Making good coffee is an art and requires an experienced hand. Have you ever visited your favourite Café and found that your cappuccino didn’t taste as good as you remembered? While it could be your taste buds, more likely it is the person or equipment preparing the beverage. Great coffee is a combination of 3 main factors; the coffee bean (25%), a good machine (25%) and a good operator (50%). Simply put, your favourite café can use the best beans in the world, have the flashest machine, but if the operator is not up to scratch the end result may leave you disappointed. An experienced coffee maker is usually referred to as a Barista (or coffee bartender), one who takes great pride in the quality he/she makes. Keep your eye on the people making your coffee, the good ones will ensure that any condensed steam is removed from the steam arm BEFORE starting to froth your milk. They will also wipe the steam arm clean immediately he/she has finished. They will also keep one hand on the SIDE of jug while steaming the milk. The milk is hot enough once the jug becomes too hot to handle, this usually happens around 76C – under no circumstances should the milk be boiled. The quality of the coffee grind is also important. A decent shot of espresso should take around 25 seconds to ‘pour’ and contain a rich golden head of crema. A shorter time than this will generally be a result of a too coarse grind resulting in a coffee with a poor crema, a longer time will generally result in the coffee exhibiting a burnt or bitter taste. If you find that your favourite shop is experiencing regular staff turnover the chances are that your coffee will become inconsistent. By Guest Contributor, Nick Wolski. Nick is the Managing Director of Danimade Pty Ltd. [