Turning coffee into performance art.
As a coffee hobbyist I am fascinated by all things coffee. Watching my barista pull an espresso shot, pour some latte art or meticulously make a pourover coffee fills me with joy. It is like watching an artist at work, creating something beautiful and complex out of the raw materials. Watching YouTube videos of people using coffee siphons to make coffee is my latest joy. There's a video in which Morgan Eckroth demonstrates a form of siphon brewer know as a balance brewer, and seeing the engineering working to make coffee had me almost squealing with delight. ¹
Then too there's my own ritual of coffee, the grinding, filling the moka pot and finally frothing the milk for my faux flat white. People watching this have remarked on the theatre of it all, and how satisfying it is. There's a kind of ballet happening in the kitchen during the process that I didn't fully appreciate until an early morning visitor remarked on it. Yes, making a simple cup of coffee is a process that can be quite artistic and beautiful. Good baristas already know this, and will use the brewing and making process to entertain; there's a reason why the espresso machine is front and centre of a cafe, its so the staff can show off their skills as well as their art.
Watch as the barista dances from grinder to tamping station, enjoy the thrust and click as the portafilter engages the machine, experience the intensity as the barista watches the flow, times the shot, pulls it at the optimal moment, froths the milk and finally pours the drink. If that's not wonderful choreography, I don't know what is. I could watch a skilled barista at work all day. The coffee booth at the farmers' market is the same. Watching the barista making several cups of pourovers all in a row is like watching a one-person line dance happening. The skill they show! The timing, the perfection, the satisfaction as they stick the landing and you finally get to drink the result. There's the same satisfaction I get from watching a good stage magician, blending technology, art and skill. Moetry in potion!
¹ Demo of the balance siphon brewer
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