ounces (60 ml) espresso, freshly brewed

Procedure

. Open the steam nozzle of your espresso machine to clear any condensed water.

. Create a good mousse on the cold milk in a small pitcher, keeping the steam nozzle just

below the surface of the milk. Spoon the frothy mousse into a tall, heat-resistant glass. Froth more

milk and add to the glass. Continue frothing until you have about a quarter glass-full of mousse.

Now, with the nozzle deep down in the milk, steam it until very hot (150°to 170°F or 66°to 77°C),

and slowly pour into the glass down the side without disturbing the froth.

3. Pour the freshly-brewed shot of espresso slowly into the glass down the side. The milk

and espresso form two separate layers. Serve as is, or with an optional dusting of cinnamon or

chocolate shavings over the froth.

Serves 1.

Proper steaming takes some skill that you can acquire with a little practice. The thick

steamed milk foam they properly call the mousse. No-fat or low-fat milk steam the best and for

good frothing, the milk should be very cold, just above freezing. The lower the fat content of the

milk, the frothier the mousse it will build because fat interferes with the frothing process. Non-fat

milk produces a stiff, dry mousse while low-fat milk a smoother, longer-lasting one.

Other forms of coffee

Many people who love coffee have become concerned about the detrimental effects of

caffeine. The answer is decaffeinated coffee. Processors use two techniques to extract the caffeine.

The first technique, using a solvent, is inexpensive and simple, but minor residual amounts of

solvent remain in the coffee beans that bothers consumer advocates. And it may also bother you if

you drink a lot of decaffeinated coffee. No one knows its long-term effect on the body.

The other technique is the Swiss water process, which is an involved and expensive method,

using plain water as solvent. Repeated soaking and draining of the green coffee beans is effective to

remove both the caffeine and some of the flavor compounds but there is no residual chemicals

remaining, only the flavor suffers a little.

When you remove caffeine, you do lose some flavor with any method but coffee roasting

and decaffeination have become such a science that modern decaffeinated coffees often taste nearly

as good as their regular counterparts.

If you are concerned about caffeine, and also about the safety of the decaffeination process,

a compromise may be a solution. Try blending regular and decaffeinated coffees at any ratio you

feel is right for you.

Flavored coffees have also became popular, though serious coffee drinkers much prefer their

coffee unadulterated. The roasters add liquid flavorings to the beans during or right after roasting.

The ideal temperature to lock flavorings into the coffee beans is around 100°F (38°C). Because of

their higher cost, generally they don’t use natural flavorings. The imitation flavorings are of two

types:

. Nature-identical, which is synthetically produced chemical with the same composition as

natural flavors.

. Artificial, chemicals that mimic natural flavors but having different chemical

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