- Start with a perfect espresso that has a dense golden crema. It's easy once you have mastered the mathematics: 5-8 grams of good quality, super-fresh beans, 25-30 ml of water at 90°C and under 9 bars of pressure. Most importantly, the contact time between beans and water must be no more than 25-30 seconds.
Top with velvety smooth foam made from fresh, fridge-cold milk with plenty of protein in a stainless steel jug with sloping sides - to achieve luscious small bubble foam rather than lousy big bubble foam that tastes thin and watery.
Don't overheat the milk. Going over 70°C changes the proteins and you won't be able to achieve a velvety smooth texture; and you won't be able to drink your cappuccino as soon it is served without burning your mouth.
Swirl the milk before you pour it onto the espresso - to combine the milk and foam and make it easier to pour both from the jug together. You might also need to stop part way through pouring and swirl again.
Pour the milk through one spot in the espresso crema - so it sinks to the bottom of the cup, gets under and combines with the espresso. The blending of a perfect espresso with perfectly foamed milk is the key to a great cappuccino.
Dust with good quality chocolate - and plenty of it. For a truly authentic Italian style cappuccino don't add the chocolate. Yes, Italians like to smell coffee - not chocolate.
Make sure the brown espresso colour stains the milk foam so you can smell and taste espresso though the textured milk - better than smelling hot milk and trying to find the coffee taste under a pile of milk foam.
Distinguish skinny and decaf cappuccinos from a standard - so they don't get mixed up. Dust a standard generously all over, dust a skinny with a light sprinkle and a decaf just on one side.
Serve it in a cup. No mugs - please! A cappuccino, as served in the best places in Italy, is in a smallish cup not much more than 100ml. The reason is a perfect cappuccino is 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk and 1/3 foamed milk. Given a perfect espresso is no more than 30ml, you can work out the rest.
Finally, add some superior and stylish service to turn a perfect cappuccino into an exceptional espresso experience.
Buy Christine Cottrell's Perfect Espresso books
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