The Professional Barista's Handbook - Page 2

[Jasper]

I received a copy today! Happy to find pictures of that famous dutch espresso machine inside

[perstare]

Ordered my copy last Tuesday, received it Friday, curled up with it on Saturday and am still digesting the wealth of information. I'm looking forward to reading it many times. Sections on tamping and fines migration were an eye opener for me. You can readily tell that the author, Scott Rao, is a down-to-earth, humble gentleman whose love for his vocation shines on every page. Was very pleased to see serious attention devoted with a chapter on drip coffee. (A couple of typos should keep David Lewis busy). I probably will get my copy of the book rebound in a spiral format so that I can have it lay flat as I read it again. Many thanks for a beautifully executed book!

perstare

[Fullsack]

Octane's M'Lissa Muckerman, featured in this month's Barista Mag, has a barista manual in progress. If that is ever published, I'll add it to my library as well.

[King Seven]

I really enjoyed the book, and I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in espresso.

I've written a slightly longer review here.

[RapidCoffee]

I've had my copy for a few weeks now, have read through it at least twice, and would like to add my congratulations to Scott for a wonderful achievement. The Professional Barista's Handbook is a pleasure to read: thoughtfully organized, well written, meticulously researched, featuring a good balance of theory and practice. Scott's writing shows a profound understanding of both the big picture and the finer details of all things espresso. There's something for everyone: equipment (grinders and espresso machines), barista technique (grinding, dosing, distribution, grooming/leveling, tamping, frothing, latte art), drip coffee, French press, even tea. Subject matter is presented with clear, concise explanations, and enhanced with carefully chosen photos and illustrations. It's a pleasure to find such a wealth of up-to-date information and methodology in one volume, including up-to-date topics such as Andy Schecter's brew ratios, PID controllers, Scace thermofilters, and others too numerous to mention.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. The title notwithstanding, no home barista's bookshelf is complete without it.

[Abe Carmeli]

I've just finished reading Scott's book, cover to cover in almost one seating. If I say nothing more about this book, that alone would be an achievement. The book is a wonderful read, and perhaps its most striking achievement is its brevity. The espresso part of it, including milk is 65 pages including illustrations. The rest is about other brewing methods and tea. Distilling what is practically important to a barista from the millions of words poured on espresso online and in professional literature is no small feat.

There are clearly some landmines he was trying to avoid by taking a picture of the common practice in dosing and brew ratios, without trying to settle that debate.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on espresso percolation and extraction, where he covers the science of percolation in a language any casual reader can understand. The chapter gives a barista the tools to improve extraction by understanding that dynamic. The sections covering the productions of fines in a grind and how a barista can slow down their migration were particularly helpful. And so was the discussion of basket shape and its affect on extraction quality.

The book also pays homage to home baristas who contributed to the knowledge we have about espresso extraction and preparation technique. Jim Schulman's paper on Aspects of Espresso Extraction, Andy Schecter's Espresso Brewing Ratio, and John Weiss Distribution Technique are getting their well deserved recognition.

For comic relief, Scott weaves into that body of knowledge a few whimsical stories, one of which involves Hilly's Cafe, The Milk Man and The Temperature Guy. I was surprised to find out that the story was a total fiction.

The sections regarding running a café I believe will interest some home baristas as well. We never really see it from the other side. To illustrate how market forces can affect the quality of espresso in even the most artisan cafés, he confesses that in his own café, he had to sacrifice the quality of the straight shot and go with a 20gram dose standard for both milk and straight shot drinks, because 95% of his sales were milk drinks.

I would have liked to see more of a practical discussion on how to adjust brew parameters for a variety of coffees, acidic blends, dark roasts, & single origin coffees. Perhaps in the 2nd edition?

I highly recommend the book, and I am going to spend a few hours today experimenting with some of the things I've learned from it.

[AndyS]

For comic relief, Scott weaves into that body of knowledge a few whimsical stories, one of which involves Hilly's Cafe, The Milk Man and The Temperature Guy. I was surprised to find out that the story was a total fiction.

Total fiction? Gee, I could have sworn Scott told me that Howard and David had been consulted on the story and that they both signed off on its accuracy....

[Abe Carmeli]

For comic relief, Scott weaves into that body of knowledge a few whimsical stories, one of which involves Hilly's Cafe, The Milk Man and The Temperature Guy. I was surprised to find out that the story was a total fiction.

Total fiction? Gee, I could have sworn Scott told me that Howard and David had been consulted on the story and that they both signed off on its accuracy....

You've been sadly misinformed my friend. It is all fiction I tell ya

[bigabeano]

i admit the characters and events in the story do bear a striking similarity to some real-life people and events. truly an amazing coincidence.

abe, thank you for your kind words. more than selling lots of books, the most gratifying part of this whole project has been to receive the compliments and approval of knowledgeable people such as yourself.

scott

[pgreilich]

Is this a good book for a novice to intermediate player?

[HB]

Yes, but don't take my word for it, read the first chapter and decide for yourself.

[JimWright]

One more in the mail...

[pgreilich]

So what ground does it cover that has not already been done by other books?

[JimWright]

Scott, I read the book all the way through this weekend after picking it up from the PO on Friday, and kudos.

I don't make much drip at home, but your finding that 12 hours pre-grinding for it was preferred was really surprising to me. (All - see footnote p. 71.) In stark contrast to all of those consumer brewers that have a built in grinder which is activated at brew time, which became popular a few years ago, this would seem to suggest that you're actually better off grinding it yourself the night before!

[bigabeano]

Jim: yes, it would seem that way. but i hope others will test it first to decide for themselves.

for Paul Greilich: well, there have been three kinds of books before mine:

1.the scientific (illy), which is interesting in a geeky way but provides little practical information that can be put into use by a barista.

2. the basic overview (davids, others), which is interesting for your aunt who kinda likes coffee, but not at all advanced enough to be educational for even a newbie home barista who occasionally reads the internet boards

3. the practical but highly speculative (schomer), which was an "aha" find for many baristi 10-12 years ago but upon closer inspection is full of misinformation and advice of limited use.

so what's different about my book?

i've tried, and hopefully succeeded, in presenting the science in layman's terms without losing any accuracy, and also provided practical advice about how to make use of the science (i.e. how fines migration affects your coffee positively and negatively, and how you can manipulate it)

i've also discussed in great detail milk steaming and pouring techniques, systems for efficiency in busy cafes, the relevant water chemistry facts for coffee/espresso/tea and how to choose the proper treatment system.

the book also has a few new ideas i've never seen in print or heard discussed (i.e. how the different shapes of single and double baskets affect extraction; you'll be surprised!).
if you go to my website and view the table of contents and sample page spreads, hopefully you'll be convinced the book is worth the investment.
thanks,
scott

[Abe Carmeli]

Jim: yes, it would seem that way. but i hope others will test it first to decide for themselves.

Jim Schulman and I will be doing some tests along those lines when he visits New York in two weeks. We will post our results. The book goes well beyond espresso and steaming which is covered wonderfully in the book, including some new technique for pouring milk I've never seen before, (with an assistance of a spoon holding back the foam during a pour). The brew section is the most helpful & practical discussion on how to get the best brewed cup I've seen. I must admit I'm making better brew & F/P cup after reading that chapter.

[perstare]

......I don't make much drip at home, but your finding that 12 hours pre-grinding for it was preferred was really surprising to me. (All - see footnote p. 71.)

Curious, if this is the case that pre-grinding for drip 12 hours before brewing yields a preferred cup, then why would not the same concept apply for espresso?

perstare

[JimWright]

Curious, if this is the case that pre-grinding for drip 12 hours before brewing yields a preferred cup, then why would not the same concept apply for espresso?

I'm sure Scott, Abe or others will correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe the much finer grind for espresso, and consequently much larger exposed surface area of the grounds, causes the beans to degas and oxidize much faster than the larger grind for drip.

[DavidMLewis]

Curious, if this is the case that pre-grinding for drip 12 hours before brewing yields a preferred cup, then why would not the same concept apply for espresso?

Scott said, when I asked him that question, that he did in fact prefer it for espresso, but that since the C02 is such an important factor in controlling the flow rate, he found it too inconsistent to use; he felt that one would have to grind, then wait a fairly precise and consistent time before pulling a shot.

When I asked him what about the flavor of the pre-ground coffee his tasters preferred, he described it as "clarity of flavor." It will be interesting to see what Jim and Abe come up with, and also to try to figure out why the effect occurs. Perhaps it's possible with an alteration in technique to get better results from freshly-ground coffee, if something is done to enhance the wetting. Scott's experiments were with drip and cupping, neither of which methods really mix the water and grounds aggressively. Since both French press and vacuum pot do, I intend to do some playing around with those.

Best,
David

[bigabeano]

david,
thanks for answering. those are my thoughts exactly. but i'm not so sure about the importance of "aggressive" mixing in a french press or vac pot. any thoughts on its significance, other than perhaps accelerating extraction some?
i did see a company in NZ use a system in which they kept just enough grounds in the doser to cover the triangular dosing chambers. for each shot they would use two or three (or however many) chambers/pulls of the handle. and then they would turn on the grinder between shots and grind a little, dose a little onto the doser's lid (or whatever), and then drop those grounds back into the chambers so the grounds once again just covered the triangular chambers. this achieved their goals of allowing a little degassing while also having a quick, convenient dosing method (click, click, and go, just like in italy). a nice side effect of this system is that when using the dosing chambers the way they were intended to be used (more or less), the grounds fall a little more vertically (ala anfim) than diagonally (ala mazzer shotgun dosing). i am not "endorsing" this system, but it worked well for them, and they managed to pull two shots that are still on my personal top 10 all-time shot list. (we all keep such lists, right?)

also, you'll be happy to know i'm doing a reprint next week and have axed all the typos. though i'm sure you'll find a new one