Espresso 101 with Heather Perry

[Beezer]

I just found these very nice training videos with Heather Perrry giving her 11 tips for better espresso. Enioy.

[CoffeeOwl]

And that's the final one:

[Psyd]

And that's the final one:

I'm pretty familiar with all of those tips. Maybe not how to arrive at them the same way that Ms. Perry does, but the same conclusion, at least. Where can I find the 200 level courses? ; >

And I take it back. Heather is an artist.

[Marshall]

That's the same presentation in Pasadena I described in "A few hints from Heather Perry." What you don't see is Heather keeping her composure while her unadjusted GS/3 was freaking out and Sherri Johns running back and forth to top off its reservoir.

[Randii]

Oh No! There's my 15 minutes of fame! As much as I tried to stay out of the way of the camera, I forgot that they got a close-up shot of the espresso when I was holding the glass! Oh well! At least my fingernails were filed! So Marshall's jacket and my hand can now get a listing in IMDb!

[Beezer]

What you don't see is Heather keeping her composure while her unadjusted GS/3 was freaking out and Sherri Johns running back and forth to top off its reservoir.

Hee hee. The wonders of editing. Here I was thinking how nice it would be to have a GS3 for these kind of conferences, since it's portable and doesn't have to be plumbed in. It's not so great if it's acting up, though.

Maybe someone will post the unexpurgated outtakes, where Heather curses at the machine while she tries to pull a shot.

[RapidCoffee]

I'm pretty familiar with all of those tips. Maybe not how to arrive at them the same way that Ms. Perry does, but the same conclusion, at least. Where can I find the 200 level courses? ; >

Pretty basic stuff, but some nice hints there for everyone. Thanks to Eli and Pawel for posting these videos!

One of the more interesting tidbits, especially in light of recent dosing discussions: it's clear that Heather is not a fan of downdosing. She's dosing about 22g, presumably into a double basket, by heaping a mound of grinds and tapping a couple of times before leveling. No way to calculate brew ratios, but since she's pulling under 2oz volume (including crema), I'd guess these shots are somewhere between normale and ristretto in nature. Perhaps those who were fortunate enough to be present would care to comment further...

[Brad]

I want to see Heather do milk. try as I might, I just can't get milk right for art.

[Psyd]

I want to see Heather do milk. try as I might, I just can't get milk right for art.

Ehm, there are two thousand three hundred and forty-seven videos of folks steaming, pouring, and even screwing up latte art. Most of them are somewhat informative, even if it isn't Heather doing the pouring/frothing. CG has a fairly detailed sectionthat helped me when I started pouring art.

[Beezer]

If you want to see video of Heather frothing milk and pouring art, check out this link:

http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcou...sta31.3f595c2.html

There's a link there for the video podcast. It's not the best video in terms of seeing how she froths milk, but still fun to watch.

As for general tips about milk frothing, check out this thread:

http://www.home-barista.com/forum...-lattes-t5258.html

[Sedi]

Ehm, there are two thousand three hundred and forty-seven videos of folks steaming, pouring, and even screwing up latte art. Most of them are somewhat informative, even if it isn't Heather doing the pouring/frothing. CG has a fairly detailed sectionthat helped me when I started pouring art.

Well, here is one of these folks who is not Heather. Someone posted this in a thread where people were asking and giving tips for latte art in an Israeli coffee forum. In the subject the poster wrote: "forget all of that, I'd rather take it from world's greatest latte artist".

[cannonfodder]

His 'espresso' looked more like tar and the 'froth' had a striking resemblance to spackle, yuck.

[Sedi]

I specially liked him saying "despite what you may have herd it is pretty straight forward" at the beginning of the video and then watch how he shovels foam. Many reactions like yours followed over here as well.

[Randii]

Heather taught me to froth milk by just piercing the top of the milk, and letting the milk roll. She didn't have me angle the pitcher, I keep it straight and the wand is held at the side of the pitcher wall. Lower the pitcher as the milk increases in volume and stop adding air when the temp feels "baby bottle" warm. Do not drop the wand into the milk - just listen until the sound makes a deep "roar", which indicates that the milk is at temperature. Heather transfers half the volume of milk to a separate pitcher, lightly swirls the milk in the first pitcher and makes the latte art in the cup, then does the same with the second pitcher for cup number 2. This evens out the pour quality of the milk. I hope this makes sense, as I don't have visuals to show you. I thought frothing milk was really hard until Heather showed me how to do it. She taught me how to do it in only two tries. Heather is a good teacher.

[Randii]

Pretty basic stuff, but some nice hints there for everyone. Thanks to Pawel for posting these videos!

One of the more interesting tidbits, especially in light of recent dosing discussions: it's clear that Heather is not a fan of downdosing. She's dosing about 22g, presumably into a double basket, by heaping a mound of grinds and tapping a couple of times before leveling. No way to calculate brew ratios, but since she's pulling under 2oz volume (including crema), I'd guess these shots are somewhere between normale and ristretto in nature. Perhaps those who were fortunate enough to be present would care to comment further...

Heather told me that the dose really depends on the coffee. If it doesn't taste right updosed, you would down dose it. The Coffee Klatch blends work well at around 22g, and tend to like higher temperatures than a coffee like "Black Cat." You just experiment and do what is best for the coffee.

BTW, the demo was a basic Home Barista presentation. She goes into much more detail when you take her Home Barista class (you learn on your own machine). She also has a much more intensive class for professional baristas, which, of course, focuses on making espresso in a cafe environment.

[Marshall]

Hee hee. The wonders of editing. Here I was thinking how nice it would be to have a GS3 for these kind of conferences, since it's portable and doesn't have to be plumbed in. It's not so great if it's acting up, though.

Well, as I said, the machine was "unadjusted." Franke asked her to send it back for fine tuning. I have no idea how it behaves now.

[Brad]

Randii, thanks for the tip, I will try it in the morning. I saw Heather do something with a second pitcher in a competition vid I saw once but didn't have an explanation.

[Psyd]

She goes into much more detail when you take her Home Barista class (you learn on your own machine).

You mean that she'll come to my house!?!
(my machine is plumbed, needs 220V, and is a four-man lift) ; >

[WilsonHines]

(my machine is plumbed, needs 220V, and is a four-man lift) ; >

You got pictures of that? I have got to see it!

I rekon mine is a three man lift when full of water and surely is a two man lift when empty.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilsonhines/sets/72157603413702238/

[Psyd]

You got pictures of that? I have got to see it!

Sure man! Just click the dubbadubbadubba under all my posts. Somewhere I have pics on the net of her in situ, but I think that those are under the 'Post a pic of your home espresso setup' thread.