If you are planning to open an espresso bar/coffee shop, then developing an efficient store design and layout will be one of the most important factors in positioning your business for success.

Speed of service is critical to the profitability of a coffee business. An efficient ergonomic store design will allow you to maximize your sales by serving as many customers as possible during peak business periods. Even though your business may be open 12 to 16 hours a day, in reality, 80% of your sales will probably occur during 20% of those hours. Coffee is primarily a morning beverage, so your busy times of day (those times when you are most likely to have a line of waiting customers), may be from 6:30AM to 8:30AM, and then again around lunchtime. If you have a poor store layout, that does not provide a logical and efficient flow for customers and employees, then the speed of customer service and product preparation will be impaired.

Think of it like this; if someone pulls open the front door of your store, and they see 5 people are waiting in line to order, there’s a good chance they’ll come in, wait in line, and make a purchase. But, if they see that 20 people are waiting in line, there is a high probability that they may determine that the wait will be too long, and they will simply get coffee somewhere else. This is money that just escaped your cash register! And, if they come to your store multiple times, and frequently find a long line of waiting customers, they may decide you are not a viable option for coffee, and will probably never return. Poor design slows down the entire service process, resulting in a longer line of waiting customers, and lost sales. So in reality, your daily business income will be dependent upon how many customers you can serve during peak business periods, and good store design will be essential to achieving that objective!

The financial impact of a poor store design can be significant. For the sake of this example, let’s say the average customer transaction for your coffee business will be $3.75. If you have a line of waiting customers each morning between 7:00 AM and 8:30 AM, this means you have 90 minutes of crunch time, in which you must drive through as many customers as possible. If you can service a customer every 45 seconds, you will serve 120 customers during this 90 minutes. But, if it takes you 1 minute 15 seconds to service each customer, then you will only be able to serve 72 customers. 120 customers x $3.75 = $450.00 x 30 business days per month = $13,500. 72 customers x $3.75 = $270.00 x 30 business days per month = $8,100. This represents a difference of $5,400 in sales per month ($64,800 per year), coming from just 90-minutes of business activity each day!

So how should you go about designing your coffee bar? First, understand that putting together a good design is like assembling a puzzle. You have to fit all the pieces in the proper relationship to each other to end up with the desired picture. This may require some trial and error to get things right. I’ve designed hundreds of coffee bar over the past 15 years, and I can truthfully tell you from experience, it still usually takes me a couple of attempts to produce an optimal design.

The design process begins by determining your menu and other desired store features. If you plan to do in-store baking, then obviously you’ll need to include in your plan an oven, exhaust hood, sheet pan rack, a large prep table, and perhaps a mixer. If you plan to have a private meeting room for large groups, then an extra 200 sq. ft. or more will need to be designed-in, in addition to the square footage you are already allocating for normal customer seating.

Your intended menu and other business features should also drive decisions about the size of location you select. How many square feet will be required to fit in all the necessary equipment, fixtures, and other features, along with your desired seating capacity?

Typically, just the space required for the front of the house service area, (cash register, brewing & espresso equipment, pastry case, blenders, etc.), back of the house (storage, prep, dishwashing and office areas), and 2-ADA restrooms, will consume about 800 sq. ft. If space for extensive food prep, baking, coffee roasting, or cooking will be required, this square footage may increase to 1,000 to 1,200, or more. What ever is left over within your space after that, will become your seating area.

So, a typical 1,000 sq. ft coffee bar, serving beverages and simple pastries only, will probably allow for the seating of 15 to 20 customers – max! Increase that square footage to 1,200 sq. ft., and seating should increase to 30, or 35. If you plan to prepare sandwiches, salads, and some other food items on site, 1,400 to 1,600 sq. ft. should provide enough space to seat 35 to 50, respectively.

Next, you will have to determine the tasks that will be performed by each employee position, so that the equipment and fixtures necessary to accomplish those tasks can be located in the appropriate places.

Normally, your cashier will operate the cash register, brew and serve drip coffee, and serve pastries and desserts. Your barista will make all your espresso-based beverages, tea, chai, hot chocolate, Italian sodas, as well as all the blender beverages. If you’ll be preparing sandwiches, panini, wraps, salads, snacks and appetizers, or will be baking on-site, then a person dedicated to food prep will be necessary. And, if you anticipate high volume, and will be serving in or on ceramics, a bus-person/dishwasher may be a necessity.

After you have determined what you will be serving, the space you will be leasing, and what each employee will be responsible for, you will then be ready to begin your design process. I usually start my design work from the back door of the space and work my way forward. You’ll need to design in all of the features that will be necessary to satisfy your bureaucracies and facilitate your menu, before you make plans for the customer seating area.

Your back door will most likely have to serve as an emergency fire exit, so you’ll need a hallway connecting it with your dining room. Locating your 2-ADA restrooms off of this hallway would make good sense. And, because delivery of products will also probably occur through your back door, having access to your back of the house storage area would also be convenient.

In the back of the house, at minimum, you will need to include a water heater, water purification system, dry storage area, back-up refrigerator and freezer storage, ice maker, an office, 3-compartment ware washing sink, rack for washed wares, mop bucket sink, and a hand washing sink. Do any food prep, and the addition of a food prep sink and prep table will be necessary. If doing baking, gelato making, full cooking, or coffee roasting, all the equipment necessary for those functions will also need to be added.

After all the features have been designed into the back of the house, you will then be ready to start your design work on the front of the house service and beverage preparation area. This area will probably include a pastry case, cash register(s), drip coffee brewer and grinder(s), espresso machine and grinders, a dipper well, possibly a granita machine, blenders, ice holding bin, blender rinse sink, hand washing sink, under counter refrigeration (under espresso machine and blenders), and a microwave oven.

If serving food beyond simple pastries and desserts, you may need to add a panini toaster grill, a refrigerated sandwich/salad preparation table, soup cooker/warmer, a bread toaster, etc. If you plan to serve pre made, ready to serve sandwiches, wraps, and salads, along with a selection of bottled beverages, an open-front, reach-in merchandising refrigerator should be considered. Serving ice cream or gelato? If the answer is yes, then an ice cream or gelato dipping cabinet will be necessary along with an additional dipper well.

Finally, when all the working areas of the bar have been designed, the customer seating area can be laid out. This will, of course, include your cafe tables and chairs, couches and comfortable upholstered chairs, coffee tables, and perhaps a window or stand-up bar with bar stools. Impulse-buy and retail merchandise shelves should be established, and a condiment bar should be located close to where customers will pick-up their beverages.

A quick word about couches, large upholstered chairs, and coffee tables. Living room type furniture takes up a lot of space. If you plan to be opening evenings, and will perhaps serve beer and wine, and having comfortable seating will be important for creating a relaxing ambiance, then by all means do it. But if you have limited seating space, and are not trying to encourage people to relax and stay for long periods of time, then stick with cafe tables and chairs. The more people you can seat, the greater your income potential!

Features from the front door to the condiment bar should be arranged in a logical, sequential order. As your customers enter the front door, their travel path should take them past your impulse-buy merchandise display, and the pastry case, before they arrive at the point of order (where your cashier, cash register, and menu-board will be located). Exposing customers to your impulse items and pastries, before they order, will greatly increase their sales. Then, after the order and payment has been taken, they should proceed down-line away from the cash register to pick-up their beverage, and finally, the condiment bar should be located beyond that point. Be sure to separate your point of order from the point of product pick-up by at least six feet, otherwise customers waiting for their beverage may begin to intrude into the space of those ordering.

Don’t make the mistakes that many inexperienced designers commonly make. They arrange these features in a haphazard way, so that customers have to change direction, and cut back through the line of awaiting customers to proceed to their next destination in the service sequence. Or, wanting to make their espresso machine a focal point to those entering the store, they place it before the cashier along the customer’s path of travel. Customers inevitably end up trying to order from the barista before they are informed that they need to proceed to the cashier first. If this happens dozens of times each day, confusion and slowed beverage production will be the result.

On the employee’s side of the counter, work and product flow are even more important. Any unnecessary steps or wasted movements that result from a less than optimal design will slow down employee production. All products should flow seamlesly in one direction towards the ultimate point of pick-up. For example, if preparing a particular item is a 3-step process, then placement of equipment should allow for the 3 steps to occur in order, in one linear direction, with the final step occurring closest to the point where customers will be served.

Equipment should be grouped together so that it is in the immediate proximity of the employee(s) who will be using it. Beyond the actual equipment, empty spaces must be left on the counter top to store ingredients and small wares (tools) used in product preparation. Counter top space will also be needed where menu items will actually be assembled. Think of the grouping of equipment for different job functions as stations. Try to keep different stations compact and in close working proximity to each other, but make sure that there is enough space between each so that employee working-paths don’t cross, which could contribute to employee collisions.

Creating defined work stations will allow you to put multiple employees behind the counter when needed. When it is busy, you may need to have 2 cashiers, another person just bagging pastries and brewing coffee, 2 baristas behind the espresso machine, a maybe even a dedicated person working the blenders. If you’re preparing sandwiches and salads to order, then another person may need to be added to handle that task. Keeping your stations in close proximity to each other will allow one employee to easily access all equipment during very slow periods of business, thus saving you valuable labor dollars.

When you arrange equipment in relationship to each other, keep in mind that most people are right handed. Stepping to the right of the espresso machine to access the espresso grinder will feel more comfortable than having to move to the left. Likewise, place your ice storage bin to the right of your blenders, so when you scoop ice, you can hold the cup or blender pitcher in your left hand, and scoop with your right.

As you create your store layout, the equipment you select should fit your space and the needs of your anticipated business volume. A busy location will most likely require a dual or twin, air pot, drip coffee brewer (one that can brew 2 pots at the same time), as opposed to a single brewer. If you anticipate selling a lot of blended and ice drinks, then an under counter ice maker, one that can only produce 100 pounds of ice or less per day, will not be sufficient. You should instead locate a high-capacity ice maker (one that can make 400 or 500 lbs. per day) in the back of the house, and transport ice to an ice holding bin up front. Plan to bring in frozen desserts and ice cream? Then a 1 door reach-in freezer in the back of he house will probably be inadequate for you storage needs, so you’ll need to consider a 2 or 3 door. I always recommend a 3-group espresso machine for any location that may generate 150 drinks per day or more. And, I can tell you from experience, you can never have too much dry or refrigerated storage space!

Make sure that any equipment you select will be acceptable with your local bureaucracy before your purchase and take delivery of it. All equipment will typically need to be NSF & UL approved, or have a similar, acceptable, foreign certification equivalent. Your bureaucracy will most likely want to see manufacturer specification sheets on all equipment to verify this fact, before they’ll approve your plans.

ADA (American’s with Disabilities Act) compliance will also come into play when you are designing your coffee bar. In some areas of the country, this will only apply to those areas of your store that will be used by customers. However, other bureaucracies may require your entire store to be ADA compliant. Following are some of the basic requirements of compliance with the code:

• All hallways and isle ways must be 5 feet wide (minimum).

• All countertop working heights must be 34 inches high (instead of normal 36 inch height).

• 18 inches of free wall space must be provided on the strike-side of all doors (the side with the door knob).

• All hand-washing sinks must be ADA friendly.

• All bathrooms must be ADA compliant (5 foot space for wheelchair turnaround, handrails at toilet, acceptable clearance around toilet and hand washing sink, etc.).

• No steps allowed, ramps are OK with the proper slope.

• If your space has multiple levels, then no feature may exist on a level where handicapped access has not been provided, if that same feature does not exist on a level where it will be accessible.

You can find the complete regulations for ADA compliance at the following website:

http://www.access-board.gov/adaag/html/adaag.htm

Beyond the basic Equipment Floor Plan, showing new partitions, cabinets, equipment, fixtures, and furnishings, you’ll need to produce some additional drawings to guide your contractors and satisfy the bureaucracies.

Electrical Plan

An electrical plan will be necessary to show the location of all outlets needed to operate equipment. Information such as voltage, amperage, phase, hertz, special instructions (like, “requires a dedicated circuit”), and the horizontal and vertical location of each outlet, should all be specified.

A small, basic coffee shop might get away with a 200 amp service, but typically 400 amps will be required if your equipment package will include items like an electric water heater, high-temperature dishwasher, or cooking equipment (ovens, panini grill, etc.).

In addition to the electrical work required for your coffee business-specific equipment, you may need to adjust existing electrical for additional or reconfigured lighting, HVAC, general-purpose convenience outlets, and exterior signs. Also, have your electrician run any needed speaker wires, TV/internet cables, and cash register remote receipt printer cables at the same time they are installing electrical wires. Finally, make sure your electrician makes provisions for lighted exit signs, and a battery-powered emergency evacuation lighting system, if needed.

Plumbing Plan

A plan showing all plumbing features will be necessary. At minimum, this should show stub-in locations for all needed water sources (hot & cold), drains, your water heater, water purifications system, grease interceptor (if required), bathroom fixtures, etc.

While a typical P-trap drain should be acceptable for most fixtures and equipment, some will require an air-gap drain. An air gap drain does not go through the “S”-shaped twists of the P-trap. Instead, the drain line comes straight down from the piece of equipment or fixture, and terminates 2 inches above the rim of a porcelain floor sink drain. This porcelain drain basin is usually installed directly into the floor. The air gap between the drain line from your equipment or fixture, and the bottom of the basin, prevents any bacteria in the sewer pipe from migrating into the equipment or fixture. I drain the following pieces of equipment to a floor sink drain when creating a plumbing plan:

• espresso machine

• dipper wells

• ice maker

• ice holding bin

• food prep sink

• soft drink dispensing equipment

To save on the life of your water filtration system, only your espresso machine and coffee brewer should be supplied by with treated water. Coffee is 98% to 99% water, so good water quality is essential. Your ice maker should only require a simple particle filter on the incoming line (unless your water quality is terrible). There is no need to filter water that will be used for hand and dish washing, cleaning mops, flushing toilets, and washing floors!

Be aware that many bureaucracies are now requiring a grease interceptor on the drain line from your 3-compartment ware washing sinks and automatic dishwasher. A grease interceptor is basically a box containing baffles that traps the grease before it can enter the public sewer system.

Also understand that a typical retail space will not come equipped with a water heater with enough capacity to handle your needs. Unless your space was previously some type of a food service operation, you will probably need to replace it with a larger one.

If cutting trenches in the floor will be necessary to install porcelain floor sinks, a grease interceptor, and run drain lines, then establishing a few general purpose floor drains at this same time behind the counter, and in the back of the house, will prove useful. Floor drains will allow you to squeegee liquids away when spills occur, and when washing floors.

Finally, if you added some new walls during your remodel, you may need to have the fire sprinkler system for your space adjusted or reconfigured.

Cabinet Elevations

Drawing cabinet elevations, (the view you would have if you were standing in front of your cabinets), will be necessary for your cabinet maker to understand all the features they will need to incorporate into your cabinet designs.

These elevations are not meant to be shop fabrication drawings for your cabinetmaker, but merely serve a reference, showing needed features and desired configuration. Where do you want drawers, and under counter storage space; and, where do you want cabinet doors on that under counter storage? Where should open space be left for the placement of under counter refrigeration and trashcans? Will cup dispensers be installed in the cabinet face under the counter top? These elevations will provide your cabinetmaker with a clear understanding of all these features.

While your kitchen base cabinets at home are typically 24 inches deep, for commercial applications they should be 30 inches deep, and 33 inches if an under counter refrigerator is to be inserted. Also, when specifying the size of an open bay to accommodate under counter refrigeration, be sure to allow a couple of inches more than the physical dimensions of the equipment, so that it can be easily inserted and removed for daily cleaning.

Dimensions Plan

You will need to create a floor plan showing all the critical dimensions for new partitions, doors, cabinets, and fixtures. This will, of course, help make sure that everything ends up where it is suppose to be, and will be the right size.

A final thought about design; unless the space you will be designing is a clean vanilla shell (meaning, nothing currently exists in the space, except perhaps one ADA restroom), you will have to make sure that all the features that you are considering keeping, will be acceptable with your local bureaucracy. Many older buildings were not designed to present codes. If the business type remains the same (your space was occupied by a food service establishment before you), then some times any non compliant features will be grandfathered-in, meaning you don’t have to bring them up to current requirements. But don’t count on this! You need to check with your bureaucracies to make sure. More and more I see bureaucracies requiring new business owners to remodel, so that all features are compliant with codes. This means you may have to rip-out bathrooms and hallways, add fire sprinkler systems, and provide ramps where there are steps. Better you know all these things before you begin your store design!

I always tell my consulting clients, that if I produce a perfect design and layout for them, they will never notice… because everything will be exactly where you would expect it to be. Unfortunately, if you create a less than optimal design for your coffee bar, you probably won’t realize it until you start working in it. Changing design mistakes or inadequacies after the fact, can be extremely expensive. Not correcting those mistakes may even cost you more in lost potential sales. For this reason, I strongly suggest using an experienced coffee business space designer to create your layout for you, or at very least, to review the design you have created. Doing so will payoff with dividends.

Coffee lovers have two options regular or specialty. What is different in specialty coffee that regular one does not have and why do people care?

The journey of a coffee bean is a long and complicated one. The coffee bean goes through a number of stages during which it is ruined our tuned into a flavourful coffee. The ruined bean could turn a whole coffee container taste like bitter urine. Yes, you read it right.

Let’s make it clear, in the present world; the regular coffee is just a bad quality produced coffee which lacks transparency and sustainability. As a result it gives you an unpleasant coffee experience with its bad taste and not so out-of -this-world-feeling. On the other hand, specialty coffee guarantees the quality throughout the stages of production from bean to cup.

Moreover, the specialty coffee is good for you in many ways besides its taste. You have possibly gone through studies regarding health benefits of coffee from reduced risk of various cancers, Alzheimer’s, dementia to diabetes. On the other hand, drinking regular coffee can lead to worst side effects which affect your body from head to toe.

So how would you choose your coffee now? How would you know if you are having a regular or the specialty coffee? There is only one way to understand this and that is the comprehension of the production details of the coffee from its seeding to brewing.

Growth and Processing

It starts with a coffee bean, the same seed that your coffee is brewed from. Initially an unprocessed coffee bean is planted which has to be of supreme quality which has to be planted in the right time at the right place for the production of supreme quality coffee. There are two groups of coffee Robusta and Softer Arabica, but they are easy to grow. Generally, all the types of specialty coffee are produced by top quality seeds of Arabica.

After three to four years, the coffee tree gives its first fruit i.e. coffee beans which can be harvested. Generally, coffee beans are picked by hands through selective pick or strip pick. Strip picking is done quickly but it involves picking all the berries of the trees simultaneously. Selective pick is more time consuming but results are better as only the beans that are near ripeness are picked and raw beans are left.

After the stage of picking comes the stage of processing. This has to be done as quickly as possible to avoid spoilage. There are three ways to process the coffee beans, Wet, Semi & Dry

In the dry method, we spread coffee beans to dry them out into a larger surface under the sun. In the wet method, the coffee beans pulp is removed and we keep the beans to ferment in the tanks. After that we wash them with water. This is the most crucial stage of processing where most of the mistakes are made. Bad fermenting and washing can result in bad bitter taste of the coffee which cannot be removed later.

After drying the coffee beans, we separate them by weight and size. In this process, we remove all the bad colour and damaged seeds. It is important to remove the bad quality bean as it can ruin your whole coffee with adding sour vinegar like taste. After separation, the green coffee beans are kept ion sisal or jute bags to be shipped for roasting.

Roasting

When the coffee beans arrive for roasting, we test them for the colour. The taster also known as the cupper details the quality. Right after visual approvals the roasting, smelling, brewing, slurping and quality test is done which is again approved by cupper to start the roasting of the rest of the beans.

We roast bean at around 230-260 degrees celsius. We keep the beans moving while they are roasted. When the inner temperature is reached to 230 Degrees, the beans’ oil emerges. The beans change the colour from green to brown and the coffee beans reaches to the highest level of aroma. After the completion of the process, the beans are set to cool down through air or water. Now the beans are ready to be brewed for 2-30 days as the aroma begins to fade after that. Higher quality specialty coffee is most of the time gives excellent tastes even after the given time but the regular coffee is hopeless.

Grinding And Brewing

The beans can be bought in whole shape or we can get them grinded. Although grinded beans make a huge difference while extracting all the flavour within no time for a perfect cup of coffee. We grind the beans finer for espresso and keep them coarse for filtered brewing.

Coffee brewing is like a process in a chemistry lab. You can spend more time studying the process; however it is enough for many of us to cover the basics. Now brew the coffee with your preferred method with care and take a sip and appreciate the long journey of the perfect coffee bean.

Opening a new coffee shop is not extremely difficult in and of itself, but opening one with a competitive advantage that allows it to thrive rather than flounder in the local market is a challenge that requires planning ahead. Nonetheless, there are several proven routes to competitive advantage used by coffee shops, and one may be successful for yours.

Quality Differentiation

The quality of your products can convert those who currently drink at other establishments to yours and hook those who might be one-time visitors to return. To ensure high quality, you have to check quality at every step of the service process, from the sources of your coffees and other products, to the systems, staff, and equipment you use to store, grind, brew, and serve. You may need to have unique or unusual sources for your products so that you are not competing closely with other shops who share the same suppliers. Researching suppliers may be the best method for this type of advantage, unless you have specific talent to develop your own products that will make your shop stand out.

Experience Differentiation

Some retail locations acknowledge that the experience of the visit is compelling differentiation for customers regardless of the products sold. By offering a specific atmosphere, theme, or entertainment, your shop can stand out even with relatively standard products. There will be costs associated with whatever unique environment you are trying to create, so make sure to research these and show how it will enable you to either charge a higher price or bring in more customers than you would have otherwise.

Price Differentiation

As you reach lower and lower prices for a basic cup of coffee, your shop can tap in to a much larger market by converting users who would making their own coffee. However, once you shoot to be one of the lowest price coffee shops in your neighborhood, it can be difficult to find other ways to distance yourself from the pack. Even though you will make up in volume some of what you lose in dollars per customer, you will probably have little money to play with to attempt unique marketing or decor to build a brand, and you will always be in fear of direct price competition from both independent and chain shops that try serve at low prices as well. A price differentiation strategy will work best for you if you have a unique way to cut your costs substantially, making more room for profits or branding.

If the product being talked about wasn’t coffee, the text under this title would encompass the importance of packaging as a marketing addition. Because coffee is the subject here, packaging does not just assume the role of merely a marketing tool.

This article lists how packaging of coffee has a deeper meaning.

Sales Pitch

Just like all the modern day commercially produced products, packaging for coffee is important in terms of making the sales pitch. The product stands out from its competitors owing to its unique packaging. The packaging of coffee allows its customers to review the contents used, or the kinds of beans used, Arabica or Robust; if they might have a specific preference.

Keeping it Fresh

Packaging keeps the coffee products fresh and saves it from staling. The role of packaging is more important in coffee because staling is more rapid in coffee than other products. As with other products staling would mean losing desirable flavors. In case of coffee it is slightly complicated as coffee beans also gain undesirable flavors when stale. The staling of coffee is dependent on its exposure to oxygen, moisture, light and heat.

The marketing research and product development exercises spanning over years of hard-work have given way to the identification of the style of packaging for coffee which can help retain the best of flavors in coffee beans.

One Way Valve Bag

Coffee beans go stale when they come in contact with oxygen. However, protecting them from oxygen by seal packing them may seem like the best way, but another problem remains. Due to roasting of the coffee beans, sugar browning process is triggered. As a result of this process, the beans exude carbon-dioxide. The accumulation of carbon dioxide in a seal pack can cause it to rupture.

In order to counter this problem, the beans instantly after being roasted are packaged in moisture-free, laminated bags containing a valve. This valve allows the carbon-dioxide to evade the packaging without allowing oxygen to enter.

Other Less Efficient Packaging Methods

However other methods exist to package coffee, they are not as effective as one-way valve bag packaging. These include a pinhole packaging which allows the gathered carbon-dioxide to escape through a pinhole. Using this method, the chances for oxygen to enter the bag exist.

Another method includes waiting for the beans to give off carbon-dioxide before they are packaged. This means that however the package was saved from rupturing due to the carbon-dioxide build up inside the bag, the beans could not be saved from staling due to their exposure to oxygen.

If you are an avid coffee drinker, visit Autobar.co.uk

Often, we think we can’t make an authentic Italian cappuccino at home. We have to go to a cafè or buy an expensive machine and take a barista course in coffee making. But did you know you can actually make a great cappuccino at home with nothing more than your Nespresso coffee machine?

Well, your Nespresso coffee machine and really good coffee. If you’re in the market for Italian Nespresso pods, you can’t really go past Gimoka. Started in Italy’s bars and caffes more than 50 years ago, Gimoka has only recently begun supplying the Italian home drinker with their Nespresso compatible pods.

Made on site at the family’s coffee roaster on Lake Como, Gimoka’s coffee capsules are blended expertly from the best environmentally and economically Fair Trade beans sourced from all over the world. They’re packaged in heat sealed capsules, so they won’t lose their flavour even weeks after opening, which means you can enjoy an authentic Italian espresso without leaving your kitchen. The pods are also entirely recyclable and organic, so your conscience is clear too!

So armed with your Nespresso coffee machine, milk and some Nespresso compatible capsules, you’re ready to make a truly awesome Italian cappuccino.

The first step is to heat up your milk. If you have a frother at home, you can use that. Otherwise, just heat your milk in the microwave or on the stove and then whiz in a blender or with a stick blender until frothy. It should only take a minute. Give it a stir and set to one side.

The second step is to make your Italian espresso. Always heat up your coffee mug with a bit of boiling water before brewing. Otherwise your coffee will be cold before you can even take that first sip. Grab an Italian Nespresso compatible pod. We love Gimoka’s Intenso blend for our cappuccino. It’s sweet and strongly flavoured so you don’t have to add any sugar or worry about the milk overwhelming your coffee.

Turn on your Nespresso coffee machine and leave to heat up. You never want to brew an espresso with a cold machine. By doing that, the coffee doesn’t infuse properly and you end up with a weak and unpleasant coffee. So once your Nespresso coffee machine has heated up, grab your pod and start brewing. As the coffee pours out, tilt your glass slightly to ensure the coffee runs down the sides of the cup.

Lastly, add your milk and top with a little of the milk froth. A dusting of chocolate powder is great too.

And that’s it. The perfect Italian cappuccino with nothing more than your Nespresso coffee machine and some great Italian Nespresso pods. Enjoy!

For making a great coffee, generally start out with contemporary beans. They should seem type of oily, they usually really should be potent. Make an effort to avoid extremely dry beans, any supermarket beans, and any beans that have been subjected to air to get a very long time. Your very best bet will be to possibly roast beans yourself or purchase them from a community roaster.

Try incorporating spices to your coffee grounds to build your own private “artisan” flavors. If you are having trouble deciding what to try, think about things you would add to chocolate. Begin with basic items like cinnamon and nutmeg. You can also do points like including a little vanilla summary on your cup to enrich the flavor within your coffee.

Do not toss away your previous coffee grounds. If you have a garden, you can use your coffee grounds as stimulant for your plants as well as flowers although keeping the pest away. You can also use outdated espresso grounds to clean filthy dishes or clear your kitchen area counter rather than making use of chemical compounds.

Try changing to a new flavor of coffee if you are feeling down. Uncomplicated adjustments such as this might help encourage your mind and pull you away from your rut. Make certain to get time to delight in this specific cup and try to establish the new flavors. Preserve a number of sample packs as part of your cupboard to pull out for these exclusive instances.

Striving ingesting your coffee when it is for the most popular temperature possible. This is when espresso is at its best. If you permit coffee to cool as well as you reheat it, you will not get the same flavor from it that you would from drinking it while it was still fresh.

Brewing your personal espresso in the home can include up to enormous discounts any time you review it into the expenses of likely into an espresso store each day. Invest in a superb no-spill travel mug so that you should not regret your final decision. Use that high priced espresso to be a method to treat you when you accomplish a person of your ambitions.

Seek to only use coffee grounds which were grown without the utilization of pesticides. Espresso is amid the greater absorbent crops in existence, and it gets its taste largely from your soil that it was grown in. Organically grown coffee will almost certainly in a natural way style the ideal when you brew it.

Although positioning factors inside the freezer presents them a fairly very long shelf daily life, bear in mind that any coffee that is inside your freezer need to only be stored there for nearly three months. For those who continue to keep it all around for much longer than which the good quality will begin to decrease.

Acquire a coffee grinder, and purchase full bean espresso. There is certainly no substitute to the flavor of freshly floor beans. You can still buy whole beans if you can’t afford a coffee grinder. Before you leave the store, most supermarkets have grinders that you can use to grind your coffee purchase.

Any time you very first invest in your espresso maker, do a trial operate? What this requires is proper water flow through the coffee machine the same way you would if you were making an actual pot of coffee. This allows take away foul smells and any grime or dust that could have gathered inside the machine when it was sitting about the shelf during the store.

If you drink your coffee cold, think past just traditional cream and sugar. Blend overall fruits into your espresso. You can insert foodstuff like strawberries, cherries and oranges for attention-grabbing additions to your taste. Even believe about spicing items up with cinnamon or cardamom. The chances for you personally are nearly infinite!

If you want the best iced coffee that you have ever had, you need to brew the coffee icy. If you do attempt to make burning coffee cold, you can end up with a pretty awful brew. You will have delicious iced coffee for your morning commute if you start your brewing right before bedtime.

For getting the top taste from previous or financial system model coffee devices, brew a pot of very hot drinking water just before brewing espresso. As you use a warm pot of water, increase the grounds and pour your incredibly hot water back into the equipment. This makes sure that you receive the hottest and thus most flavorful brew probable.

Do not retain your coffee inside the fridge except if it’s inside a container which is totally airtight. This can be vital for the reason that moisture could cause coffee to become moldy. It really is ideal to help keep your espresso from the cabinet exactly where it will remain at, dry and warm its greatest quality.

Remember that coffee is really a really absorbent meals. So, proper storage is essential. Continue to keep your unused espresso in an area which is cool and dry in which it really is secured from equally heat and sunlight. Do not store it in your fridge or freezer, however. Also be certain the container is opaque and air-tight, to forestall coffee from absorbing flavor and aromas from other foodstuff.

The world when coffee was a dime seems so distant now. The turbulence of the times mirrors much of the events that occurred almost like it was 86 years ago. Even though much has changed yet much remains reminiscent of the times when coffee was a just a dime. In the 1930’s the world was filled with so much despair, woe and misery. Sadly though, history always has found a way to repeat events that have played out before. And, today the times are not that much different for millions when all you needed was a dime for that cup of coffee.

All around the world the multitudes of impoverished see no end to their plight. Even in the United States the plight of so many continues to mount. Any attempt to close the greatest wealth disparity gap in history is swiftly and abruptly squashed. There remains a never ending growing number of those who are swept up into the whirlwind cycle of poverty.

Back when coffee was a dime there seemed to be a more civility among the masses. Even in this nations darkest hour much of this nation was held together by the sheer refinement that society had those many years ago. Now, we live in an age greed and selfishness. Our leaders of political expediency have plotted, schemed, and shrewdly positioned this country away from the basic principles of our Founding Fathers. In doing so have corrupted the very institutions of government. Now, that cup of coffee sets one back more than $3.00. Heaven forbid you order and espresso! That is like shelling out a second mortgage. And, of course the civility of our nation has been ripped apart, more so by having Trump in the White House.

What this present Administration has done along with our spineless congress has only hastened this nations downfall. From all those foreign policy directives Trump has managed to create a more unstable and hostile world. We are now poised to fall into a period a cataclysm of financial despair. Another Great Depression is most surely on the way.

It was back in the Great Depression though where the phrase ” buddy can you spare a dime” was coined.That phrase symbolized the plight of Americans living in deplorable conditions. Through greed and financial posturing by the wealthy elite managed to wipe out millions of hard working Americans financial means. All across the country “Hay buddy can you spare a dime” was the cry of a nation swept up into a period of anguish and torment. It was a good thing though that coffee was just a dime. From the soup kitchens to tent cities the 30’s evoked that catch phrase where “Can you spare a dime” meant a difference for millions of Americans.

Even back in the early 1960’s 10 cents could actually buy a lot of things. In New York you could still get that cup of coffee and you could ride the subway. Not so today. Prices of everything has risen drastically to the point that millions are unable to make ends meet. The plight of the poor, the impoverished masses has only continued to increase with each passing year.

In the 30’s where starving masses lined up in soup kitchens one of the most popular songs of that period used that catch phrase “can you spare a dime” to depict why this nation stole their livelihoods? To a great deal today our own governmental policies has made it much easier for corporations and businesses to siphon off livelihoods leaving millions stranded, abandoned by the very government that is supposed to help in troubled times.

Sure, today there are those so called safety nets, Food stamps, unemployment insurance and other agencies that are supposed to help. But, sadly more often than not these agencies are just foot notes of the large bureaucratic blotted system known as our government. And, Trump and the rest of the Republicans all they want to do is reduce or eliminate all leaving millions to languish in acute poverty.

When coffee was a dime was a period in time where the simplicity of life eased much of the tension and turmoil that grew out of those most difficult and depressing times. Today, the tempo of life is much faster more stressful in practically every way. One has to wonder when you see panhandlers at almost every intersection it’s not a dime they are asking for it is now a couple of dollars. And that is the very sad reality we live in today.

Roasting coffee at home can be more than just a DIY – it is fun and can mean a sense of freedom to explore a variety of coffee roasting techniques or regardless desired flavors.

Home roasted coffee beans offer a unique flavor character that is often lacking in store-bought varieties. It also has a lower price comparison and requires minimal investment in specialized equipment.

Facts about Coffee Roasting

1. The Taste of the Roast is in its Smell: Green Coffee beans emit a characteristic "grassy" smell as they turn yellowish few minutes after heat subject. With further roasting, the beans begin to smoke, like coffee, giving it its peculiar smell and taste.

2. Cracking Sound Gives Good Clue about the Roast Stages: Further roasting gives off a unique crack sound as the bean loses water and changes structure with rising temperature. Listening for this sound can be a fantastic clue to determine desired roasts.

3. Length of Roast Determines Color and Flavor of Beans: Since bean structure, flavor and color graduates with each advanced step in temperature, and increasing time, it is not unexpected to observe the original green bean character turn dark, with a stronger flavor, at the end of the process.

Steps to Roasting Coffee at home

Whatever is the technique employed, the instrument used or even the time set, roasting coffee at home all bores down to achieving significant desired flavors.

1: Choose a Roaster: Depending on budget, technique, time or batch size, it can be done in an oven, a skillet, a stovetop popper, or more specialized equipment.

2: Select Coffee Beans: The original pre-roast character of the bean determines the flavor and nutritional quality of the coffee. Although green coffee beans come highly recommended, many others have equally satisfying benefits.

3: Choose the Desired Roast Process: Since the flavor of coffee depends on the process and invariably the roasting time, understanding the different stages will help control the flavor of coffee.

Understanding the Roast Process

Yellowing – Few minutes after the green bean is subjected to heat, it turns yellowish and emits a grassy smell.

First Crack – Soon enough, a crack sound – an audible cracking sound is heard as the real roasting sets in. The sound is an acoustic signal, calling one's attention to what stage the roast is.

First Roasted Stage – Also known as a City Roast, this stage, determined by sight and smell, can be considered complete depending on desired taste.

Second Crack – As the heating progresses, a second crack, often more distinct than the first, occurs. This is called a Vienna Roast.

Darkening Roast – As the roast progresses, the bean asses a very dark tone, and the smoke is more pungent as sugars burn completely. This gives a French roast.

For home coffee roasting, several techniques can be used and roasting times vary; the fundamental process is simple – employing heat to turn unroasted green coffee into brown roasted coffee, using simple techniques and equipment at home.

For many years coffee was a taboo drink for anyone remotely health conscious. But nowadays even the most health conscious people can drink coffee too. Like everything else, there are a few rules that we need to stick to, in order to be healthy coffee drinkers.

There has always been a debate about whether decaffeinated coffee is better than normal coffee. My personal feeling is that if I am going to have a cup of coffee, I would rather have one cup of the best coffee that I am able to, instead of lots of cups of “not the real thing.” It is a bit like drinking non-alcoholic beer. There are so many nicer drinks to drink, so if you are not going to drink a really good beer there’s no point in drinking a sub-standard beer.

There seems to be a link between decaffeinated coffee and high cholesterol levels. No one is sure why, but the possibility is that the chemicals used to extract the caffeine may raise cholesterol.

Methyl chloride is sometimes used to extract caffeine, and this is a carcinogenic that can contribute towards cancer.

The great news is that all of us healthy people can pour ourselves a cup of coffee, and enjoy it whilst reading the list of healthy drinking coffee tips below:

Only ever drink 1 to 2 cups of coffee per day.

Do not every consume coffee at any time after lunchtime.

Do not add sugar to your coffee. Some people do like to add a bit of honey to sweeten their coffee, which is fine.

Do not use artificial sweeteners.

Preferably drink coffee made with organic coffee beans.

Cinnamon is really healthy, and can be added to your coffee.

Do not use artificial coffee creamers, but rather use fresh milk.

Some benefits to drinking coffee are:

Gives you energy.

Keeps you alert.

It is an anti-oxidant.

Kills bacteria in your mouth, and helps prevent cavities.

Helps burn fat, and diminishes cellulite.

Helps protect against Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, type 2 Diabetes, Gout, Melanoma and lots more diseases. (I am hesitant to be too sure of all of these preventions. Lots of tests have been done, but for all the good caffeine has the potential to do, it can do as much harm to your body, if drunk excessively.)

There is nothing like the aroma of coffee. When people are trying to sell their houses, they are often advised to brew coffee, as when people smell the aroma, they automatically feel at home. Coffee aroma brings down our stress levels, and is extremely calming.

Finally, I know this may sound crazy, but if you have a headache, or need to take painkillers for any reason, if you take them with coffee instead of water, they are far more effective. And this can help to prevent migraines.