God Shot Wanted?

After reading this great article in The Guardian, i again was surprised how difficult it can be for a regular coffee amateur to brew a top cup at home. And because helping people to improve their Barista skills was one of the goals of this blog, i decided to write this post.

Of course your equipment does matter, but believe me if i say that a good Barista's going to pull better shots on your small household equipment that an average Barista with 'professional' gear. And forget about regular bartenders in this city/country ; they don't know anything about it.

What you need to do is reading blogs like this one, participate at Barista Jams, talk to professional or trained Barista's, watch the moves at the bar, read magazines or follow coffee forums. And for the Dutch speaking amateurs, which is a 60+ percent of Antwerp Barista readers(!), there's some good news these days on the forum front : KOFFIEPRAAT.
So everybody who's on the lookout for better coffee at home, at work or behind the bar : just click the link.

For those who want a quick resumé of what can help them to obtain a (espresso) God Shot :

Start with a clean and hot machine.
Use fresh beans.
Grind the beans yourself and shot by shot.
Take good and easy blends before experimenting with single origins.
Watch out for (too) lightly roasted beans.
Adjust the grind, volume and tamping pressure to obtain a correct extraction.
MAKE SURE YOUR EXTRACTION TIME IS PLUS MINUS 25 SECONDS!!!
Use warm cups.
Never be afraid to ask for help : we're there for you.