Homemade cappuccino without a coffee machine? No problem!

EVERY CAPPUCCINO STARTS WITH ESPRESSO

What your perfect homemade cappuccino can't do without is espresso. You can make a great espresso with the right espresso machine, tamper and espresso grinder. You don't even have to dig that deep into your pocket for a quality lever espresso machine. This time, however, we're here to tell you how to make a cappuccino without a coffee machine. So let's first tell you how to make espresso without a coffee machine.

If you want to play around with espresso making a little more, we have the Flair Neo Espresso. Which is a coffee machine, but not exactly what you'd think of as a regular coffee machine. You're the main driver. This is a coffee machine that works on the basis of human power pressure, with absolutely no electricity. It makes anespresso in about two minutes. Grind your coffee to espresso coarseness. You fill the portafilter and tamp with the tamper. You preheat the head of the machine in hot water for 30 seconds and then just attach the portafilter to the head, pour in the hot water, press and you have a great espresso with the perfect crema.

What's more, with the Flair NEO, the coarseness of the ground coffee doesn't matter as much as it does with other machines in the Flair Espresso family, because the Flow Control portafilter is all about resistance. There is no need to adjust it in any complicated way, it is simply suitable for every espresso lover.

The Flair NEO will be a great companion when making espresso at home or even at the cottage without electricity. In addition, the Flow Control portafilter, with the right resistance, will make sure that the NEO produces a great espresso without complicated adjustments. Source: flairespresso.com

MORE ESPRESSO OPTIONS FOR HOME CAPPUCCINO

Another, and cheaper, tip might be machines like the Aeropress or Twist Press. By following some rules like grinding the coffee more finely, or using less water, even with these, you can prepare coffee that will serve well as an espresso base for your cappuccino. You'll get a better result if you use a metal filter, which will provide a more flavourful cup of coffee compared to a paper filter.

HOW TO MAKE ESPRESSO AT HOME WITH AN AEROPRESS

Grind your coffee and prepare hot water (approx. 96 °C).
As always, place one paper filter in the bottom of the AeroPress.
Pour the ground coffee into it.
Prepare a second paper filter, which you place on top of the coffee layer using the squeezing part of the AeroPress or another oval tool and press the coffee into the lever of the coffee machine as you press the coffee with a tamper.
You then pour the coffee and filter about halfway down the AeroPress with hot water and squeeze.
The result should be a beautiful espresso with crema as a great base for your cappuccino.

For espresso-like coffee, you can also use amoka potto prepare it . With it, you can also prepare a larger number of cups of espresso at once.

FRENCH PRESS AS A MILK FROTHER FOR HOME CAPPUCCINOS

The first method I'm going to introduce you to is quite familiar, namely whipping with a French Press. First, you heat the milk to about 55-65 °C. This is the right temperature for whipping milk, and you can tell when the milk is properly heated by thefact that it is sweeter. If it's overheated it will probably taste like mashed potatoes, but then it's not the milk you want to use in your cappuccino or latte.

You pour the warmed milk into the French Press and whisk the milk by gradually squeezing and lifting the filter. Don't be hasty, or your milk will end up everywhere else but whisked in the French Press.

You can see what it looks like in practice in the video.

You can avoid this if you choose to whip your milk directly with a hand whisk, which works on the same principle as whipping in the French Press. By moving the plunger up and down. Such a whisk is offered by Barista&Co or by the well-known moka pot manufacturer Biatelli, which has made its whisks from aluminium, so they are suitable for heating milk directly on a gas or electric cooker or a stove with a ceramic hob.

FROTHING MILK WITHOUT THE HASSLE

Whisk milk with absolute ease using electric frothers. You can currently find two in our e-shop, the Sencor SMF 2020WH and the electric frother from Bialetti. As well as whisking warm milk, they both have a milk warming function or cold milk whisking, which is great for iced coffees. So just pour the milk and press the button, the machine does the rest for you. These electric frothers do have one drawback, and that is that they often whip the milk into a very thick froth, which is not exactly the best for latte art. You then have to work with the resulting milk to make it suitable for drawing tulips in your cappuccino.

FROTHING THE MILK IN YOUR OWN HANDS

Another very popular appliance is electric hand beaters. You only need two AA pencil batteries to use it. It will whip up both hot and cold milk with ease. You can then pour it straight into your coffee. For latte art, you need to use a latte maker, but I'll come back to that. In addition to milk, it will also whip up cocoa or hot chocolate for your kids or dressing for a salad or smoothie. It's a very multifunctional affair. As a representative of these whisks, you can find theBodum Schioma frother in our e-shop .

Even with a hand whisk, you need to maintain a 45° angle for well frothed milk. To mix the foam with the milk, whip perpendicularly. Source.

INNOVATION OF HOME MILK WHIPPING FOR HOME CAPPUCCINO

For the most beautiful latte art, you need well-whipped milk that doesn't look like foam in the bath, but is abeautiful glossy microfoam. At home or on the go, in short without a coffee machine, you can achieve this with this relative newcomer to the market, the Subminimal NanoFoamer. So it's a kind of handheld electric frother, but it's not the same as the others. The Subminimal is equipped with two attachments with two different grid densities, both of which are very fine, so that they don't create big bubbles in the milk, but a fine microfoam, in about 20 seconds.

Each grid is suitable for whipping milk for a different drink. TheFine Grid will create a thicker froth and so is more suitable for lattes, the Super Fine will be used primarily for cappuccinos or flat whites. The case also includes a cap, so there's nothing stopping you from creating the perfect cappuccino on the go. Just rinse the whisk in water after use. You can also use the frother to make cocoa, matcha tea or chai latte.

LATTE ART ONLY WITH LATTIERA

Do you want your cappuccino to be not only delicious but also beautiful? Learning how to draw into a cappuccinoitself is not that difficult, the basis is properly whipped milk. Before pouring the whipped milk into the espresso, make sure you have the milk well mixed. This is not done with a spoon, but by smoothly swirling your latte wrist across the surface. If you have a very large milk "cap" on the surface, you can help by either pouring or scraping it off with a spoon. You can get rid of unwanted bubbles in the milk by placing it on the table.

Properly whipped milk and lattiera are enough to draw milk pictures in your coffee at home. In the beginning you will probably create various abstractions, but with time you will surely understand how to do it. Source: Tyler Nix | unsplash.com

Thanks to the beak on the latte, it's then easier to draw a heart, a rosette or even a swan in your cappuccino. Thebest way to learn how to make latte art is bytrying, trying, trying. In addition to the milk whipping course, for which you can contact us directly, I also recommend watching some of the videos on YT.

Watch how to draw a heart in a cappuccino.

THERE'S NO MILK LIKE MILK

Emphasis should also be placed on the choice of milk, for quality microfoam you need to reach for quality milk. You don't want to ruin good coffee with bad milk. The best milk is fresh, as little artificially treated as possible and from a farmer. For good whipping, choose regular fat milk, skim water makes it very difficult to whip microfoam.

Increasingly, thechoice of coffee drinkers is falling toplant milks, i.e. alternatives to cow's milk, such as soya, oat, coconut or even pea milk. Choice is important here too, as with cow's milk you need a milk with a higher fat content for good whipping. Therefore, even for home use, I recommend looking for plant milks with a barista or barista additive. They just guarantee a good choice for coffee drinks.

If you use an alternative milk and your latte art isn't perfect, don't despair, sometimes even if you choose barista milk, it's more difficult to whip the milk and even more difficult to draw tulips with it in a cappuccino. Especially if you whip the milk without a coffee machine with some of the tips mentioned above, those work great with cow's milk, but plant-based milk is simply more difficult. However, the aforementioned Subminimal NanoFoamer works great with alternatives.