Vivace founder David Schomer sent this essay to CHS. It’s a meditation on the art of coffee — with a twist.
Macchiato for You?
By David Schomer
When you order I am listening, intently. Is this a time for friendly banter or a little peace and quiet for you?…after all maybe you have not had coffee yet. Is there a special request like not too hot or no foam? And no one wants to be chatted up before coffee so I am very attuned to your mood. For macchiato I grab a small porcelain cup and fill 1/3 with hot water.
Next I am turning on the grinder and getting a look at the consistency of the grind, is it cakey? Do I have a little cling going on? The grinder goes for about 11 seconds to produce 20g of fresh powder, and during that time I grab the .33 L pitcher and put about 100ml of fresh milk into it.
I grab the porta-filter from the machine and give the coffee basket a quick wipe with a cotton rag on the way to the grinder, dose the coffee into it, and distribute the lumps and channels out of the fluff before packing firmly. The texture of the ground coffee is a sticky powder with subtle lumps and channels in it. To get a good shot it is quickly massaged and measured. Then I pack it with 30 pounds pressure and a nice flourish of the tamper. Pack, tap, pack…
Latte art is silky foams doing what they want to do, flow into the cup, with a little help from me. It takes years to master.
Before I lock the porta-filter into the machine I turn on the pump briefly to heat the group head. I know that if some heat is lost bringing the group head up to temperature the shot will not be as sweet. After the pre-heating cycle the porta-filter is put into the group head and brewing begins. On the tricked-out Nuova Simonelli T3 machines we use I know the first drops must appear between 8 and 9 seconds after the pump is turned on for a really fine shot. As the elixir oozes out I am steaming the wee bit of milk to a perfect chiffon, a micro bubble texture that will not separate for minutes in the cup. I’m proud of that…it took years to be able to texture micro-quantities of milk but I know if I steam the same milk twice it will not be silky or sweet. And a professional does not waste anything on bar.
I’m watching the espresso shot very closely while steaming milk because I know how it looks when it is perfect. If it flows a bit too quickly into the cup, say 23 seconds to hit our 23 ml (about 7/8th of an ounce) shot volume, the coffee will be sour/astringent. If the espresso flows too slowly and takes 27 seconds to hit 24 ml I know the shot may be a bit hollow with a little too much caffeine. I control this all morning with small adjustments to the fineness of the grind. And in between, in the sweet spot of perfect flow, lie the varietal flavors, chocolate/umami and dark cherry from the Ethiopian, hoppy notes from the Brazil, and salted caramel from the Malabar.
To end the brewing cycle the espresso is whisked away and the pump is turned off for one second to relieve pressure, the porta-filter is removed, and the pump is turned back on for 5 seconds to clear spent coffee and oils out of the machine. If this does not happen the machine gets dirty and the espresso will develop a rancid flavor within 40 minutes of operation and shots are ruined until detergent cleaning is done.
Up to the final counter and I pour the textured milk into the red-brown crema, effortlessly forming a beautiful pattern. Latte art is silky foams doing what they want to do, flow into the cup, with a little help from me. It takes years to master. Lately I have been favoring the concentric heart pattern for the finish.
And then I get a peek at you to try to see if you are pleased with my art, it is very important to me that you are happy. Start to finish your macchiato is hand made especially for you, in about 75 seconds. I may do this 400 times in my six-hour shift. It took me years to master the art, and I am still learning, and hope to always be learning more about this exotic art. I am your Seattle artisan barista and I am being priced out of our city.
Beautiful, elegant, and thoughtful.
I second Julie’s thoughts. But the last line is intriguing….how exactly are you being “priced out” of Seattle?
Maybe he can’t afford the cost of housing?
I drink Vivace Dolce daily poured from my Rancillio Stella machine. I just got back from Rome and Naples. They pour a 1 sip shot for about a dollar. The best is (almost, room for discussion) as good as Seattle pours. How much is a shot of espresso in this town these days? How do they do it and whats our problem? To Vivace’s credit, they have always been the last to raise prices.
@john, the problem is seattle is outrageously expensive, rent, utitilities, labor cost (yes, the 15$/hr doesn’t help really small businesses with small tickets like a coffee shop), in Italy rent is lower, ingredients are not crazy expensive, but also the baristas don’t get tipped out usually because it’s a profession. In a few years either you should get used to paying 4-5$ for a macchiato (lattes might be 7-8) or it’ll become a land filled with Starbucks, the only ones who can afford to stay in business.
It would be sad if Seattle were to lose Vivace. True artists in the industry.
Please put the $ sign before the number. $15/hour.
really?
I actually prefer the dollar sign behind the number$
Beautifully written article! Confused about some math at the end. Says does it about 400 times and it takes 75 seconds each. All in a 6 hour shift. 400 x 1.25 minutes = 500 minutes (assuming not stopping to do anything else – taking money, etc.). But only 360 minutes in 6 hours. Still intricate and a lot of work, but I don’t think 400 times makes sense. I guess it was a poetic exaggeration?
You’re assuming no multi-tasking- machine has multiple groups, one can steam more than one drink at a time and in most cases a very busy cafe will have one person steaming milk and pouring drinks while another takes orders and pull shots.
Thanks for explaining. It read as one at a time as it required so much attention. Though considering that he would sometimes need to make other drinks that don’t have the same process, I still think it may be an exaggeration. If not, then baristas should make more money. Or skip the art and tell people to imagine it.
Mr. Schomer is not getting priced out, he is writing from the perspective of your local Baristas.
The demographic of Capitol Hill is changing and NOT for the better if you’re in the service industry. The people moving in are NOT tipping (or tipping well) and are driving the rents up. This is a double whammy. We can argue all day about rent control, barista as a career choice, or the ethics of tipping, but the point is, artisnal companies like Vivace will go bye bye when you’ve got a bunch of people who won’t tip. Maybe not bye bye as in out of business, but nobody will be able to produce the quality when 10 year veteran employees who care a lot about what they do are replaced by an ever rotating group of 15 year olds whose parents made them get a job. This isn’t just Vivace, this is most of the local eat/drink/snack places who rely on tips.
It has always blown me away that a bartender opens a bottle of beer and gets a $1 tip, but a barista who makes a latte with enough finesse to produce latte art gets a big ZERO in the tip line.
That is unfair. Maybe it’s because bartenders in general seem like they could beat the crap out of people as compared with baristas.