How to make a "low cost" cappuccino at home?

FAVORITE COFFEE WITH MILK

Coffee and milk. This combination has worked perfectly since the 17th century. At least this period is reflected in records from Vienna, where in 1653 coffee was served with warm milk and whipped milk foam perched on the surface. It was listed as Wiener Melange in the beverage lists of the time . Less than a hundred years later, coffee with milk, or Café Au Lait, was a staple on breakfast menus in France and not only in Paris.

THE MODERN CAPPUCCINO MADE FROM (UN)MILK

People just love coffee tempered with milk. Nowadays, the classic cow's milk doesn't do much for you. There are more and more cases of people suffering from lactose intolerance. Then there is also a higher percentage of the population who eat avegan or vegetarian diet . Fortunately for them, there are plenty of methods to enjoy coffee with "milk".

ESPRESSO IN A CAFÉ VS. HOME

Whether with animal or plant milk, cappuccino is the coffee we love. The journey to the best starts with good coffee and the perfect espresso. Preparing your espresso at home to be perfectly extracted isn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

It's not just the price that sets a home-brewed espresso apart from one at a coffee shop. It also points to its high professional quality. Or at least it should be. Theimportant difference is the coffee machine and the barista. We assume that the barista's experience and knowledge of coffee preparation is at a higher level than yours. So the coffee he prepares should reflect these qualities of a professional barista. And the second factor is of course the tool used, i.e. a high-performance coffee machine.

MAKING GOOD COFFEE AT HOME

So if you insist on precision perfection in your coffee, you can't help but go for an excellent cappuccino at a good coffee shop. Slight imperfections in extraction do not necessarily mean bad coffee. It's just thatwe don't have the technology, and therefore usually not the experience, to extract the absolute maximum flavours and aromas from our coffee at home. At the same time, to make them all in perfect harmony.

That is why many coffee lovers concentrate on gaining knowledge in alternative ways of preparing coffee. The aids for making filter coffee are not as costly as buying a coffee machine. Yet they are quite identical to those used in coffee shops as well.

CAPPUCCINO EQUIPMENT FOR A FEW HUNDRED

But how do we do it if we want to have a cappuccino at home and not go to a coffee shop? With a little practice, you can get very close to café cappuccinos with a good quality home coffee machine. Of course, even that costs money. If you're looking for a way to make coffee at home with minimal cost and just want asimply good cappuccino just make a small order. On our e-shop you can get everything you need for a home cappuccino under 1000 CZK.

As we wrote above, the basis of every cappuccino is espresso. This admittedly small batch of coffee, is ahighly concentrated coffee extract. It is literally packed with coffee aromas and flavours. At home, you can create a similarly strong coffee base for your cappuccino with the magical Moka pot.

HOME ESPRESSO FROM THE MOKA POT

In 1933, Italian engineer Alfonso Bialleti had this small coffee machine designed for his aluminium processing company. It works quite simply. Physically. The moka pot is made up of three main parts:

• the bottom water container,
• a strainer or basket in the middle of the pot for the ground coffee,
• the top of the pot for the final beverage.

It works by heating thewater in the bottom part. This creates a vacuum. This pushes the hot water out (like water leaking out of a pot when you're cooking). Theonly way the water can escape is through the strainer with the ground coffee. There it manages to extract it on the way and runs higher and higher until it finally leaks out. That is, tothe top of the pot, where all the water - now coffee - is collected and ready to pour into your cups.

A MOCHA TEAPOT FOR A HOMEMADE CAPPUCCINO

More information about this aluminium wonder and the procedure to make coffee in a Moka teapot awaits you in the article: Moka teapot and its preparation. This small coffee maker sells for less than 500 CZK. In our offer you can find it in many versions.

So with the coffee from the Moka pot we have solved the basis of our homemade cappuccino. That leaves us withthe second part of this coffee drink - the whipped milk. In the café, the milk is whipped on a steam nozzle. The durable materials, the design, the power and the size of the boiler are the reasons why the coffee froth in the café will always be at least a little better than the one at home. However, even in thekitchen we can attempt a similar microfoam.

MULTIFUNCTIONAL FRENCH PRESS

From cold and whole milk we need to create creamy and warm frothed milk. In order to fit into the designated "budget", i.e. within a thousand crowns, we purchase a French Press. This is always good to have at home. Whether you're making coffee, tea or just milk froth.

You can buy it for less than 300 Kč. When you consider how many ways it can be used in the home, it's a wonder you don't already have one in your kitchen. Choose from the French Pressrange in the design you like best. So now you have everything you need to whip up some milk.

IF YOU WANT LATTE ART

You may have just discovered that you already own a French Press. Great, so you can invest the money you save in a latte maker, or milk jug. You can make a cappuccino without it, but only thanks to it (and with a little practice, of course) you can create a cappuccino with a picture, i.e. latte art.

HOW TO MAKE A HOMEMADE CAPPUCCINO

Now we come to the expected conclusion and answer to the question from the title of this article: How to make a "low cost" cappuccino at home:

• Make your coffee in a Moka pot.
• Pour it into cappuccinocups.
• Heat the milk to about 65°C.
• Whisk thewarm milk in a French Press by simply moving the plunger up and down. Make sure you don't froth too fast and the milk doesn't escape from the French Press.
• Smooth the foamby polishing, i.e. by twisting the wrist of the hand holding the French Press. You can also help yourself by tapping it on the table to get rid of larger bubbles in the milk. In the best case, transfer the milk to a barista spatula.
• Pour off the thickest foam from the surface of the whipped milk and gradually pour the rest into the prepared coffee in the cup. If you can, form a heart or other image on the surface of the milk.
• Enjoy your homemade cappuccino for just a few pennies!

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR HOME COFFEE PREPARATION

In addition to the French Press , aspecialmilk frother, either manual or automatic ,can be used to froth the milk . With a little practice and a barista pot, you can even achieve coffee that looks like it came from a café thanks to latte art.

For drawing milk into your coffee, it's important to keep an eye on the right density. You can adjust this by both whisking technique, correctly pouring the thickest froth, and by carefully "polishing" the frothed milk before pouring it into the coffee.

HOW TO INFLUENCE THE APPEARANCE OF YOUR CAPPUCCINO

Thecorrect technique for whisking and pouring the milk will influence how your cappuccino looks. The milk you use also has an impact on this. The aforementioned plant milk can certainly also be used at home, but the problem with whipping it is very often the baristas themselves in cafés with professional coffee technology. Therefore, for example, do not expect soy milk to make a cappuccino with swan.

HOW TO INFLUENCE THE TASTE OF YOUR CAPPUCCINO

Inaddition to the type of milk, thetaste of the coffee is determined by the coffee base in the cappuccino, i.e. the coffee from the Moka pot. The simplicity of use and operation of this small coffee maker also makes it impossible to interfere more with the extraction when making coffee. However, even here it is true thatyou can only make good coffee from good beans freshly roasted, just like we roast!