Becoming A Barista At Home: A Beginner’s Guide

Professional baristas usually work in specialty coffee shops making coffee and coffee-based drinks. They are skilled at operating different coffee making machines and brewing devices and will often recommend different drinks to customers.

Working as a barista in your home kitchen and working in a café as a professional are two different experiences. But you can still get some coffee-making tips from professional baristas at your local café as you pursue your journey to becoming an at-home barista.

There are multiple things baristas need to work on to improve their craft, including incorporating troubleshooting experiences into their daily movements, learning the various efficiencies, and working a line. Do you want to become a barista? Here are some skills you need to learn to use.

Buy The Essential Machines And Equipment

The first step to making the perfect cup of brewed coffee is to have high-quality equipment. These include a coffee maker, espresso machine, and other items such as a carafe, portafilter, milk frother, pitcher, grinder, and a coffee maker’s cleaning brushes. There is a wide selection of coffee equipment available in the market.

As a beginner barista, you may have limited knowledge of coffee machines and may need to learn how to choose one that works for you. When buying a coffee machine, you must select one that is excellent and meets your needs. Here are the different essential devices and their functions.

Coffee Brewer

There is a wide range of coffee makers you can choose from in the market, depending on your budget and preference. Based on reliable data, some consumers’ top choices include the capsule or K-cup espresso machines and coffee makers.

Grinder

You will need a reliable and efficient coffee bean grinder to make your ground coffee. Grinders often differ based on your coffee machine. For instance, a grinder from your local café may vary from the one you buy for personal use since they distinguish the coffee flavor when producing espresso or a different drip-style drink. Remember, it’s hard to impossible to make bad beans good – so buy good organic Indian coffee or similar to make the best possible cup.

Portafilter

If you enjoy drinking espresso and frequently consume it, you must get a portafilter. While a portafilter resembles a spoon, its fundamental function is holding ground coffee. You will typically connect your portafilter to your espresso machine, which allows hot water to flow through it, giving you the perfect cup of espresso.

Pitcher for Frothing Milk

Consider trying latte art if you enjoy a delicious cup of milky flavor coffee and beautiful decoration in your mug. To achieve this, you need to get a milk frothing pitcher. You can choose two pitchers; one has a thoughtful design, while the other has a traditional design. It will be best to get the classic style pitcher, especially if you are a beginner at-home barista since it makes pouring milk more consistent and easier.

Steam Wand

If you plan on preparing latte coffee, you will also have to invest in a steam wand. A steam wand is a widget that improves your milk’s quality, ensuring you make the best flawless latte art.

While you should choose a roast you enjoy, you must ensure that it is compatible with the brewing method you plan to use. There are different methods you can work with, depending on your preference. When making drip coffee, you can use any of these methods:

Pour-over brewing: This method is excellent when using light roast coffee blends because the slower brewing process allows the flowery and fruity flavors to emerge.

Note that brewing processes are often more adaptable with dark, medium-dark, and medium roasts. Since they need less time for flavor extraction, they are typically used for Aeropress, Moka pot, French press, and espresso, among other applications. Single-origin roasts have a more refined/distinct flavor and are grown in the same place.

Several ingredients make up a “blend,” which often has a mellow flavor appealing to a larger audience. Even better is that you can use the used-up coffee grounds afterward in your garden.

Microfoam: This is a form of frothed milk foam made by frothing milk that is extremely cold using the tip of your steam wand, ensuring that while it is close to the milk’s surface, it is still beneath the surface. You will then push your steam wand further into the milk to heat it after you generate the foam. The microfoam ensures you enjoy a smoother experience and improves your latte art.

To start frothing milk, you will require a cold pitcher and cold milk. Next, fill your pitcher with about 1/3 full with cold milk because the frothing process increases the volume. Ensure you drain any water in your steam wand before you start.

Latte Art: What You Need To Know

An essential thing to remember when you start with latte art is to be slow. Mastering the skill of making latte art is time-consuming. Start by finding a latte art design that works best for you and perfect it when you begin to work as a barista, and then you can keep refining and expanding your talent. A heart is the most common choice for first-timers who want to learn latte painting creations.

While latte art is pretty impressive, do not expect perfection on your first try, it takes time to perfect it. It would be best to allow yourself time to learn and keep practicing to perfect your art.

Keep Grinding!

The best way to improve and perfect your barista skills at home is to keep learning about your coffee. The more experience you get, the more knowledge you acquire, and the more you realize there is much more to know. Learning about coffee is a never-ending process. There is a lot of material you can learn online, whether you are looking to study how coffee from other regions differs or a new way of brewing your coffee.