5 things I didn't know about coffee

On a rainy day in Cardiff last November, I attended a #coffeewithcurrys  event (in conjunction with Nespresso) at the lovely Waterloo Tea (Wyndham Arcade), with fellow blogger Munchies and Munchkins. It was a genuinely fun filled day allll about, you guessed it, coffee!

I must admit I attended the event, not entirely sure how they could fill a whole day with coffee, but I was wrong! Turns out coffee is actually a pretty complex science, has many passionate aficionados... and I had totally taken it for granted as just a pick me up in the morning.

But, be warned, not only is it's wonderful caffeine addictive, so are the intricate ways to optimise your perfect cup of coffee!

So what did we learn?

1) Is it Coffee? Or Espresso? What is it?!

So we talk about coffee as just coffee - but it's not that simple. Most coffee's made by baristas in our typical coffee shops (of which there are numerous ones popping up every few months) are in fact espresso's mixed in with other things to form the lattes, mochas and americanos we know and love today.

But what is espresso? Essentially, it's coffee brewed by passing hot water through finely ground coffee beans at high pressure. That's what those huge whooshing machines in the coffee shops do (I'd never really thought about it until the event). The nespresso machines we got to play with can create a pressure of up to 19 bars, which is apparently one of the highest available in coffee machines for the home.

The perfect combination of water temperature and bar pressure going through the ground coffee, releases the oils and gives the best 'crema' (another word I didn't know), which as it turns out, isn't just some froth on top of the coffee but is actually quite important.

Crema is actually tiny gas bubbles in a liquid suspension that sits on top of the coffee, and if you get it just right can enhance the aroma and overall experience of the espresso. Depending on the colour and body (or lack of) the crema can also give signs as to what may not be optimum during the espresso making process.

2) Coffee beans can spoil

I'm such a stereotypical instant coffee drinker, I assumed that once you'd roast the coffee beans and it was dry, they just stayed like that until you made the coffee. But apparently not, it's like thinking of an apple going brown, the coffee beans can degenerate too, which is why the roast and freshness of coffee beans is so important.

As the event was hosted by Nespresso, we learnt they only use the top 10% of the worlds top 10% of coffee beans, so theirs is considered gourmet. You may notice that a lot of coffee pods for coffee makers are aluminium, there's two benefits to this. The first is they're recyclable, the second is so long as they're sealed, it will keep the ground coffee fresher for longer.

3) There's actually such a thing as 'coffee tasting'

But it's not called 'coffee tasting' it's called cupping! I found this rather intriguing. You take a spoon of coffee, smell it, and then slurp it loudly off the spoon, such fun! The idea is to assess the body, aroma, flavour and aftertaste. This was harder than it sounds. We did blind tasting of different coffees from chocolate, vanilla and really strong smokey espresso's. But when you don't know which is which, it can be quite hard to pinpoint the extra hints of flavour. Guess I'm not cut out to be a 'Master Taster'.

4) Espresso is really versatile!

So as you may have guessed I thought espresso was just a tiny cup of strong coffee that hardened coffee drinkers and Europeans ordered at coffee shops. Little did I know it formed the base of all my lattes and americanos I order. But more than that, espresso is super versatile for things like cakes (of which we ate plenty) and cocktails!

We had a great time at the cocktail making station, and I frantically wrote down the recipes for you:

Orange Espresso

• 1 shot strong intensity espresso
• 1 measure vodka
• 1 measure kahula (or tia maria)
• 1/2 measure cointreau
• Ice (to chill in mixer but do not pour into glass)
• Orange peel to garnish (and do a nifty trick with- watch the video)

Toblerone Espresso

• 1 shot vanilla espresso (or normal espresso with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence)
• 1.5 measure baileys
• 1.5 measure kahula (or tia maria)
• 3 measures milk
• Ice (serve in glass)
• Melted toblerone and honey to decorate glass

Espresso Mocktail

• 3 Measures Milk
• 1 shot espresso
• handful of crushed fresh raspberries
• Chocolate syrup to decorate glass
• Ice (serve in glass)

Here's a video of our cocktail class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIu6WLqebY

5) Coffee Art

Last but certainly not least was the coffee art station. This was probably one of my favourites as all I wanted to do was go home and practice it afterwards. It looks a lot easier than it is, but is really addictive! I found myself wanting to say "just one more go and I'll get it" (10 cups of coffee later and you're totally wired).

Hats off to Simon the Barista who showed us coffee art, it takes a lot of patience to help a large group of pretty uncoordinated people try to do coffee art surrounded by machines that could scold you!

Here's a video of how he did it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCZuQ2Vh3PQ

Here's how to do a heart:

Finally here's a lovely video of the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiXjZQ-8XhQ

Thanks to the guys at Joe Blogs, Currys, Nespresso, and Waterloo tea for organising the event.