How to Achieve Perfect Coffee – by Gwilym Davies, World Barista Champion

25 January 2010
How to Achieve Perfect Coffee – by Gwilym Davies, World Barista Champion

Coffee is an agricultural product - the varietal, processing method and growing conditions have a huge impact on its flavour, aroma and texture e.g. Yellow Bourbon beans are particularly sweet - pulped naturals have a good body and the growing region give it low acidity and Hazelnuts, mixed with the dry processed Ethiopian beans, which bring a dried fruit flavour, in this case Apricots.

For freshness sake, you need to know when the coffee was roasted - it should be used within three weeks, with an optimum time of 6-10 days from roast.
Look out for roast dates on the bag - this is a clear indication of a roaster's philosophy concerning freshness.

Gwilym's coffee is roasted by Squaremile Coffee, his advice is: "Build a mutually beneficial relationship - Find out from your roaster how fresh the coffee is and get a starting point brewing recipe. In-turn, give feedback on how the blend behaves, they can then pass this on to the importers/farmers."

Liken coffee to wine - it is not enough to know that a wine is simply French, as the varietal and growing conditions have a big influence on final flavour!

  • Go for a burr grinder, not one with helicopter blades because they don't grind evenly.
  • A good-quality machine with a stable temperature is key!
  • The steam wand must be kept clean - a dirty wand, as well as being unhygienic is also a good indicator on the machines general cleanliness.
  • Be careful not to overheat the milk - If milk is steamed too hot it will lose sweetness and texture.

If you have something to say on this story or anything else join the debate at Table Talk - Caterer's new networking forum. Go to www.caterersearch.com/tabletalk

Caterersearch.com jobs
Looking for a new job? Find your next hotel job here with Caterersearch.com jobs

[Newsletters For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our e-mail newsletters.
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking