What got you into coffee?
Years in the hospitality trade focusing on beverages and flavour profiling whilst living on a diet of espresso. It was only natural that at some point I headed into the trade itself.
Favourite Ringtons coffee?
Colombian bean, it’s smooth and fruity whilst retaining richness and a subtle sweetness.
What’s your go-to brewing method?
In the morning I love a pour over (V60) espresso. A flat white will forever be my go-to milk drink.
What are your top five tips for baristas?
- Invest in a top-quality grinder. Getting the right grind is an essential part of producing a quality cup. A mediocre grinder could be contributing to an over or under extracted coffee.
- Freshly grind coffee beans JUST before brewing – it will result in a 75% more desirable aromas with better flavour compounds presenting in cup. Use an on-demand grinder wherever possible.
- Clean machines produce clean tasting cups of coffee. Machines should be cleaned with a specialist espresso cleaning powder and backflushed every day. At a busy site machines can be backflushed without chemical during service.
- Learn to tamp consistently. Distribute your coffee as evenly as possible in the brew basket before applying pressure, tamp with a lean, not a press.
- Put your cups the right way up on your cup warmer! You want the bottom of the up to be warm, not the lip. It’s one of the most frustrating things you see in venues.
If you’re not drinking coffee what are you drinking?
Well, with a long career in hospitality, specialising in beverages, that’s a difficult question! I like to keep an eye on new products and producers coming through whether in the craft beer scene or the world of gin. I enjoy a good whisky and wine is life itself.
What’s the biggest thing in coffee right now?
Cold brew is the obvious answer but from an origin perspective there’s a lot of good work happening in Peru which is showing signs of a promising new crop.
What’s the next big trend?
I’m really keen on innovative coffee processing methods, like carbonic maceration and fermenting coffee in different fruit juices – there’s lot of interesting techniques being explored at the moment.
Keep in the know with Ringtons coffee and subscribe to our mailing list today.
Comments are closed.