Mastering the coffee shop espresso menu can be a lengthy process. There's fancy Italian words to learn and a plethora of options to familiarise yourself with. The best way to tackle this is to focus on the basics. Master the basic espresso menu and you can't go wrong.

The essential basis for all espresso beverages is, of course, an espresso, which you can then add hot milk or water to produce a variety of different drinks. The basic espresso menu is listed below.

 

ESPRESSO (SHORT BLACK) – A pour of 30ml including crema running for 15-20 secs from a 18g of coffee and presented in a 90ml ceramic cup.

A short black should be served either in a shot glass or a demitasse (French for half cup).

It is usually good, when using the double group handle, to hold the glass up to the dribblers as you start the extraction rather than having the cup sitting on the tray, that way you won’t miss the first part of the espresso going into the cup.

A short black, should have that beautiful dark gold crema floating on the top and should take between 15-20 seconds to extract.

RISTRETTO – A “restrained” or “restricted”, typically the middle section of the espresso shot, of 15-20ml including crema running for 13-18 secs from a 18g of coffee and presented in a 90ml ceramic cup.

DOPPIO RISTRETTO – A double shot ristretto producing 30-40ml including crema running for 20-25 secs from 18g of coffee and presented in a 90ml ceramic cup.

 

LONG BLACK (AMERICANO) – Served in a 155ml ceramic cup, ¾ filled with hot water and topped with a double espresso shot. Crema should be floated to the top. There should be 5mm between the crema and lip of the cup.

A long black is made up of hot water and espresso, from the hot water tap fill your cup to around three quarters full, and put the water in the cup first. 

Place the cup with the hot water in it under the dribblers and drop your 60ml (double shot) into the water. The reason we want to drop the shot into the water is so that all that lovely crema floats on the top. We also don’t want to fill the cup right to the top, leave about a ½ cm gap from the lip of the cup.

Some like a dash of milk in a long black, which is normally cold milk. Occasionally you'll hear someone asking for hot milk – if you are putting milk into the coffee, put less water into the cup so that it's not too full. 

You may also hear this drink referred to as an Americano. In the Philippines, America and Europe this drink is called an Americano. Adding whipped cream to this coffee will make it a drink called a Vienna, the cream is normally lightly dusted will chocolate powder.

 

MILK SPINNING

Before you can master milk coffees, you need to learn how to spin milk. And the first thing you need to master when spinning milk is achieving the right milk temperature. To begin, most will be starting off using cow’s milk today, so our standard serving temperature will be 65°c.

Cow’s milk will burn at 73.5°c so we want to stay below that. If you’re using a thermometer to heat your milk you will need to stop the heating process by turning the steam wand off at 60°c – it takes a couple of seconds for the correct temp to show on the dial. If you turn off at 65°c you will be serving drinks closer to 70°c.

Temperature Tags are heat sensitive stickers that stick to the side of the jug. They have 3 indicators and they will change colour as they get to that temperature – the first one shows 60°c, then 65°c – that is our turn off point - and the final one is 70°c – this would be extra hot, but still under that burn temp. Turn the steam wand off quickly - as soon as you start to see the middle indicator begin to change colour, if you wait until it has fully changed colour you will find your milk will be hotter than you want to.

NEVER REHEAT MILK

Because milk burns at 73.5°c we never want to reuse any leftover heated milk that you have in the jug, so any hot milk you have in the jug after you have poured your coffee, please tip it down the sink, rinse out the jug and start with cold fresh milk each time. If you top up the hot milk with more cold milk and spin it again and bring the temperature back up to 65°c, the original milk in there is going to be burnt. Bringing milk to 65°c caramelises the sugars in the milk, while over heating milk will burn the sugars in the milk and this will start to change to flavours in the coffee.

Heating milk up also stretches out the protein strands in the milk. Milk protein strands are like a tight little spiral, as we heat milk to 65°c those strands stretch out to a long thin strand. If the milk is taken to that burn point those protein strands snap. It is the protein strands in the milk that creates the texture of the foam, making it thick and creamy – if you burn the milk it will also change the texture of the foam, making it bubblier and the foam will collapse quite quickly. The type of foam we are after is called micro-foam, meaning there are no visible bubbles in the milk and foam.

For your milk portion, fill your jug just to the bottom of the jug spout, that will give you enough for the cup size we have with a small amount of milk left over.

PURGING MILK

When the steam wand hasn’t been used there will be a build-up of condensation in the wand so we need to purge the wand before we start steaming the milk – the water that comes out is very hot so make sure you direct the wand into the tray and purge the hot water out by turning on the steam wand for a couple of seconds. Once you have done that purge the wand will be extremely hot so don’t touch the wand, you can use the rubber guard on the wand or your steam wand cloth to move the wand. 

We do a second purge at the end of heating the milk as well, this will get rid of any milk sitting in the tip of the wand.

STEAM WAND POSITION

We recommend you keep the wand straight rather than having it on an angle. Having the wand on an angle will mean you have to have your jug on an angle and it gets really hard to let small bubbles into the milk that will create the kind of dense, spoon-able foam we are after called Micro-Foam.  Keeping the wand straight lets you keep your jug straight and will help to control how much air goes into the milk, your stretching will become consistent and you will find there are less bubbles in the milk.

STRETCHING MILK

The difference between most milk coffees is the amount of foam in the cup. The cappuccino has 2cm, lattes have 1cm foam and the flat white has up to 2mm foam, or no foam. So the change that you will make as you move through the menu is how long you stretch your milk for.

The stretching of the milk is when you hear that “kissing sound” in a café that sound comes when we have the tip of the wand just touching the surface of the milk in the jug and it starts to draw small air bubbles into the milk. This will increase the volume of the milk, causing it to ‘stretch’. The longer you stretch your milk, the more foam you will create.

For a cappuccino you need to make 2cm of foam, so stretch your milk for around 8 seconds. Once you have stretched your milk for that 8 seconds, finish the heating of the milk with the tip of the wand back under the surface of the milk and to the side of the jug. This will keep the milk spinning in the jug which helps to create that thick, creamy consistency.

The kind of foam you are looking for is called micro-foam, which means there should be no visible bubbles in the foam. If you move the jug downwards towards the bench too quickly or too low, the tip of the wand will come out of the milk in the jug you will hear more of a gurgling sound and will start to see large bubbles forming on top of the milk.

MACCHIATO (“Stain” in Italian) – A single espresso shot served in a 90ml ceramic cup with a ‘dash’ ( about 5ml) of hot milk and stained with a teaspoon of hot foamed milk.

Macchiato in Italian means “stain” or “mark”. To make an espresso into a macchiato we add a dash of steamed milk, about a teaspoon (5ml) to the espresso (just enough to change the colour) and then stain the crema with a dollop of foam. Take your spoon and skim a small amount of foam from the jug and place a ‘stain’ of foam on top of the crema (about the size of a 10 cent coin). It may not seem like a lot of milk, but it is enough to just cut the espresso, and add a little sweetness to the beverage.

 

PICCOLO – A single shot served in a small 120ml latte glass, poured flat to the lip of the glass with 0.5-1cm of foam on top.

Piccolo in Italian means “little” or “small” so we are making a ‘little’ latte. Because this is a latte it should only be served in a glass, rather than in a cup with a handle.

The piccolo latte should be poured to the lip of the glass and should have around ½ cm of foam on the top (mid-way between the top of the arch and the top of the glass).

 

FLAT WHITE – 30ml single shot espresso and steamed milk, poured with little to no foam (absolutely no more than 2mm, no foam is optimal though). Crema is floated to the top and should sit just below the lip of the cup.

The flat white will go in the same cup as the cappuccino – the ceramic cup with the handle. This is still the 8oz cup so it will have a 30ml espresso shot – we are going back to cow’s milk so the serving temperature will be 65°c – the difference with this drink is the amount of foam. 

For the Flat White there should be no more that 2mm of foam in the cup (basically no foam), so you are going to do a very short 2 second stretch.

Do a very short stretch with this one, as you don’t want to make any foam, but if you heat milk up to 65°c without stretching the milk at all, it will make a very loud, high pitched, squealing sound. So stretch the milk enough to quieten the milk down, but not long enough to make any foam. Even with the 2 second stretch there will still be a bit of a high pitched sound at the end of the heating, this is just the sound of the steam from the steam wand hitting the side of the jug. Purge and wipe the wand again, and then tap the jug on the bench and roll the milk.

When we roll the milk this time the milk should look very thin, no thick foam coating the side of the jug should be visible this time. 

The goal when you pour a flat white is to float the crema, so do a very slow pour directly to the centre of the cup. The slower you pour the more the crema will float and pouring to the middle rather than the side of the cup will stop the milk from swirling around in the cup and drawing the crema down. Because there is no foam on the flat white, to avoid spilling, this beverage is poured about ½ cm from the lip of the cup.

You can still make a flat white look good – there is usually a small amount of foam in the jug, so we grab our spoon and just skim the foam from the top of the jug and then if you just touch the tip of the spoon to the crema in the cup it will make a little white dot for you – you can place the dots around the cup or in straight lines, you can then grab your thermometer and sink it into the coffee and drag it though the centre of the white dot and this will make a little chain of hearts on the top of the coffee for you.

If you have too much foam for a flat white - If you have over stretched your milk for a flat white and you have too much foam let the jug rest on the bench for 10-20 seconds this will give time for the foam to float to the top of the milk. Don’t roll the milk in the jug (rolling the milk will mix the foam and the milk together) and pour the milk into the cup slowly and with the jug slightly high – not rolling the milk and foam in the jug will keep them separated so you should only pour milk into the flat white and the foam should stay in the jug. 

 

CAPPUCCINO – 30ml single shot espresso and steamed milk, poured with 2cm of foam and presents as a dome on top. The coffee crema should be blended through the foam to form a pattern or “latte art” then dusted with chocolate. 

It’s always faster to have your shot dropping and then start your milk.

Start by purging the wand into the tray and then position it so it is straight (pointing straight down to the bench).

Bring the milk to 65°c, stretch the milk for 8 seconds and that should give that 2cm of foam.

Place your milk in the jug and start with the nozzle of the wand completely under the milk and keep the wand to the side of the jug, you can position the jug so that the wand is sitting in the pouring spout.

Turn the wand on so you have full steam pressure, then place you hand on or under the jug and begin to slowly move the jug down towards the bench until you hear the ‘kissing’ sound – that noise is the beginning of your stretch – begin counting – as the stretch begins, air bubbles go into the milk and this makes the level of the milk rise so you will need to reposition the jug as many times as needed so that you can hear that kissing sound for a full 8 seconds. 

After 8 seconds of ‘kissing’ sound (stretching) move the jug up again so that the nozzle of the wand is back under the milk. There should be no more ‘kissing’ sound while you bring the milk to 65°c. Keep the nozzle of the wand off the bottom of the jug, keeping the wand only as deep as the nozzle will help to keep the milk spinning the jug as it comes up to 65°c – the spinning motion helps to break down any large air bubbles in the milk, making it silky and smooth. Once the second indicator on your temp tag begins to change colour turn off the steam wand.

Clean - Put the jug of milk to the side and clean your steam wand. Purge the wand again to remove any remaining milk in the nozzle and clean the wand with your steam wand cloth. It is import that this is done immediately after heating milk. Not purging and/or wiping the wand will leave a build-up of milk on the wand – this is not hygienic or good for the equipment. 

Tap & Roll - Tap your jug of milk on the bench to break up any large bubbles in your milk, than roll or swirl the milk in the jug until the texture changes so that it looks, glossy and smooth – doing this will combine the milk and the foam in the jug, until you do this you have a layer of foam sitting on top of your heated milk. If you don’t roll the milk in the jug you will struggle to pour the foam in the cup.

The Pour - A good starting position to pour from is to use the height of the jug from the top of the cup – rest the jug on the lip of the cup and then pour into the middle of the cup, pour slightly quickly at the start – this will help to not have the milk spill down the side of the jug.

Drop the milk into the middle of the cup and while continuing to pour, bring the jug down close the cup (you can rest the jug on to the cup) relax your grip on the jug and gently sway the jug side to side while you slowly raise the bottom of the jug and fill the cup, while keeping the spout of the jug close to the cup.

A Cappuccino should be poured slightly over the lip of the cup so that it has a ‘dome’ of foam and then is dusted with chocolate powder. You should be able to give a cappuccino cup a pretty good shake and it shouldn’t spill – that is a sign that you have nice deep foam in the cup.

Too much or not enough foam in the cup? Check the milk left in the jug – if all the foam is still in the jug, keep practicing pouring – relax the grip and sway and tilt the jug more.  If there is no foam left in the jug (and not enough foam in the cup) or vice a versa then adjust your stretching time. (Increase or decrease as required).

 

CAFE LATTE – 30ml single shot espresso and steamed milk flat to the lip of the glass, poured with 1cm of foam and served in a 200- 220ml latte glass. Crema is floated to the top.

A latte should be served in a glass. This is an 8oz glass so it is still a 30ml shot and we will use the same amount of milk. The change with this one is the amount of foam in the glass, we want a 1cm head of foam - that is half the amount we had on the cappuccino so we are going to halve the stretch, so we will do about a 4 second stretch. 

You don’t want to make 1cm in a quick 2 seconds – this would mean you are letting too much air in too quickly and the milk will probably be bubbly – so we are trying to let enough air into the milk so that it increase by that 1cm over a slower period of time – 4 seconds – this should give us that nice dense, smooth foam we are after.

Everything else stays the same – purge the wand into the tray, position the wand so it is straight, have the nozzle of the wand under the surface of the milk and then turn on the steam wand. Bring your hand to the jug and slowly move the jug towards the bench so the tip of the wand is sitting at the surface of the milk, when it is in the right position you will start to hear the stretching sound (the kissing noise)

Remember, don’t sink the wand to the bottom of the jug, it should only be the nozzle of the wand that is under the surface of the milk. 

Tap the jug on the bench to pop the bubbles on the top of the milk and then roll or swirl the milk in the jug until it looks glossy and the milk and foam are blended together. 

The pour is the same – start the pour using the height of the jug from the lip of the cup as the starting point – pour to the centre of the glass, bring the jug down to the lip of the cup and gently sway and tilt the jug. The latte should be poured fully to the lip of the cup with a 1cm head of foam. The foam should sit about half way between the top of the class and the top of the arch on the glass.

Adjusting the foam level in the cup - If you have too much foam in your latte, use your spoon to take some of the foam out and then keeping the jug high you can add more milk to the cup to bring the foam to the correct level.

If when you roll your milk in the jug you feel like you have made too much foam, you can either get rid of some of the foam before you pour the coffee – grab your smaller jug and “throw some of the foam” into the other jug – you are trying to “flip” the top layer of the foam out.

The other way is to keep the jug higher for longer when you are pouring. Instead of bringing the jug low to cup quickly, keep you jug higher for longer, let the cup fill with milk and then bring the jug lower to the cup when it is about ¾ full and then let the rest of the foam out.

 

OTHER LATTES

Chai Latte

A chai latte is sort of the instant version of a Chai Tea – We are using the Bondi Chai powder, the powders will usually have either ground down tea or tea extract plus the same spices you find in a chai tea, such as cinnamon, clove etc. plus this powder has a lot of sugar and also milk powder. 

This is a Latte so it will go in a glass - In an 8oz use 2 teaspoons of powder, to that add just enough hot water so you can dissolve the powder, give it a really good stir – there is sugar and milk powder in there so you need to get that all dissolved.

Then prepare the milk the same as for the café latte – we are after a 1cm head of foam, it should be filled to the top of the glass and usually you will add cinnamon or cinnamon sugar to the top of the foam.

Dirty Chai

A dirty chai is similar to a Chai Latte but instead of mixing the powder with water you drop an espresso shot into the powder and mix them together. Use the same amount of powder, 2 teaspoons, pack you handle and then drop a 30ml espresso shot over the powder and use your spoon to stir them together really well. Stretch your milk for around 4seconds and pour it the same as a café latte – flat to the lip of the cup with 1 cm head of foam.

Caramel Latte

To prepare a caramel latte add one pump of caramel syrup to the glass (1 pump for the 8oz, 2 pumps for the 12oz and then 3 pumps for the 16oz) you then add your espresso shot to the syrup and then prepare your milk as normal – around a 4 second stretch to get that 1com head of foam.

 

MOCHA – 30ml single shot espresso blended with chocolate syrup or powder and steamed milk, poured with 2cm of foam then dusted with chocolate powder and served in a ceramic mug. 

A mocha is really just a cappuccino with the addition of chocolate. To make a mocha we need a good heaped teaspoon of chocolate powder. Put this into your cup first. Then you will pack you handle, the same as we have been doing all morning – then drop the espresso shot into the chocolate powder – then get your spoon and mix the chocolate and espresso together. The mocha also needs 2cm of foam, so preparing the milk is the same as we did for the cappuccino, we will need about an 8 second stretch and then you pouring the milk into the choc/coffee base. You can pour this with a slight dome and then dust the top with chocolate.  

 

ALTERNATE MILKS

Skim, trim, full cream, lactose free – they are all cow’s milk, they will all burn around 73.5°c so we heat them to 65°c. 

Alternate milks are anything that didn’t come out of a cow. Alternate milks are plant, nut or bean based so they will react differently when we heat them up. Alternate milks have a lower burning point so we only heat them up to 60°c – also depending on the brand of milk you may need to adjust your stretching times – if you find you get too much foam with the stretching times you use for cow’s milk just start to adjust how long you stretch the alternate milk for.

If you heat alternate milks over around 60°c you will find the milk will split or separate and the texture of the foam will get very chunky, a bit like cottage cheese – not a good look on a coffee

Alternate milk is usually not as smooth a cow’s milk, you will find it difficult to get latte art and you will often see brown lines dropping down the sides of a latte glass – coffee is very acidic so when the plant based milk hits it there is a slight separation that happens and causes these lines to drop down the side – this is normal with alternate milks.