I was introduced to a new addiction today, in the form of sailing!  I had know idea the awesome thrill that could be had while sitting on the side of a cat, harnessing the wind in my sail, all the while flying through the water!!  It was sheer brilliance and like nothing that I had ever experienced before.  As it has been said, the conditions were perfect, wind was blowing just right, blazing orange light, of the setting sun, reflecting off the clouds, and and full rainbow dazzling with near full spectrum of colors!  Nothing could be said but reflect with speechless awe of the One who created it all!!

 Upon arriving back home, I fired up the ol' LaPavoni machine and decided that tonight was a night to make the best tasting tea latte.  I recently discovered that the combination of my home brewed vanilla syrup, red tea, and steamed milk, can create quite the tasty night cap.  Just enough tea to set the evening mood and finish on some Western Literature homework.  Good-night and until next time drink some tea.

Perfect ingredients, for a perfect tea latte

A Latte that I made earlier this day

Latte Comp's at Java this morning

Almost completely awesome, the pull through got a little fat

The Future Transportation

I recently purchased a 2 stroke 80cc motor to attach to a bicycle.  This beauty below is the future carrier of the motor once it decides to arrive!

My Sister Makes a Latte!!

It makes a brother so proud when his sister voluntarily wants to make lattes!  What has Starbucks done to Janie, she is now eager to make coffee and even knows about espressos, frothing milk, and working on her free pouring.  It brings tears of joy to my eyes...

Janie Pulling the Shot

Janie Steaming the Milk

Janie about to pour the milk

Pouring Milk

Her Final Product! 

She is so excited!!

Our mess afterwards!

A lovely morning at Doma

Went to Doma coffee roasters this morning to play around their new espresso machine.  It was pretty rad and slightly intimidating.  Here are a couple of pictures.

La Marzocco - Strada

Latte from Doma

First Latte at Java this morning.

Coffee from Java Jo's, Day Dreams blend

I recently received, from my good friend Travis Lehman, a fresh pound of coffee from the coffee house that he works at.  Travis works at Java Jo's which is in Berlin, Ohio.  I would like to add that Java Jo's is a lovely establishment that has a desire to make a great cup of coffee which I can attest to.  Upon receiving receiving the coffee, I instantly fired up the LaPavoni and prepped everything for this great opportunity.  The time had finally arrived to try out my recently handcrafted naked portafilter.  (Which I just realized I have not yet posted).  That is to come, so without further to do, here is a small series of pictures displaying the workings of the naked portafilter.

Water is being infused into the coffee

The extraction has started

All the drips have finally clumped together, creating one unison pour, which is what is desired.

The nice color and even flow of the shot, shows the true beauty of the naked  portafilter

The end product which resulted into a latte, of course.  It tasted rather delicious.

Two Lattes for this day.

So today, I got super pumped when about my latte heart at Java, this afternoon.  The customer loved it and later said the drink tasted as lovely as it looked.  What more could I ask for.  So when I came home I cut out the bottom of my portafilter, the processo which might be posted tomorrow.  Anyways the latte that came out of the that experience was gorgeous so I had to post it as well!

First latte poured from the naked portafilter.

LaPavoni meets Java.

Today was a big day for my little espresso maker.  It went to a real coffee shop and made some lattes!  However, none of the lattes where served to any of the customers.  I'm pretty sure that the fist shot pulled was the best shot ever pulled on that machine.  It came out awesome, dark and thick, and it tasted so good.  The only tricky part was timing.  Since we were on the clock, we would sometimes have everything ready to go then a customer would walk in.  Sadly, there was nothing beautiful poured with the little machine that day, but here is one of the cappuccinos that I made.

First Customer of the Day!

Thanks to java and the first customer that i served today. He recieved this beautifully crafted Cappuccino! A little weird looking next to standard latte art, but not half bad.

Check It!

Can you see the Rosetta?!  

Yeah, thanks Java, and whatever customer ordered the latte.

Ya, that's right! two days in a row, can I keep this going?  If anyone is reading this, come in tomorrow for some delicious tastiness!!

Back on the saddle!

Back on the saddle with this mocha I made for my mother

Pulled all the Latte making stuff out!

Ya!!  I can still make some sort of a Rosetta!

About Time...

In the words of my friend Titus Leger, "The last two days have been weird."  I couldn't agree more.  In responds some people would pull out a cigarette and let the nicotine roll over them, instead I pulled out my espresso machine and let the caffeine flow through my veins.  But before that, I let the task of preparing the La Pavoni distracted me.  I find it interesting that my vigor for this blog is stemmed from to much going on in my life.
Well anyways, for those still checking this blog out, I thank you for dedication and I apologize for my absence.  Here is the Latte of today, yes it turned out pretty sweet looking.  Lately, at Java I have been working on my hearts, which i might post here soon.

Day 26 and an international guest.

This week my friend Ute, whom I haven't seen in about six years, and her friend Sabrina arrived to Coeur d'Alene ready to see the most beautiful town ever and drink some of the neighborhoods best coffee.  Ute and Sabrina stopped by on their way through to British Columbia.  It is a good thing that they stopped, for I needed another topic for the blog, and it was great seeing them and hanging.  The time they wad here was a bunch fun.  I got to show them around the beautiful town of Coeur d'Alene Idaho.  The two ladies also got to enjoy some deliciousness found in town such as Bakery by the Lake, Java on Sherman, and Moontime.  Probably three of my favorite places.  Of course before they departed I made sure to seize the opportunity and provide them coffee beverages and blog their appearance.

Day 25, The blog is back

Good morning.  Wow it has been eight day since a new post has arrived.  So I thought this morning would be a perfect day to post.  Last evening some friends came over, so I made them coffee.  Here is the product of one of the cups.  The other one turned out pretty cool too, but I didn't snap a photo of it.
     For those that haven't heard, I recent took a job at a local coffee shop.  So I will be making a whole lot more coffee, which means a whole lot more practice.  Well thanks for reading.

Day 24 starring Travis Lehman

Pulling the perfect shot.

Tamping the grounds.

 









 Hello readers welcome again to another Latte of the day.  Again it has been several days since the last posting. Interestingly enough it was not entirely my fault this time, blogger had been down since Wednesday, and back up Saturday.  And what a glorious day to be back on too, because I get to introduce one of my all time favorite friends, Travis Lehman.  Faithful blog follower and professional barista.  Travis Lehman, flew all the all from Berlin, Ohio in order to be a guest on the blog.  As a professional latte artist he dabbles in the post modern latte art as can be seen in art of his final design.  Some argue that he is one of the forrunners in post modern latte art!  After many tours through out South America, Italy, and the greater Western Europe, Travis has finally settled down in Ohio in order to get out of the lime light and resume the life of a normal person instead of a star.  He stated during the interview, "that living with the Amish as really given me[Travis] a greater appreciation to the simple things in life.  I find myself spending more time with my family and really just getting back to the root of latte making"
     If you are eve in the area of Berlin Ohio you will find Travis at Java Jo's Coffee, still pouring latte's and having great conversations with the locals.

Enjoying his creation!

Day 23,

I had a conversation with a friend today regarding lattes.  Over the course of the conversation I realized that all the questions he was asking and the ones I was responding too were specific to how to texturize the foam and the creation of the latte art.  Of course that was the whole reason why I started this blog, to practice making latte art.  Thus I need to add some of found experience to the blog to help those in the same predicament that I found myself in.  I have decided that after this Thursday, which is my last day of class, I will write a post or two specifically on milk texturizing.  It might include some interviews with the pros and from other amateurs.  I think it would be cool to also try out some other machines.  Therefore, if you read this and have an espresso machine at your house, or your friend has one let me know so that i can add it to the blog.

Day 22 Another day another latte

Today I made another latte.  Don't get to surprised.  The new mod on the steaming wand tip is working wonders to the ability to create fantastic foam.  The weather has finally cleared enough that it might be time to go do some rocking this afternoon.  Well, thanks for reading have a lovely day and i'll be out climbing if you need to reach me...

Day 21 Happy Mothers Day

TJ's finger is to the left, and Travis's finger is at the top

Happy Mothers to all the mothers out there!!  If you are around I would love to make you a free latte...  Today's latte photo has two of the blogs most faithful readers, TJ Kastning and Travis Potter.  If you haven't notice TJ is ranked number one for the most comments and has become such a fanatic about lattes that he ingested two of them last night!  I'm not sure if they hindered him from sleeping or not.  Travis Potter is also a faithful reader and has been a guest earlier on the blog.  He is often a supplier of new coffee whenever he is in the neighborhood and a great joke teller.  Last night we watched the movie Get Low, which starred Robert Duvall playing a dieing old geezer who wants to have a funeral party.  The ending of the movie really struck me because Robert Duvall's character finally sheds his mask and reveals something about him that caused him to be very vulnerable.  It is amazing watching films like this because it causes others in the film to choose whether or not they are going to forgive or judge that person.  In real life people are often too afraid to shed that mask and reveal who they really are, maybe because they are not sure what reaction they will receive when being truthful and honest.  Overall the film was pretty good but not quite as good as the latte intermission...but really, how could it be?

Day 20 The Modification

Before

After

Dear readers, the last couple of days have been somewhat of a whirlwind, it being the end of the semester.  Today, I finally got enough motivation to attempt a homemade modification for the LaPavoni espresso machine.  The modification is with the steam wand tip.  Most LaPavoni's have a tri-tipped wand, which can sort of be made out in the picture; other wand tips that I have seen have only one hole.  So in an attempt to create the perfect foam, I thought it was time to try a modification.  I saw this done on my favorite espresso  youtube video.  Please not that the dude is using almost the same machine.  Instead of buying his I decided to create my own.  So I went to Home Depot and bought a $0.60 cap nut and drilled a 1/16 hole in the bottom.  You may think that this seems like a relatively easy project, which it was. However, the difficult part of the project was the motivation behind it.

Silky smooth Microfoam

     After my first steaming test, I immediately regretted my laziness.  The foam that resulted from the single hole tip was incredible!  Unbelievable, it was like I hardly had to do any work to steam the milk.  As a result I had to share the brilliant endeavorer.  The whole while, I had John Mayer in the back ground encouraging me with his Trio band, with members Pino Palladino on the bass, and Steve Jordan on the drums.  The John Mayer Trio makes for some great background coffee music.  I've realized that not many people have heard of John's trio band, so here is a link to Amazon to either listen to it or purchase it.  It is recorded live and sounds quite good.