LEARNING ALL ABOUT ESPRESSO WITH HILLEL LOWINSKY
ABOUT HILLEL: He started working in the world of coffee in 2003 at Irving Farm Coffee Roasters in New York as a barista. He has been working in the coffee field on (mostly on) and off for 21 years, having worked for Irving Farm, Balzac Coffee and Carroux Kaffeerösterei.
Over the years he became more and more curious about espresso extraction and on limited income bought various coffee machines: ascaso dream, a lever machine in the form of la pavoni and mostly trusting old Gaggia MDF grinders.
He is also a tea sommelier which gives him a really solid background in both the coffee and tea industry. It's rare to find beverage professionals who are as well-versed and knowledgeable in both the coffee and tea worlds. He worked for Harney & Sons Tea in New York for 7 years and has been working with tea ever since 2006, almost close to two decades.
He is a passionate teacher and trains all of his employees himself. He is a big advocate for coffee education as it has brought him across the world and given him a career which he loves. Anyone who knows how to pull good shots and steam good milk can find a job and do well in any country in the world.
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Theoretical part:
This coffee course is based on learning how to make espresso and milk based espresso beverages at home. So many of you have an espresso machine at home but just don't quite know how to use it yet. We want to and will change that. In this course we will teach you how to pull the best shot and steam the silkiest milk.
We will first take you through coffee theory and then we will get into the practical part.
- coffee plant
- coffee harvest
- where it is grown
- roasting of the coffee
- the five most important points in espresso extracting: the type of coffee you choose, the amount of coffee you use, the grind size, the machine and the person controlling all aspects of grinding, running the machine, tamping etc...
There will be three different work stations and depending on how many participants there are we will rotate and I will work with you all individually. The first step is for us to understand our grinder because without the correct grind size, regardless of how good our espresso machine is, we won't get good coffee.
Practical part:
- setting up your work station / understanding what you need
- learning how to dial in (setting up your grinder correctly)
- how to tamp properly
- properly extract an espresso
- perfect steaming of your milk
- basic latte art
- how to make various beverages (cappuccino, flat white, americano)
- cleaning your machine
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
- minimum of 3 participants and maximum of 5
- you have to pay and book the course ahead of time
- if there are not enough participants we will have to plan a new date
- you can cancel with a week's notice and get your money back, otherwise with less notice no money back, because we still have to find someone to take your place
- we offer all kinds of milk, vegan milk alternatives as well