Newbie looking for home training in Los Angeles
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Phillipla
- Posts: 17
- Joined: 5 years ago
Hi there
My name is Phillip in Silverlake/Los Angeles. I'm new to the home barista world and purchased a Profitec 700 and Sette 270wi grinder and doing great on it for 2-3 months now. I upgraded the PID and was able to increase the steam pressure which was a very worthwhile upgrade! Definitely not easy for a beginner but it was worth it
http://phillipangert.com/profitec700upgrade
Id like to learn users back-flush and cleaning routines, general maintenance tips and any pre-infusion tips I can learn from others.
I thought maybe it would be helpful to pay someone to come over and help pull shots with me so I can learn more professional techniques and how to taste properly. If that's something that I could do with you, let me know. I'd like to pay for your time and drink some espresso together! I have a bunch of nice Kenyan and Ethiopian beans here and some blends to learn on.
Otherwise, any digital tips I can gather would be very helpful. Im a noobie so every shot in the 2:1 ratio in 30 seconds is tasting good to me, but I know there are a million variables to extract the best flavors from these beans. Thanks for any help.
Thank you
Phillip
My name is Phillip in Silverlake/Los Angeles. I'm new to the home barista world and purchased a Profitec 700 and Sette 270wi grinder and doing great on it for 2-3 months now. I upgraded the PID and was able to increase the steam pressure which was a very worthwhile upgrade! Definitely not easy for a beginner but it was worth it
http://phillipangert.com/profitec700upgrade
Id like to learn users back-flush and cleaning routines, general maintenance tips and any pre-infusion tips I can learn from others.
I thought maybe it would be helpful to pay someone to come over and help pull shots with me so I can learn more professional techniques and how to taste properly. If that's something that I could do with you, let me know. I'd like to pay for your time and drink some espresso together! I have a bunch of nice Kenyan and Ethiopian beans here and some blends to learn on.
Otherwise, any digital tips I can gather would be very helpful. Im a noobie so every shot in the 2:1 ratio in 30 seconds is tasting good to me, but I know there are a million variables to extract the best flavors from these beans. Thanks for any help.
Thank you
Phillip
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TomC
- Team HB
- Posts: 10559
- Joined: 13 years ago
Welcome Phillip!
You're in a very good location to find some excellent hands on tutoring. You have both LAMILL and Intelligentsia right in your neighborhood. Either one would have very well trained barista's who'd likely be very happy to do a home training session with a newbie. I'd start at Intelligentsia first, ask for the supervisor/manager on shift and tell them what you're looking for.
Working bar doesn't make a lot of money for baristas. But there's many who'd jump at the chance to make a bit more than they'd normally do and help out a local. Maybe just go into one of those cafes and see if you vibe with any of them and drop the idea in their lap.
Your few months of experience means that you'd only need more advance training, so a decent foundation. And your gear is good quality.
Otherwise, there's videos scattered among here, some of our Vendors in the Marketplace, and on YouTube that cover some of the tasks you mention.
Enjoy the ride and let us know how it goes!
You're in a very good location to find some excellent hands on tutoring. You have both LAMILL and Intelligentsia right in your neighborhood. Either one would have very well trained barista's who'd likely be very happy to do a home training session with a newbie. I'd start at Intelligentsia first, ask for the supervisor/manager on shift and tell them what you're looking for.
Working bar doesn't make a lot of money for baristas. But there's many who'd jump at the chance to make a bit more than they'd normally do and help out a local. Maybe just go into one of those cafes and see if you vibe with any of them and drop the idea in their lap.
Your few months of experience means that you'd only need more advance training, so a decent foundation. And your gear is good quality.
Otherwise, there's videos scattered among here, some of our Vendors in the Marketplace, and on YouTube that cover some of the tasks you mention.
Enjoy the ride and let us know how it goes!
Join us and support Artisan Roasting Software=https://artisan-scope.org/donate/
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blkswn
- Posts: 83
- Joined: 6 years ago
I personally don't think you need to pay for training. It's just a bit of a learning curve but there are plenty of resources here and on youtube from people like Chris Baca, Matt Perger, Intelligentsia etc that will get you started in the right direction very quickly. It seems you're already near the top of the curve with only marginal improvements to be had going forward.
I'd suggest spending money to buy beans and keep pulling shot after shot and taste test. You should also visit notable shops in the area and taste their espressos/americanos/filter etc to get a feel for how they're pulling it and give you a relative starting point for your coffee compass. Some other shops that I can think of in your area are Cafe Demitasse and Cafe Dulce (Little Tokyo/Arts District), Dinosaur Coffee (silverlake), Verve/Cognoscenti (DTLA), Endorffeine (China Town) and on the west side you have Balconi, Bar Nine, Good People Coffee, Alana's and Menottis. Other shops very worth visiting would be Copa Vida and Klatch in Pasadena/IE. Spoke Bicycle Cafe just north of LA also pulls shots from Trystero who has seriously great roasts. Visit these shops, taste their espressos and try to recreate the flavors at home. Good People Coffee has a San Remo and utilizes pressure profiling, so you may find it fleeting to match taste profiles but it'll give you a sense of how espresso can be pulled differently. This reminds me you can try doing "salami shots" as Chris Baca does it as a training tool for tasting espresso. Focus on grind distribution/puck prep and get a bottomless portafilter and scale to measure input/output if you haven't already. Taste, experiment, repeat, and have fun! I wouldn't worry about coffee and milk waste as it's an investment in your learning.
Also, I've found maxing out steam pressure gives the best milk texture so that may be worth experimenting with on your machine if you're going after latte art. Pre-infusion is built into the E61 grouphead design so I'm not sure how much you can play with PI on your machine. Maintenance is fairly straight forward for your machine and WLL and others have instructional videos going through that.
I'd suggest spending money to buy beans and keep pulling shot after shot and taste test. You should also visit notable shops in the area and taste their espressos/americanos/filter etc to get a feel for how they're pulling it and give you a relative starting point for your coffee compass. Some other shops that I can think of in your area are Cafe Demitasse and Cafe Dulce (Little Tokyo/Arts District), Dinosaur Coffee (silverlake), Verve/Cognoscenti (DTLA), Endorffeine (China Town) and on the west side you have Balconi, Bar Nine, Good People Coffee, Alana's and Menottis. Other shops very worth visiting would be Copa Vida and Klatch in Pasadena/IE. Spoke Bicycle Cafe just north of LA also pulls shots from Trystero who has seriously great roasts. Visit these shops, taste their espressos and try to recreate the flavors at home. Good People Coffee has a San Remo and utilizes pressure profiling, so you may find it fleeting to match taste profiles but it'll give you a sense of how espresso can be pulled differently. This reminds me you can try doing "salami shots" as Chris Baca does it as a training tool for tasting espresso. Focus on grind distribution/puck prep and get a bottomless portafilter and scale to measure input/output if you haven't already. Taste, experiment, repeat, and have fun! I wouldn't worry about coffee and milk waste as it's an investment in your learning.
Also, I've found maxing out steam pressure gives the best milk texture so that may be worth experimenting with on your machine if you're going after latte art. Pre-infusion is built into the E61 grouphead design so I'm not sure how much you can play with PI on your machine. Maintenance is fairly straight forward for your machine and WLL and others have instructional videos going through that.
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Phillipla (original poster)
- Posts: 17
- Joined: 5 years ago
You guys are great. Thank you.
I will go to all the coffee shops and try to meet people locally!
If there is anyone on HB reading this and could help in person, I would really appreciate it
Or meet at any of those shops
East Side
- Cafe Demitasse and Cafe Dulce (Little Tokyo/Arts District)
- Dinosaur Coffee (silverlake)
- Verve/Cognoscenti (DTLA)
- Endorffeine (China Town)
West Side
- Balconi
- Bar Nine
- Good People Coffee (San Remo)
- Alana's
- Menottis
Pasadena
- Copa Vida
Etc
- Klatch
- Spoke Bicycle (Tystero)
I will go to all the coffee shops and try to meet people locally!
If there is anyone on HB reading this and could help in person, I would really appreciate it
Or meet at any of those shops
East Side
- Cafe Demitasse and Cafe Dulce (Little Tokyo/Arts District)
- Dinosaur Coffee (silverlake)
- Verve/Cognoscenti (DTLA)
- Endorffeine (China Town)
West Side
- Balconi
- Bar Nine
- Good People Coffee (San Remo)
- Alana's
- Menottis
Pasadena
- Copa Vida
Etc
- Klatch
- Spoke Bicycle (Tystero)
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dsblv
- Posts: 331
- Joined: 16 years ago
Counter Culture Coffee has a training center in LA that I'd recommend: https://counterculturecoffee.com/learn/ ... ing-center. They offer hands-on training classes for the home barista that are very helpful. Plus, you get a month's subscription to their Big Trouble coffee. I took one of their classes in Seattle and it was well worth it.
