February 27, 2006
Cappuccino progress
Some interesting updates on my cappuccino progress. My progress has been very slow. For weeks, I just was unable to get any decent froth at all. I didn't know why, it just seemed like it was impossible. I was disheartened.
Then, one day I went to make a cappuccino, and there was a guy working on the water system. Evidently the water pressure had been low for the past few weeks, which was effecting the espresso quality. After he fixed it, I found I could make froth quite easily. The difference was huge. Which is odd, because steam is steam, right? What difference does the water pressure make?
I might not understand it, but man, I was happy. I could quite easily make the smooth emulsified foam that I like so much.
However, all was not perfect. My foam was quite good, but I still wanted more of it. At the Steps of Rome, my favorite coffee shop in San Francisco, their cappuccinos had very stury foam, and lots of it. Which was amazing considering it was all emulsified, and not spooned out seperately. But I couldn't quite get so much foam.
A few days ago, Google was hosting a group of students from NYU. I met one of them by the cappuccino machine, and he demonstrated his latte art skills for me. It was quite impressive, and the results are shown in the picture for this post. However, he made more of a latte, and I'd say his cappuccino was only somewhat better than mine.
Next time I take my camera to work, I'll snap a picture of my cappuccino results. I'm going to start trying to make patterns soon as well.
Posted by ahyatt at February 27, 2006 07:41 PM