Espresso fundamentals: dialling in a shot and texturing milk

This course takes you from the basics of what espresso actually is through to pouring your first latte art pattern. You start with the simple questions: what makes espresso different from brewed or filtered coffee, what decaf is, and how the gaggia machine helped espresso spread around the world. From there you move into the many ways a shot can be served, from ristretto to americano, red eye, café rápido y sucio and freddo espresso, so you understand how a single shot of espresso becomes dozens of different drinks.

Once the espresso side is covered, the course turns to milk. You learn the difference between steamed milk and textured milk, what microfoam is, and how a pitcher is used to move and pour milk. This leads into a long section on milk and espresso drinks, where you learn the words behind the drinks you already know and plenty you may not: caffè macchiato, cortado, cappuccino, flat white, latte, piccolo latte, galão, pingado, gibraltar, cortadito and more. Each drink is explained by its ratio of espresso to milk, so you can see how small changes in that ratio create a completely different drink.

With the vocabulary in place, the course moves into dialling in a shot: understanding crema, colloids, and how to taste whether a shot is under- or over-extracted so you can adjust dose, yield and time to fix it. You then move into latte art fundamentals, learning what latte art is, how it spread through instructional videos, and the basic patterns taught at the start: the heart and the tulip.

The final section covers more advanced patterns and how skill is measured. You learn the rosette and rosetta, harder designs built on the basics, and how the Latte Art Grading System, or LAGS, certifies skill through graded practical exams. By the end you can put it all together: dial in a shot by taste, texture milk to a glossy microfoam, and pour a heart into a flat white.

The course is built so each lesson adds one new idea on top of the last:

• Start with what espresso and brewed coffee actually are
• Learn the many shot variations and what separates them
• Learn steamed milk, textured milk and microfoam
• Work through milk and espresso drinks in detail
• Learn to dial in a shot by taste
• Learn to pour basic and advanced latte art patterns

By the end, you will be able to dial in a shot by dose, yield and time, taste and correct an under- or over-extracted shot, and texture milk well enough to pour a heart into a flat white.