Cheapest Latte Art making?

Have you ever thought of creating those milk pattern in your coffee at home but don't have money to buy the espresso machine? Or if you're like me, have a great espresso machine that cannot steam but have the needs to make that occasional cappuccino for others? Here's a solution followed.

Today, I just want to share my recent discovery that you can actually produce latte art with a French Press that is merely a sub RM50 coffee maker! Hooray! Here's the video.

What you need:
1) French Press
2) Milk pitcher
3) Coffee Maker(Espresso Machine or Aeropress)


Tips:
1) Pull up and down the plunger and try to maintain same height each time, in order to avoid making big bubbles
2) Aim for about 30-50% milk expansion, very important
3) Let the milk settle for 15-20 seconds before pouring. Also key step here.

You're welcome to ask any question. Will try to help as much as possible.


p/s: But it still holds true that you need to fork out quite a bit for making good latte/cappuccino, especially the grinder is the key link of the setup.

EspressoLab in Publika,Solaris Dutamas

EspressoLab, as the name implies, it's a place where the coffee gurus are working behind the bar and experimenting on making out the best coffee in the world.

Well, not really. ;P It does look like a coffee lab though, with minimal table seats but plenty of geeky coffee equipment. It's like a heaven for a coffee lovers! They have a Gene Cafe Roaster there, Ponte Vechio Lusso 2 groups, PV Export, and many more E61 espresso machines. And of course, there're so many high end grinders there. I felt like a lady in a shopping mall with full of clothes. xD Too bad they aren't free to choose though, otherwise it would be perfect ;P

Pic below: EspressoLab setting

Pic below: Espresso machinesssss at the corner!

 Pic below: OMFG!!

For those of you who are planning to go there and not familiar with Solaris area(like me), keep in mind it's not exactly in Publika, but is on a separate building OPPOSITE Publika. You do need to get out of Publika and you will see a row of shops (in the photo shown). I suppose this branch is where EspressoLab does all their events and roasting, and of course coffee research. If you're expecting a cozy cafe setting, or expecting some dessert cakes to go with your coffee, it's probably better to go to their branch at e@curve or Midvalley. Unfortunately me and my gf didn't do enough research before going there. They do serve food but only cup cakes. We were expecting cheesecake. ;( Aww, it's ok.

Pic below: You probably can't see it. But EspressoLab is on the second floor at the far left.

Upon entering, we were served with a glass bottle of crystal clear water. Very elegant and somehow made the water taste nicer! Anyhow, we ordered a cappuccino and shared it. The coffee wasn't bad. It was a bit bitter due to our own mistake/noobness, we ordered the 5oz cappuccino for the fear of milky latte- but turned out too strong. Too poor to order another drink. Haha.

For you coffee lovers out there, they do sell fresh roasted coffee beans, at about RM40/250gm for their regular beans. One of the few places in Malaysia if you really want to get super duper fresh coffee.

Dankoff Coffee Specialist in Queen Avenue, Cheras

I have been missing in action for quite a while,ain't I? But don't worry, I am still actively searching and exploring new good coffee in Malaysia. ;)

One of my coffee friend recommended Lavazza's coffee from Dankoff. I'd heard about it but never had the chance to go there because it's located at Cheras - very far from where I stayed. Luckily, last week when I was going to Hospital Ampang for job duty (that's why I love my current job so much!), I had a chance to 'snake' for 30 minutes and dropped into Dankoff Coffee since it's on the way!

Disclaimer: I did not take this photo- In fact, I didn't take any photo during the visit, ahh, still a long way from being a professional blogger. ;(

My impression was that it should look like a small shop lot inside one of the big shopping mall - that's what I thought what Queen's Avenue is anyway. Boy, I was totally wrong. The Queen's Avenue is more like a commercial area with plenty of 3 stories shop lots. To be honest, Dankoff is not that obvious if you're just passing by - a very humble and low-profile shop.

From the outside, you can obviously see a coffee bar and the naive me thought that's a coffee serving cafe. Once I got in, I realized again how wrong was I about Dankoff. They're a coffee machine distributor in Malaysia, quite a major company there! According to one of the bosses there, the bar is only for their own employee use, God I am jealous!(Can I work there too?Haha) And I got to met another coffee lover there - Boyd. We chat for quite a while, all coffee things and it was so enjoyable! Unfortunately I was on work and in rush of time.

Pic: That's Boyd! I could recognize him even from the picture. Again, I did not take this photo. Credit to KF Chan for this.

Anyhow, I had bought their Santino Gielleto coffee - sounds a lot like gelato, very creamy! RM15 for 250gm, a very good price if the coffee tastes good. And how did it turn out? Pretty good - a traditional Italian-style espresso. Very heavy in body also, definitely a lot like gelato!

Medium Dark Roast

Super creamy and heavy body. Overall taste profile is decently balanced.

p/s: I later only Google and found that Gelato actually means Ice Cream in Italian. I had no idea why I had thought it meant jelly all along.

Tesco ground coffee - Part 2 the conclusion

A little late, but as promised, here comes the conclusion from tasting and testing the "fresh" roasted preground coffee from Tesco. : D

I made a few cups from the coffee to draw a more accurate conclusion:

Method 1: Pour-Over Coffee

Using stainless steel cone filter (Hario Cafeor), 14g of ground coffee, poured with 200mL of hot water(about 95C). A very aromatic cup was the result. 

Method 2: French Press AKA plunger coffee

1 scoop of ground coffee (roughly 24g), with about 1 cup of hot water. Steeped for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Pressed the filter and pour carefully into my favourite glass.

Result? It was a very acidic cup. The aroma is there but somehow the taste is not as complex as the fresh coffee. I told you I smell some spiciness from the dry aroma right? In the cup, there's nothing spicy there. Just plain bright with slight fruity sourness inside. And yeah, taste mostly like plain coffee. And certainly there is a very slight note of staleness.

Conclusion:

Is it worth it? Well, yes. If you want to save the money and don't mind a little less stellar coffee, this could do it. But will I buy it again? Probably not. It's a little too sour/acidic for my liking. Maybe their dark roasted is a better choice. All in all, a very nice experience for tasting the difference between preground coffee and freshly ground coffee. Definitely, I will always go for fresh coffee if given a choice.