I took a Home Barista course "Brewlution". Here's how it went...

While exploring the local coffee scene I discovered the Teneo Coffee Shop, one of the few "new wave" coffee places in Zagreb. They were offering a three-hour Home Barista course called Brewlution.

The course was rather affordable, costing 100 kn (about $15 for you international readers). It also said it included 200g of one of their single origin coffees, which they usually price at 39 kn. So I figured it was worth a shot.

Since I live some distance from the shop, I arrived a bit early as the shop was closing for regular customers. The shop is a small kiosk. The inside is full of coffee photos, chalkboard-style menu and info about current coffee and courses, and shelves full of coffee gear. This sort of styling, although perhaps popular in some places, is very different from usual cafes in Croatia.

There was total four of us taking the course, plus the coffee shop's owner, a guy named Christian. He prepared some of the gear we were going to use, and then - as we started the course - he started talking about the coffee: its' history, legends and myths, how it's cultivated, grown, processed etc. The whole story. We had questions, they got answered. To be honest, I already knew most of that since I spent a lot of time reading stuff about coffee (including the stuff he posted), but there were new informations. He also included some criticisms about most local cafes, and why the coffee they serve is far from optimal.

This took about an hour and a half, and then we moved to the practical part. First was the espresso machine - how to pull a good shot of espresso using the coffee shop's Gaggia machine. All of us tried filling the portafilter, tamping and pulling a shot. Of course, we would drink our coffee. Mine ended up slightly too runny, but still better than I got served in most bars - although I would primarily attribute that to the well-cleaned machine and good coffee. Perhaps important to note: this was purely an espresso lesson, we didn't touch the milk, steam wand or the maintenance of the espresso machine beyond portafilter cleaning (that's part of another course).

We didn't try to make other types of coffee - instead, we would just observe how Christian made them, and all of them were made using the same beans - the blend that was currently sold in the shop. Second coffee that was demonstrated was Turkish coffee, the default home-made coffee around these parts. We prepared it using the traditional gear (that few people here have and use). It was prepared slightly differently than I usually do it, and as a result was somewhat stronger and creamier-tasting.

The third method was pretty much unknown in these parts: Hario V60 pour-over (manual filter coffee). Making a coffee in it looked interesting, but a bit technical (pouring in circles using a gooseneck kettle), but the end result was delicious and tea-like clear. Since the only filter coffee I had previously was from machines, this was an amazing improvement.

By this time, espressos already kicked in and most of us were starting to feel high on caffeine, energetic and elated. That's probably why I forgot to take a photo of the next method we tried - French Press. To make up for it, I wrote instructions on using it in my previous post - since I also have it and enjoy coffee from it :). The one used on course was also from Hario, and the coffee - while not as clear and presentable as from V60 - had a nice and rich taste. This was probably my favorite coffee this evening.

This was followed up by Aerobie Aeropress coffee. We had two, actually, to demonstrate various ways of brewing it. The first coffee ended up sort of similar to V60, though maybe a bit towards the result we got with French Press. The second method was with more coffee, less water, finer grind and less immersion time. The coffee from that was totally different - closer in taste and texture to espresso than to previous brew from the same device. This was quite impressive.

The final method used was the Vietnamese filter. It's a pourover device - however, the coffee we got from it was closer to the French Press than to V60. It was also a bit more bitter. Supposedly, it's typically drunk with sweet, condensed milk but we didn't have any at hand so we tried it with normal milk.

This concluded our coffee adventure, which stretched for an extra 45 minutes. It was also supposed to include moka pot lessons, but unfortunately Christian forgot to bring one. We got 200g of the same blend we used on course (not single origin as was advertised - Christian explained that the coffee shop typically has only one coffee that is fresh and used for everything, and that rotates - currently, the blend is what's fresh). At that price, I'd certainly recommend it to everyone interested.

How to use a French Press to make coffee

French Press is a wonderful thing. It's cheap, easy and makes wonderful coffee. It's my preferred coffee maker. It produces coffee that is (mostly) mechanically filtered, and rich in taste and flavor.

Here's how you can make the coffee in it.

Step 1: open the French press and pour in some hot water to pre-heat it. Ditch the water.

Step 2: add coffee.

Step 3: pour in enough water to cover it and let it "bloom" for a bit.

Step 4: pour water almost to the top and stir.

Step 5: close the French Press, with the plunger up high. Let it brew for 4 minutes.

Step 6: depress the plunger gently and slowly. Pour coffee out of the French Press and enjoy (don't forget to clean the press)

Regarding coffee: it's best if it's ground freshly and coarsely. I usually put 1 heaping teaspoon per dL of water, I know how much coffee I like. If you have a scale and want to weigh your coffee, I've heard weight ratios between 1:10 and 1:20 used. How much you use should probably vary according to the coffee bean used, coarseness of the grind, your tastes and other factors. Experiment! It's delicious :)

I recommend freshly-roasted beans from your local coffee shop... if you have these sorts of establishment nearby, or if you're willing to order online - these will give you the best taste.

If you're stuck without a grinder (or don't intend to get one at this moment), get yourself a coffee ground to French Press coarseness. Or, failing that, filter coffee coarseness. Supermarket brands are typically below independent coffee roasters when it comes to quality.

Out of cheap Croatian pre-ground brands, I've had relatively good results with Franck's 100% Arabica. It's just slightly more expensive than most cheap coffees, and produces a tastier brew than other coffees near its' price point. However, some grounds do pass through the mesh filter...

Besides making coffee, French Press is a very versatile tool that can be used for other things as well: making tea, foaming milk, draining stuff etc. For those of you asking where to get the French Press: if you're in Croatia (where this item is relatively unknown at homes), check out Muller or IKEA. Otherwise, you might want to consider ordering online.

Coffee culture in Croatia

Note: I originally posted this on Reddit's /r/Coffee. This is an edited and expanded version.

Coffee culture in Croatia would be considered rather strange by others who are not from the region. We have a mix of Italian espresso culture (specially strong on the coast), Austrian coffeehouse culture (visible in how our caffes are organized), and Turkish coffee culture (especially at home).

First of all, we have no coffee chains to speak off - the only one being McCafé, and it survives only because it's attached to McDonald's. No Starbucks. We had Costa Coffee, but it failed after a few years.

But we have an independant coffee shop on every corner. In a five-minute circle around my workplace, there's around 30 of them. No food is served there, but alcohol usually is. Similar to Italy, you can get an espresso, macchiato (small and large, with the small one being in an espresso cup), cappuccino, and "white coffee" which has much more milk. Cups are typically small, usually 1 dL or smaller. Unlike in Italy, we tend to drink our coffee very slowly (20 min - 1 h or more) and socially... we drink it with water on side (usually comes free), and usually with friends. "Let's go out for a coffee" is a typical way of saying "let's hang out and talk".

Coffee quality in a cafe can vary from awesome to horrible, depending on skilled barristas/waiters (they're typically one and the same). Some place great emphasis on the quality of their coffee, but others place way more emphasis on just being a popular place to hang out, and people still drink their coffee just because the place is trendy, well decorated or because that's where their friends go to.

There is a small artisan coffee scene, limited to a few coffee shops. Americans usually call it "third wave", but that doesn't really apply to Croatia since our coffee history is very differnt from American first and second waves as they're described. Around here, it has no official name but it's sometimes described as "new wave" or as "those who actually know stuff about proper coffee".

Take-out coffee is rare, and you usually won't find it in cafes but in bakeries or kiosks. It's rarely good, and sometimes it's instant stuff. But sometimes you can get surprized by a well-maintained Lavazza superauto that actually makes better coffee than you'll get in some of the posh cafes.

The most popular local pre-ground blend

At home, the most popular coffee is Turkish. Stores are full of pre-ground Turkish coffee - apart from instant, it's the only one which you're guaranteed to find in any store. To most people over here, the producer is more important than bean origin, and they're usually arabica/robusta mixes, dark roasts. Minas taste is very popular - that's not usually considered quality coffee, but people around here like it because it's cheap and it's what they were getting used to for the past half century or more.

The turkish coffee pot is called "džezva" around this parts (pronounced similar to Turkish word for it - "cezve"). Very few of them are fancy, tiny copper ones - most of them are larger, cheaper and more practical stainless or enameled steel ones. In a pinch (or when cooking for a large number of people, or when camping), we can also make a coffee in a large pot. This is how we usually prepare it:

• pour water
• add sugar per taste (since it can be sweetened after, if you're cooking for multiple people you always sweeten it according to the tastes of person who wants least sweet coffee - or no sugar at all, if someone prefers unsweetened)
• add a single heaping teaspoon of coffee for every cup
• put on stove and wait... don't take your eyes off it, because it will pick the moment you do to boil over :)
• when the coffee "raises" take it off and wait a minute before pouring into cups
• add any additional sugar or milk to taste (some consider milk to be sacrilege in a Turkish coffee)

I prepare it a bit differently though, I use electrical kettle to bring the water to boil. Much faster results :) Although, it's probably not best to do it that way if you have decent coffee. Then stick to the instructions.

Filter coffee (drip) is very rare. Manual stuff was never known. Machines were sort of popular back in 80's and 90's as a status symbol, but nowadays it's very rare. The novelty of drip machines wore off, filters were an extra cost and people weren't usually fans of the filter coffee taste which was often burned, badly extracted and from the bad coffee in the first place. Still, a small selection of machines are often sold, as well as a few preground coffee brands.

Instant coffee rose in popularity in the 2000s and captured a large part of the market - especially former Turkish or filter drinkers. It's more expensive than many Turkish blends, and as a result it's more of a status symbol (though highest status symbols are probably pod and espresso machines - in the eyes of the general population).

Moka pots are somewhat rare in the continental Croatia, they're more of a thing down by the coast. Everything else is virtually unknown and unused (we got a French press as a gift for Christmas and we love it - though it's pretty much unknown piece of gear around these parts).

That's basically it... hope you found it informative, if you have any questions, feel free to ask :)

Welcome to IFLCoffee!

Welcome to I Freaking Love Coffee!

I'm a coffee fan from Zagreb, Croatia. I'm not the most well-learned coffee fan around, nor the most pretentious, nor the one with most developed tastebuds, nor do I run a coffee business. I just happen to love coffee, and I'm hyped enough to write about it.

This is what got ME started on a coffee journey.
A cheap enameled Turkish coffee pot.
How about you? What got YOU started?

There's plenty of resources about coffee around. Many of them are in English. A lot of them are in Croatian too. Few of them are from Croats, but written in English. Hey, that's where I can come in :) Maybe I can write something that you'll find interesting and useful. Maybe not. Well, I'll see my traffic in a few months.

In the meanwhile, this blog will also be a personal journey of sorts. I will write about coffee, preparations, local scene and customs, gear and much more. I will most probably learn new things and change my opinions as time goes on. And while we're at that I'd like to ask you something:

Leave comments below. Ask questions. Correct me. Give me new info. Engage in discussions.

Thank you. Now, let's have a cup...