Coffee Culture in London is exploding, with many new independent coffee roasters and coffee startups opening up in town. Sitting in cafes and making the most of al fresco coffee culture is always fun, but sometimes staying in is all we really want to do. When the week has been busy and the weekend beckons with promises of lazy mornings reading the newspaper and relaxing on the sofa, the idea of going out can seem too much. But you don’t have to force yourself out of your pyjamas to enjoy a decent coffee. You could actually impress everyone by becoming your own home barista.
No courses are required, you don’t have to go get a fancy apron or even get baking cupcakes. You just need to love coffee and be a bit creative.
Start with the fundamentals
There are so many great coffee machines on the market right now, you could easily turn your kitchen into a café. Forget Starbucks…call it Cafe Chez Moi and invite your friends round for some posh coffee!
You could always serve some freeze-dried instant coffee or cappuccino sachets to serve but there’s no fun in that and there certainly is no compromise on taste. It’s easy to make your own premium cofffee with freshly ground coffee beans, as there are so many great brands to choose from.
If you’re running a business from home or freelancing your way to the top, you could even impress clients with a little home networking over coffee. Talk about giving them the personal touch!
There are lots of different coffee machines out there of course and choosing can be tricky, so think about factors like the space you have in your kitchen, the style you want, cleaning-ease & budget as outlined in this handy video by Which?.
A touch of art with your coffee
Once you’ve selected the right machine, you may want to think about getting creative. Tassimo offer a really cool selection of coffee art stencils, so you can really impress your visitors with your coffee crafting skills. You could make coffee inspired art to hang around to give your place that extra authentic feel and if you wanted, to you could get baking a few cupcakes too, why not?
But if you truly want to take your coffee making to the next level you could invest in thermometers, coffee grinders and even get some training from London’s prestigious Department of Coffee and Social Affairs. You can learn to make fancy coffee art on Youtube too.
But at the same time you can still keep your barista status and keep it cheap too. Heating up milk in the pan, instead of using a milk steamer will still give you a nice latte-style drink. But if you want some frothy foam on top, all you need is a jar and a microwave.
And if you want to really impress your friends, you can explain to them how you know it’s a good espresso because of the ‘crema’ at the top. Crema is the foam on your espresso and barista’s use that as a sign they have created the perfect cup (or The God Shot as it’s also called). And if you want to get the fancy apron too, go for it! It’s your house, your rules, your own personal coffee shop!
This is a sponsored post.
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