Barista Magazine

AUG-SEP 2017

Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005

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93 www.baristamagazine.com to repeat the process with plenty of clean water before putting it back in service. It is also important to make sure those product lines are kept cold the whole way through the system, and be sure that they don't get exposed to light. Other than cleaning, it's probably not a bad idea to have a handful of the different seals and washers for the couplers and reg- ulator around. Change them out if you see any bubbling, foaming, or hissing. —Double J We have noticed that across all our stores on the same recipe and coffee, the coffee seems to not taste as good in the afternoon than in the morning. What could be the possible reasons? This is our body's way of telling us it's time to switch to beer. I kid, I kid. Seriously though, the fi rst question I have is, do you do a midday cleaning of the groups? Backfl ushing through- out the day and cleaning the portafi lters really helps to keep your fl avor profi les consistent through a long day. A few hours of rush time can leave a lot of residue on screens, baskets, and portafi lters. One shop I worked at as a barista way back in the day would do a backfl ush with water every hour! We also had an extra set of porta- fi lters that we swapped in at some point in the middle of the day so we could soak and clean the morning set. If your shop is slower in the afternoons, and depend- ing on the type of machine you use, the reason could be that the whole group assemblies have had more time to cool down. Dual-boiler or individual-brew-boiler ma- chines are great for maintaining a stable temperature, but they can lose some heat while the water travels out of the group and through a cooler brew valve, basket/ portafilter etc. Conversely, they can heat up too much. "Is it OK to dump milk out through your drip tray? I've heard it's OK but some people are super against it."

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