The House Of Robert Timms | Making Great Coffee

The most seductive and effective form of coffee preparation is the espresso machine. If you've ever wondered why coffee in cafés tastes so great the answer is, baristas in cafes make it well and they make a lot of coffee! Here are some tips, the big one is practice, practice.

SHORT BLACK

1. Fill Filter holder full with ground coffee.
2. Use tamping tool to press coffee firmly with a slight twisting motion. Firm packing increases the resistance to hot water and allows the maximum amount of oil and liquor to be extracted and the wonderful aroma to be released. (Tamping by hand gives best results.)
3. Level the coffee, clean the lugs and top of the lugs filter head clear of coffee grounds.
4. Lock filter holder into machine, place small cup or glass under spout.
5. Push button for espresso setting- 25-30 second pour for 6-7g of coffee- 30mls of coffee.

LONG BLACK

1. Fill a cup with just over half a cup of hot water.
2. Fill a double filter holder full with ground coffee.
3. Use tamping tool to press coffee firmly with a slight twisting motion.
4. Level the coffee and clean the lugs.
5. Lock filter holder into machine and place the cup under the spout.
6. Push the button for espresso setting- and allow an extraction of approx. 45ml of coffee.
7. A Long Black must have a golden crema sitting on top that could almost be mistaken for milk.
8. For a stronger Long Black lower your water use and use 14g of coffee and extract 60 ml
9. Weak long black add more hot water use 7g of coffee extract 15ml

FLAT WHITE

CAPPUCCINO

CAFFE LATTE

1. Fill Filter Holder full with ground coffee.
2. Use tamping tool to press coffee firmly with a slight twisting motion.
3. Level the coffee and clean the lugs.
4. Lock filter holder into machine and place the cup under the spout.
5. Push button for espresso setting- 25-30 second pour for 6-7g of coffee- 30mls of coffee.
6. Steam Milk.
7. Pour the steamed milk into the glass and finish by topping the glass with 1cm of foam on top.
8. Serve in a glass with a serviette. The coffee connoisseur should enjoy the taste and aroma of coffee mixed with hot, steamed fresh milk.

SHORT/LONG MACCHIATO

1. Fill Filter Holder full with ground coffee.
2. Use tamping tool to press coffee firmly with a slight twisting motion.
3. Level the coffee and clean the lugs.
4. Lock filter holder into machine and place the cup under the spout.
5. Push button for espresso setting- 25-30 second pour for 6-7g of coffee- 30mls of coffee.
6. For a long Macchiato add half a glass of hot water before you add the shot of coffee to create a long black.
7. Steam Milk
8. Add a dash of steam milk to the coffee.
9. Serve with a serviette.
10. The result should be a very hot, very strong dark brown coffee with a white dot of creamy milk onto of the coffee.

RISTRETTO

1. Use a demitasse cup or smaller if available
2. Fill Filter Holder full with ground coffee.
3. Use tamping tool to press coffee firmly with a slight twisting motion.
4. Level the coffee and clean the lugs.
5. Lock filter holder into machine and place the cup under the spout.
6. Push button for espresso setting- allow only 20ml of coffee in 25 seconds- a short pour.
7. To be perfect this coffee should pour just a fraction slower than it would for an espresso. Hence the name of the beverage Ristretto meaning RESTRICTED.

MOCHA

1. Place 2 teaspoons of chocolate powder in a glass with a small amount of hot water.
2. Fill filter holder full with ground coffee.
3. Use tamping tool to press coffee firmly with a slight twisting motion.
4. Level the coffee and clean the lugs.
5. Lock filter holder into machine and place glass under the spout.
6. Push button for espresso setting- no more then 25-30 seconds- no more then 30mls of coffee.
7. Blend chocolate and espresso together.
8. Steam milk and top with whipped cream or a thick layer of foam, sprinkle with chocolate.
9. A delicious long drink, a combination of chocolate and coffee- can be served in many variations.

ICED COFFEE

1. Place 1 scoop of ice cream in glass.
2. Pour a double shot of cold coffee into the glass. Coffee liquor can be used, made through the espresso machine or the new Robert Timms RT Ice Coffee Mixer Syrups can also be used, available in Mocha, Choc Hazelnut and Espresso flavours.
3. Top up with milk to within 2cm of the top of the glass.
4. Further top up the glass with whipped cream and sprinkle with chocolate.
5. Serve in a parfait glass.
HINT If your shot of coffee is from the espresso machine mix a little vanilla or sugar with your espresso this will help sweeten your iced coffee.

STEAMING MILK - (Milk and Foam combined together)

1. Try to use only the necessary amount of milk. One inch of milk will make one cup with a little left over.
2. Purge Steam to release any condensation or stale milk.
3. Submerge the wand in the milk ensuring the steam arm is pointing towards the middle of the jug. Turn the steam on.
4. Lower the jug until you can hear the correct frothing sound (should be a hissing sound) When you loose this noise, lower the jug to maintain this low hissing sound until you reach your desired amount of steamed milk.
5. Do not burn the milk. Once milk has been heated the protein breaks down and it will not froth again.
6. Once the milk has frothed, submerge the arm to heat the milk. Do not submerge the arm completely to the bottom and make sure it is off the base of the jug. Put a slight angle on the jug to either the left or the right to enable the milk to spin in a circle. This achieves the best results. The milk and froth should be blended together as one. Your milk should remain liquid in appearance all the way through the process. The end result should very rich and thick foam, that when you pull it back with a spoon will look like soft ice cream.
7. If using a thermometer the correct temperatures are as follows - Coffee 140 °F, Hot Chocolate 150°F. This is only when the chocolate has been added to the milk in the pitcher.
8. Make sure to keep the jug rolling, you do not want the milk and froth to separate.

AFFOGATO

1. Add a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream to a small dish or glass.
2. Serve an espresso in a small jug with the ice cream.
3. Pour the espresso over the ice cream and enjoy.
4. Robert Timms RT Ice Mocha, Choc Hazel or Espresso syrups can all be used as alternatives to an espresso shot, or even a liqueur.

Please note: When making a strong coffee always use double group single pour. When making a weak coffee, stop the machine manually mid pour.

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