This friend of mine - I've been making him cappuccinos for like 6 months or so now - was over last weekend and he asked me why my coffee doesn't taste like it does in coffee shops. So, I made him a bad cappuccino.

Keep in mind that I've learned pretty much everything about making espresso and espresso drinks from reading on the internet, plus I took the course at Intelly about two years ago. I think my technique is pretty ok (no real opportunity to get bad habits).

So, I did this:
- set my grinder way too coarse (taking a mental note of where it was set),
- didn't worry about the distribution,
- tamped just barely,
- knocked the crap out of the portafilter with the tamper about 4 times (I used the abused Reg tamper that came with my neused machine),
- barely tamped again, locked it in and let it brew.
- while my 3 ounce espresso was quickly brewing into the cup (I think I got about 3 oz in 15 secs), I steamed up some milk
- I let that sucker screech, then lowered the pitcher to get some really big bubbles and just barely scalded the milk.

This was pretty much the first time I'd tried to make a drink like this. My friend started drinking it and said that the difference was very noticeable and reminded him of what he usually gets in coffee joints. I thought it was a pretty good demo.

And this was with fresh beans.

Anyone else?

fredfal wrote:he asked me why my coffee doesn't taste like it does in coffee shops. So, I made him a bad cappuccino.

Hahaha! That's perfect! Thanks for sharing it.

No, I've never gone quite that far. Have made quite a few too coarse shots etc when setting up the new grinder, and pulled shot after shot after shot of bitter + sour Sainsbury's beans (BB AUG 2010) this weekend in an effort to get my dose-distribute-tamp right, but nothing quite like your story!

The milk in cappuccinos can sure hide a lot of poorly made espressos - still be drinkable. I have noticed though, when I make a good cappa with a good fresh espresso - peoples eyes light up - and they notice the difference right off.

Howard

Nice one, Fred!

My little brother is a bit of a coffee PITA, he's so used to bad coffee he doesn't appreciate the drinks I make. So.....I play his game!

One time he was at my house and I went to make us a couple drinks. I prepared my basket, steamed our milk, pulled my shot, then, repulled his shot. His repull (what I call a blondo) was basically the shot from seconds ~30 to ~90 . But, of course, he likes it! With a ton of sugar and a gallon of milk! He likes this (or instant+milk!!!) better than my proper cappuccino! My beans are too good to burn on this guy.

There are several variations to this: using very old beans, bad basket prep, no flushing...you name it, this guy will drink it(+1ton sugar + 1gallon milk)! I'm just hoping he'll eventually GROW UP and start liking what I like .