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.

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.

RapidCoffee wrote: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.

Beezer wrote: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.

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.

Randii wrote: 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) ; >

Psyd wrote:
(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/wilsonhine ... 413702238/

WilsonHines wrote: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.

Randii wrote: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.

A far more rational stance, IMHO, than asserting "thou shalt dose 14g" with every coffee, every basket, every machine.

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

Is she married?
(my machine is plumbed, too, but I'm not that heavy )