Coffee Break

nico: Last month, I took the barista course at TAFE. Although I have been studying English for further study, I wanted to get some skills for getting a job at the same time.  My parents in Japan used to work for a confectionery company, so they have skills and knowledge of cakes and other sweets. I don’t know if it is because I grew up under the influence of them, I have been tending to get some skills of using my hands for a living. I worked for a financial company for a really long time in Japan though.

So, the barista course. I took a course which was provided two hours per week four times. I learnt about basic knowledge of coffee beans and how to make espresso, latte, flat white, cappuccino and long black. That was amazing. Actually, I had a brilliant coffee and espresso machine when I lived in Japan. However, I didn’t use it for making espresso and steamed milk much because I didn’t know how to use and clean it. In Japan, I used to have dripped black coffee mainly as lots of Japanese do. Generally, Japanese people have cappuccino and latte only at café I guess. In fact, I didn’t exactly know the consistence of cappuccino and latte, etc. Then I left it. Now I have been regretting that I should have tried to use my machine in Japan and brought it to Australia. If I had my machine here, I could practice making coffee a lot before I forget the procedure and technique. That would definitely help me getting a job, too. Ah well.

Anyway, making coffee is interesting. I want to get the stable skill of tamping to extract amazing espresso at all times. Pouring steamed milk onto the espresso as well. They are both not easy as it looks, especially for pouring milk. Actually, it is kind of irritating. Because the frothy milk is lighter than steamed milk, I struggled to make cappuccino and latte a lot. It’s really hard to pour certain amount of froth and steamed milk. Using a spoon helps it but I learnt it without using spoon, and I’d love to be able to do it without it. For me, making coffee is kind of art. Yeah, I’d love to do the latte art as well.

Even if it’s still not easy to get a job, finding a thing which I am interested in is great. People always can find something interesting even they are getting older.