How do I make a cappuccino?

What does our strong soy cappuccino with 2 sugars have in common with 17th C Viennese Monks? A lot apparently! Here at Black Market Roasters, we like to find out the story behind everything coffee, and this one is great!

First….a little history lesson: At the time of the Ottoman/Turkish empire, they were pro’s at making short, black, very strong and bitter coffee. As more and more people travelled through Europe, discovering this exotic liquid called coffee, they began to acquire a bit of an addiction to it (like us). There was a group of Monks from Vienna, in Austria in about the 17th Century, who, whilst needing their coffee to stay up praying, were fed up with the horrible taste. So they thought they would sweeten it up with honey, put some cream in it as you do, which turned the beverage a kind of brown colour which happened to be the same colour as their robes. These dudes were part of the Capuchin monastic order, hence the name Cappuccino!

Now, the important part … How do you make a Cappuccino?

1. Start with freshly roasted and ground coffee beans. We are looking for a standard espresso shot, 25-30ml, poured for about 18-30 seconds. Do the espresso first on a domestic machine
2. Moving onto the milk, fill the jug with enough milk for one standard coffee cup, about 150ml (note, it is hard to steam milk with only a little bit in the jug, so without wasting milk, try and have a substantial amount to begin with)
3. Start heating your milk, after 2 seconds, move the steam wand just under the surface of the milk (keeping it spinning) so that you hear a constant, not too loud, though definite aeration of the milk. By letting air into the milk, we are adding volume and texture (foam) giving the cappuccino its distinctive appearance
4. Do not move the jug or wand at all; just keep it fixed at that one point. The milk will rise and you just keep spinning that milk, trying to suck those bubbles under to give it that silky appearance.
5. Stop the milk at 65 degrees or when your desired temperature is reached
6. Let the milk sit for 20 seconds, then give the jug a few taps on the bench to get the air bubbles out
7. Now, this is important, spin the milk by grabbing the handle of the jug and rotating the milk in one direction, do this for at least 30 seconds. This will combine the textured milk (froth) and the hot milk underneath it. You will need to get this step right if you are to pour a great coffee. Just watch the milk spin round until you can see the whole jug is one fluid liquid.
8. A cappuccino, by Black Market Roasters standard is a nice head of textured milk (silky though), with or without chocolate. Stopping spinning the jug only seconds before you pour, pour slowly onto the edge of your cup (which is already filled with the espresso) which will allow the textured milk to come out of the jug combined with the untextured milk. Pour to the top of the cup and add chocolate if desired.

If you can pour a tulip or love heart on a cappuccino, I would be stoked! You can buy your espresso coffee beans at our online coffee bean shop, BlackMarketRoasters.com.au. At Black Market Roasters, we freshly roasted single origin beans like Sumatra Wahana, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Kenyan, Colombian beans plus much more. Being an online coffee bean store, we freshly roast your coffee to order and ship it FREE to your door! Being a coffee maker and coffee roaster, we know how important it is to use the best beans the world has to offer! Head over to our Beans Page to kick off your order.