My Morning Ritual

Ever since I adopted the little "La Pavoni" espresso maker, my life has been blessed with some rather enticing flavors and smells in the mornings!

Introducing my morning ritual, which happens almost every morning: Making my Soy Cappuccino.



First some tidbits of info. I switch beans regularly. I used to use Peet's Italian Roast, then Illy, then I tried beans from Le Pain Quotidien, and now I am trying Caffe Roma's Sicilian Blend, which is supposed to be a dark roast. I do enjoy it, but I don't have a favorite so far. It's hard! I enjoy the nuances and differences of each bean type I try and although I love a bean and roast for a particular reason, I am open to trying new beans and tasting new flavors and discovering new aspects espresso can have.

I usually try my coffee as an espresso first to really acquaint myself with all of it's complexities and aromas. For me, it's like, I just need to know. I need to taste it in it's pure form and then I can freely enjoy cappuccinos and such... so, I do that first, when I get a new bean type.

Another tidbit to explain.... Why do I drink soy cappuccinos and not regular milk cappuccinos? Well... unfortunately I am plagued with the inability to digest milk and coffee together. I have experienced too many painful days of stomach aches and pain to even try it again, so, I just accepted it and moved over to the next best thing. For most of this year, I only drank espresso black. This way I could enjoy it, without the pain milk would add to my life.... But I realized recently that it was possible to enjoy a cappuccino or latte made with soy milk. It is not quite the same thing, but rather similar, if done right.

The biggest problem with soy milk is the frothing. When we make cappuccinos you want to have micro-foam. A foam so dense and creamy that you can barely see the bubbles. This type of froth is of the highest quality and most enjoyable of all. Have you ever tried a cappuccino whose milk was frothed with big airy bubbles? Did you feel like you were drinking an insubstantial airy piece of crap? Well, that is the reason those airy bubble are so frowned upon in the world of coffee.... Anyhoo, enough rambling...

I have a beautiful old-fashioned "La Pavoni". It is a hand press espresso machine. Completely manual and a real joy to use. The filter is a 2 shot, and I get just the right amount of rich crema in the shot (crema is the rich cream that forms on the surface of the shot when you push extreme amount of pressure of water through the ground beans).

Pictured below is a shot I pulled yesterday, while making my morning cappuccino.



The crema could be improved, but in my opinion it is fine.

Then I get my soy milk and steam it using the nozzle on my "La Pavoni" in just the right way to get it to foam just right. This process is very tricky and you can easily fail miserably trying to get it right. I had to accept many a mediocre cappuccinos (well they turned out more like lattes) in order to understand the delicate way of producing the micro-foam... Finally I achieved close to perfection yesterday and just had to take a picture of the result. It's NOT perfect, but it's close. I am not sure how much more perfect I can get it with soy milk, but I will do my best to get there!

This is my degustation for the morning. A little sprinkle of cinnamon on top adds a nice touch... (Nutmeg is awesome too!)



If you have any questions at all feel free to ask!