First time for a crowd

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new2espresso
Posts: 213
Joined: 9 years ago

#1: Post by new2espresso »

Hey folks,
So our local Starbucks closed for a while with the whole Covid thing and dropped off a 5lb bag of their espresso roast at my ER. Since its all whole bean and we don't have a grinder I was/chose to volunteer to make some coffee for my coworkers on a day off. I have never done anything like this before and would love any tips or suggestions! Or recipes for what people may like
Tools- Breville dual boiler, Niche zero, acaia scale, 1 milk jug.
I was going to use a few gallons of distilled water (Whole Latte Love recipe) to top up the machine as needed.
Milk- 1- gallon of maybe 2% on ice
They also dropped off a bottle of their cascara and cane syrups.

I usually only make espressos/8oz lattes for 2, occasionally 4-6 if we have guests over using a fairly light roast without any flavors or syrups, but this may not work for all my coworkers.
Thanks for any tips!
Kind regards,
Karan

Mbb
Posts: 465
Joined: 6 years ago

#2: Post by Mbb »

You lost me at where you said you didn't have a grinder.

unless you're going to bring all your personal stuff into work , on your day off , to make espresso for everybody.

Which is cool.

You could probably borrow a grocery stores grinder to pre grind a pound of it a week or something so they could use it to make coffee at work.... But then you said it was a espresso roast. Do they even have a espresso machine at work?

Hey you're volunteering your time to do something nice that's great.

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new2espresso (original poster)
Posts: 213
Joined: 9 years ago

#3: Post by new2espresso (original poster) »

I brought my niche in. It went pretty well. About 60 drinks in 3ish hours for most of the Er staff
Kind regards,
Karan

false1001
Posts: 279
Joined: 6 years ago

#4: Post by false1001 replying to new2espresso »

Those are pretty impressive numbers for a niche zero and BDB, congrats

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lancealot
Posts: 1139
Joined: 7 years ago

#5: Post by lancealot »

Nice work!

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Bluecold
Posts: 1774
Joined: 16 years ago

#6: Post by Bluecold »

I'm sorry I missed your opening post. If I had suggested to split your doubles, and practice foaming in a bigger pitcher to make two cappuccinos at the same time, would that have been good advice in hindsight?

I single dose as well. When making just doubles, I have two precision baskets so I can dose in one while the other sits in the pf, extracting. However, when making cappuccinos, this doesn't really add speed as milk logistics take up the same time.

What was your cappuccino/espresso ratio? I'd assume mostly cappuccino?
LMWDP #232
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new2espresso (original poster)
Posts: 213
Joined: 9 years ago

#7: Post by new2espresso (original poster) »

I had people write their name and drink order on the cup. I think most people saw latte written on another cup and asked for the same.
Total of 1espresso, 2 americanos, 1 steamed milk with sugar only everything else was either a latte, something milk based
Went through almost 2 gallons of milk,2 gallon jugs of WLL recipe water and most of the donated 5lb bag. Left the rest of it for the coffee maker we have at work. It's still better than the preground individual bags we get.
I did think of splitting doubles but I didn't have a big milk pitcher so I could only steam for 1 drink at a time.
I also skipped tamping and just used my amazon knockoff distribution tool with the depth adjusted
Kind regards,
Karan

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new2espresso (original poster)
Posts: 213
Joined: 9 years ago

#8: Post by new2espresso (original poster) »

Bluecold wrote:I'm sorry I missed your opening post. If I had suggested to split your doubles, and practice foaming in a bigger pitcher to make two cappuccinos at the same time, would that have been good advice in hindsight?

I single dose as well. When making just doubles, I have two precision baskets so I can dose in one while the other sits
I use 2 baskets at home when there's a crowd but I didn't want to take too much stuff in with Covid. It was a pain in the behind to clean everything before bringing it back home
That would have been a great idea. I wish I had thought of buying a bigger jug the week before!!
Kind regards,
Karan

DaveB
Posts: 955
Joined: 6 years ago

#9: Post by DaveB »

Assuming you are using 4oz milk for the 8oz lattes, you could crank the boiler temp to 185ºF if you doubled the milk to split it (assuming it's not set there already).

Personally, I leave mine at the stock setting of 175ºF most of the time, as I have better control with the 4oz and 2oz quantities I use most of the time (for single 8oz lattes and 4oz cortados).
Von meinem iPhone gesendet

new2espresso (original poster)
Posts: 213
Joined: 9 years ago

#10: Post by new2espresso (original poster) »

Another great idea. I do run the temperature pretty high so I'll try dialing it down. Trying to get more coffee and fewer milk flavors out of my drinks now
Kind regards,
Karan

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