The Chemex is meant for two to four people; below 30 grams of coffee it gets erratic.

You need: Chemex (6 or 8 cups), Chemex filters (folded, the three-layer side towards the spout), scale, gooseneck kettle, timer, medium-coarse ground coffee.

Parameter	Value
Coffee	30 g (for two large cups) · 45 g (for three)
Water	500 g · 750 g (ratio 1:16–1:17)
Temperature	94–96 °C
Grind size	medium-coarse — coarser than V60, "like coarse sand"
Total time	4:00–5:00 minutes

Step by step (for 30 g / 500 g)

1. Unfold the filter so that three layers lie on the spout side — that stabilises the filter and keeps the air channel at the spout clear. Rinse thoroughly (at least 200 ml of hot water, otherwise the thick filters taste of paper). Pour the water out through the spout without letting the filter slip.
2. Add the coffee, level, tare the scale, start the timer.
3. Bloom (0:00–0:45): 60 to 90 grams of water in circles, wait 45 seconds — Chemex blooms may be longer.
4. Pours: in three portions of about 140 grams, each time the water level sinks just below the edge of the bed — at 0:45, 1:45, 2:45. Circles from the inside out, rinse the rim only at the end.
5. Let it draw down; at 4:00 to 5:00 the last drop is through. Lift out the filter with the grounds and discard it.
6. Swirl the carafe, serve. The thick glass keeps the coffee warm in the Chemex for a while — but never on the hotplate.

If it doesn't taste right

• Thin, sour: too coarse or too few pours — grind finer, or pour in four portions.
• Bitter, harsh: too fine or too hot — coarser, or 92 degrees.
• Very slow, stalling (over 6 minutes): filter sucked against the spout (air channel blocked) — mind the three-layer side when inserting; or grind too fine.
• Paper in the taste: not rinsed enough — Chemex filters need considerably more than usual.

French Press

The most forgiving method: no filter paper, no pouring, no technique — just time. In return, the fullest cup, with all the oils and a remainder of suspended particles. The following recipe takes away the French Press's two weaknesses: the sediment and the bitterness from steeping too long.

You need: French Press, scale, kettle, timer, spoon, coarsely ground coffee.

Parameter	Value
Coffee	30 g (for two cups)
Water	500 g (ratio 1:16–1:17)
Temperature	93–96 °C
Grind size	coarse, "like coarse sea salt"
Steeping time	4 minutes + waiting

Step by step

1. Preheat the pot with hot water, empty it.
2. Add the coffee, tare the scale, pour the water briskly up to 500 grams so that all the grounds are wetted. Start the timer. Don't stir, don't put the plunger on yet.
3. At 4:00 a crust of grounds has formed on top. Stir gently three times with the spoon — the crust breaks, most of the grounds sink.
4. Skim off the remaining foam and floating particles with two spoons and discard them. This is the step that makes the cup clean.
5. Wait: another 4 to 6 minutes until the fine particles have settled. Only then put the plunger on and press it down only to just above the sediment — not all the way. The mesh only holds back what floats on top; anything you stir up ends up in the cup.
6. Pour carefully, leaving the last centimetre in the pot. The coffee tastes best warm — at 60 to 65 degrees.

If it doesn't taste right

• Muddy, lots of sediment: ground too fine or pressed too early. Coarser, wait longer, don't press to the bottom.
• Bitter: steeped too long — extraction continues as long as the coffee sits on the grounds. After skimming it is almost finished; if you still taste bitterness, pour everything into a second, preheated pot after waiting.
• Thin: too coarse or too little coffee. Try 1:15.

AeroPress

Designed in 2005 by frisbee inventor Alan Adler: a plunger, a cylinder, a paper filter — and the pressure of your hand. The AeroPress doesn't make espresso, but a concentrated, clean, highly variable coffee in a minute, copes with travel and office coffee and has a world championship of its own.

You need: AeroPress with filter, scale, kettle, timer, stirring paddle, medium-fine ground coffee.

Parameter	Value (standard)
Coffee	15 g
Water	220 g (makes one large cup) — or 100 g of concentrate, then dilute
Temperature	85–92 °C — the AeroPress forgives cooler water
Grind size	medium-fine, slightly finer than V60
Time	1:00 steeping + 0:30 pressing

Step by step (inverted, the more stable method)

1. Push the plunger about two centimetres into the cylinder, place the whole thing upside down (plunger at the bottom) on the scale. Put the filter in the cap and rinse it with hot water.
2. Coffee into the cylinder, tare, start the timer, pour 220 grams of water, stir for ten seconds.
3. At 1:00 screw on the cap with the filter, carefully flip the cylinder onto the cup.
4. Press down slowly and evenly — 20 to 30 seconds, until it hisses. Not by force: resistance means the grind is too fine.
5. Unscrew the cap, push the coffee puck into the compost with the plunger, rinse. Done in minutes, clean in seconds.

If it doesn't taste right: too bitter — cooler water (85 degrees) or shorter. Too thin — grind finer or steep longer (up to 2:00). Too hard to press — coarser. The AeroPress is the method for experimenting: there is no wrong setting, only one you don't like.

Filter coffee machine

The machine can make good coffee if you let it — and most people stop it with too little coffee, old coffee and the hotplate.

You need: a filter machine that reaches 92 to 96 degrees (the "SCA-certified" models guarantee that; cheap machines often stay at 85 degrees), paper filters, medium-coarse ground coffee, scale.

Parameter	Value
Coffee	60 g per litre of water — 60 g for a 1-litre carafe, 30 g for half a carafe
Grind size	medium — "like sugar"
Water	fresh, filtered if your tap water is hard
Keeping warm	20 minutes at most — then a thermos

Step by step

1. Insert the filter, rinse it briefly with hot water (carafe underneath, pour away).
2. Weigh the coffee — the rule of thumb "one heaped spoon per cup" usually gives too little — and level it.
3. Fresh, cold water into the tank, start the machine.
4. As soon as it has finished, swirl the carafe (the first coffee is stronger than the last) and pour immediately into cups or a thermos. The hotplate keeps cooking the coffee; after 30 minutes it tastes cooked, after an hour burnt.
5. Descale the machine every four to eight weeks — its brewing temperature depends on it.

Cold Brew and Cold Drip

Cold-extracted is not simply cold coffee: because cold water barely dissolves acids and bitter compounds, Cold Brew is soft, sweet, chocolatey — and, thanks to the long time and the high amount of coffee, has more caffeine than a cup of filter.

You need: a large glass or plastic container with a lid, coarsely ground coffee, cold water, a sieve and a paper filter (or filter cloth), a fridge.

Parameter	Value
Coffee	100 g
Water	800 g (ratio 1:8 — makes a concentrate)
Grind size	coarse, like French Press
Steeping time	12–16 hours in the fridge (18–24 at room temperature — then drink it sooner)
Serving	dilute the concentrate 1:1 with water or milk, over ice

Step by step

1. Coffee into the container, add the water, stir briefly so everything is wetted. Lid on, fridge.
2. After 12 to 16 hours, pour through a coarse sieve into a second container, then once more through a paper filter — it takes a while, but it makes the concentrate clear.
3. The concentrate keeps for a week in the fridge; it gets a little rounder every day.
4. Serving: one part concentrate, one part water (or milk, or tonic), plenty of ice, a strip of lemon or orange peel if you like.

Cold Drip is the elaborate sister: ice water drips for hours — one drop per second — through a bed of coffee in glass towers. Aromatically finer and clearer than Cold Brew, with floral notes that get lost in the standing bath. If you don't have a tower, you get an approximation with the "Japanese Iced Coffee" method: brew a normal pour-over hot with half the water — directly onto the other half, as ice cubes, in the carafe. Hot extraction, instant chilling: the best of both worlds.

Cezve — coffee the Turkish way

The oldest brewing method there is, and the only one in which coffee is boiled — almost. The grounds stay in the cup; the foam is the mark of quality.

You need: a Cezve (Ibrik) made of copper or brass, coffee ground to a fine dust (finer than espresso — a normal grinder often can't manage it; Turkish mills or ready-ground Turkish coffee), cold water, sugar to taste, small cups.

Parameter	Value per cup
Coffee	7 g (a heaped teaspoon)
Water	70 ml — one Turkish cup, added cold
Sugar	sade (none), az şekerli (a little), orta (medium, 1 tsp), şekerli (sweet, 2 tsp) — before, never after
Heat	low — patience is the method

Step by step

1. Cold water, coffee and sugar into the Cezve, stir well until no powder floats any more.
2. Put on low heat. Don't stir again.
3. After two to three minutes a dark, fine-pored foam forms and rises slowly. Just before it reaches the rim — never let it boil —, take the Cezve off the heat and spoon the foam into the cups.
4. Back on the heat, let the coffee rise a second (traditionally third) time, then pour carefully over the foam into the cups.
5. Wait a minute for the grounds to settle. Drink to the bottom, but not the bottom. Traditionally with a glass of water (beforehand, to clear the palate) and something sweet.

If it doesn't taste right: no foam — too hot, too fast, ground too coarse. Bitter — boiled. Gritty — ground too coarse. The Cezve demands finesse and slowness; anything else is coffee soup.

Steaming milk

Perfect milk foam is not foam but texture: glossy, with no visible bubbles, with the consistency of wet paint — "microfoam". It forms in two phases at the steam wand and takes practice, but less than baristas claim. The physics: steam draws air into the milk (stretching phase), then whirls the air into ever finer bubbles (rolling phase), while proteins stabilise them and the fat makes them creamy.

You need: a machine with a steam wand, a stainless steel milk jug (capacity twice the amount of milk), cold whole milk (3.5 per cent), a thermometer, until you can feel it in your hand.

Parameter	Value
Milk	cold, from the fridge — cold milk buys you time
Amount	jug one third to half full
Target temperature	60–65 °C — no more; from 70 it turns sweetish-cooked and the foam breaks
Final texture	glossy, bubble-free, pourable

Step by step

1. Purge the wand briefly (to clear the condensation), wipe it.
2. Wand just below the surface of the milk, slightly off-centre, so that the milk starts to spin when you open the steam. Steam fully on.
3. Stretch (2–5 seconds): hold the tip of the wand at the surface so that it hisses quietly, like paper — "tsss, tsss" — and the milk visibly gains volume. Longer for a Cappuccino, shorter for a Flat White. Loud slurping means: too deep. Big bubbles: too high.
4. Roll (up to 60–65 °C): wand deeper, jug tilted, so that the milk spins in a whirlpool — the whirlpool breaks the bubbles down into microfoam. Your hand on the jug feels the temperature: when it gets too hot to hold the jug, it is too hot.
5. Steam off, wand out, purge and wipe immediately — dried-on milk is the beginning of the end for any wand.
6. Tap the jug on the counter (big bubbles burst), swirl it (the foam turns glossy), and pour within 30 seconds — microfoam separates fast.

Without a steam wand: an electric induction milk frother (like the MS series) heats and froths at the push of a button — the texture is coarser than microfoam, but stable, and for Cappuccino and Latte at home it is the realistic solution. Alternatively: heat the milk to 60 degrees, pour it into the French Press, plunger quickly up and down for 30 seconds. Surprisingly good.

Plant milk: oat milk in the "Barista" version froths almost like cow's milk (more fat, stabilised), soy well, almond weakly and it collapses quickly. All of them prefer it cooler: 55 to 60 degrees.

Cappuccino, Latte, Flat White, Cortado

Four drinks, four ratios, one rule: the espresso is fresh, the milk is freshly steamed, and the two meet within a minute.

Drink	Espresso	Milk	Foam	Cup	Temperature
Cappuccino	1 (25–30 ml)	approx. 60 ml	approx. 60 ml, dense	150–180 ml	60–65 °C
Caffè Latte	1–2	200–250 ml	thin layer	300 ml glass	60–65 °C
Flat White	2 (Doppio)	approx. 120 ml	little, very fine	160–180 ml	55–60 °C
Cortado	1	approx. 30 ml, equal parts	hardly any	90–120 ml glass	55–60 °C
Macchiato	1	—	a spoonful	espresso cup	—

Pouring: tilt the cup slightly, start with the jug held high (the stream of milk dives under the crema, the cup turns brown), and when the cup is three quarters full, lower the jug close to the surface and increase the flow — now the white foam sits on top and draws. A heart appears if you lift the jug at the end and pull a thin stream through the white patch. Latte art is practice; good foam is the prerequisite, not the reward.

Shakerato, Espresso Tonic, Affogato

Three classics for the afternoon, all of which begin with a fresh espresso.

Caffè Shakerato (Italy): a double espresso, a teaspoon of sugar (or sugar syrup), five to six ice cubes in a cocktail shaker — shake hard for 15 seconds until the shaker frosts over, then strain through the sieve into a chilled martini glass. The foam on top is the crema, born again. Without sugar it does not work: the sugar binds the foam.

Espresso Tonic (Scandinavia, since the 2000s): a glass with ice, 150 millilitres of tonic water, an espresso poured slowly over it — at first it stays on top as a dark layer. Bitter on bitter, with the sweetness and fizz of the tonic in between; better with a light-roasted, fruity coffee than with a dark one. A slice of lemon or a sprig of rosemary.

Affogato al caffè (Italy): a scoop of vanilla ice cream (fior di latte or vanilla — nothing complicated) in a small bowl, a hot espresso poured over it — “drowned”. Eat immediately, while the ice cream melts and the espresso sets. The simplest dessert in the world, and one of the best.

Espresso Tonic and cold brew variations for the iced tea summer

If you are brewing iced tea anyway, you can set up a cold brew concentrate alongside it: one part concentrate to two parts iced tea (Pêche or Happy Green) makes a “Coffee Iced Tea” that tastes less strange than it sounds — the fruit of the tea carries the chocolate of the coffee. And cold brew with tonic, orange and ice is the summer aperitif without alcohol.

The little cleaning protocol

Most machines do not die of wear but of limescale and milk. What it takes is little — but regular.

Daily: purge and wipe the steam wand after every use. Empty the drip tray. Rinse the portafilter or pod holder. On fully automatic machines, rinse the milk system, empty the grounds container, let the brew unit dry.

Weekly: portafilter machine: backflush with a blind filter and cleaning powder, soak basket and portafilter in cleaning solution. Pod machines: rinse the brew chamber and holder, wipe the gasket. Grinder: empty the bean hopper, run cleaning granules through the burrs. Moka pot: check the gasket.

Monthly to quarterly: descale — every four to six weeks with hard water, every three months with soft water, using a citric or lactic acid descaler (not vinegar — it attacks the gaskets). Replace the water filter. Clean the shower screen.

Yearly: replace gaskets before they harden. Grinder: check the burrs.

As of September 2026. Parameters according to the Specialty Coffee Association (brew ratio, water, Golden Cup), manufacturers' specifications (Bialetti, Hario, Chemex, AeroPress) and our own practice in the roastery and the Galleria.