Recap
- Coffee equipment should be soaked in a dedicated coffee cleaning soap at least once per day.
- Cleaning chemicals need to be dosed in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.
- For preheating and ensuring clean-tasting batches, filter baskets/funnels and vacuum flasks need to be rinsed with a reduced-size brew cycle between each batch — approx 25% of your usual batch size.
- Efficiency and quality standards can be tested using a baseline scoresheet. A fresh batch brew can be readied in 2 minutes.
- We recommend you use the grinding and portioning time to rinse the brewer and flask.
- Hand brews are more labour intensive and require around 2 minutes per brew up until the end of the dilution phase.
- Costing needs to reflect the staff cost per portion and ingredient cost.
- Make use of your brew-price calculator to manage sale prices effectively.
Glossary
Coffee-cleaning soap A non-toxic, alkaline cleaning powder used in the backflushing of espresso machine group heads
Ingredient cost The price of the raw materials used in preparing a food or drink
Liquid-retained ratio (LRR) A ratio expressing how much brew liquid remains inside the grinds or held as interstitial liquid; the ratio is usually expressed as millilitres of brew liquid per gram of coffee
Overlapping Where a mechanised or automatic process allows a barista to perform two functions simultaneously; e.g., immediately after the drawdown phase is initiated, a barista can begin to prepare a new brew
pH-raising agent A substance that has the potential to raise the pH of a solution
Staff cost The labour costs in performing a service
Surfactant A ‘surface active agent’ that lowers the surface tension between substances; surfactants are integral to the performance of detergents,
