So ever since the SkillsFuture credits have been sitting in my account for the longest time ever, I have been bugging the friend to attend a barista course and finally, we got down to it. Or more like she got down to it and I could finally attend the course! She actually did the whole thing for me and all I need to do is sign up for a SCA learner’s account and be there on that day. The course runs from 9.30am to 4.30pm and it covers both theory and practical and of course there is a practical assessment at the end of the day with a theory exam that would be need be taken online as well

The course is conducted by Darren Chang who is the owner of Smitten Coffee and also a coffee roaster and trainer. The class is kept small to 4 pax and being held at their roastery at Defu lane

First, a cup of coffee to start the day! I secretly told the friend if this cup of coffee doesn’t taste good, we can run off already. lol

And since this post continues, it pretty much sums up how the coffee tastes. The theory wasn’t that dry and was pretty engaging cos everyone had many questions to ask. You would learn about the varietal of beans, processing, extraction, factors affecting the grind etc. And soon half the day was gone

By the time we were back from lunch, it was time to get down to our hands

Coffee is precise. So the scale is very important. Measure the portafilter and make sure it’s scaled down to 0 and then you can move on to grind the coffee

Me trying a hand at it

The magic number here? 19g of powder! Well +/- a little is okay

If you are looking for something to clean the the grinder burrs, you can get this grinder clean to remove the build up of coffee residue and coffee odours #notadvertising

Anyway moving on to tamping. An even tamp is important to ensure the depth is the same throughout so that water can pass through evenly and maximises the most of the coffee beans

And here we have a beautiful cup of espresso. I was so excited I broke a cup

Moving on to frothing. I find that frothing is the hardest cos you need to have the perfect foam and temperature. We were taught to get the temperature right by our touch and clearly all of us had very thin skin

Using soap as trial first before we move on to frothing the milk. Will forever remember 1cm off centre, 1cm below centre and then you move to surface to get the foam and move back down for the swirl

You also learnt how to do a simple heart latte art but I was so focused so there’s no pictures here. Just imagine okay? Simple. Heart. Art

And so when we were all done learning, it was time for assessment! You practically just re-do all that you have learnt in class. I think we all passed? HA

We had a look at their roastery too which was very clean and simple. Just this big guy here that does all the work and then they will proceed to pack and distribute the coffee beans

So we shamelessly had a pack (lol) and since I had no machine at home, I was given some nespresso compatible capsules which honestly tasted very good!

I thought the course was pretty fun. I mean, first you need to enjoy drinking coffee. And half of me is considering getting an espresso machine. The trainer said well, if you had the budget you can consider Rocket coffee machine. I took a look at it and it’s really gorgeous looking. So I’m still thinking. Who knows if one day I’m out of job I might be a part-time barista. And, cannot let the skillsfuture credits go to waste right! 😀