Breakfast News
Get the best out of 4W Café
To help guide you through 4W Café, here is the running order for the separate food service
areas:
- 8am Grab & Go counter opens for bacon butties, hot drinks and cold counter foods
- 9am Café Lounge counter opens for toasties, panini, soup and pastries
- 12 – 2 pm Hot dish of the day, along with jacket potatoes, served from the Grab & Go counter
- 5pm Café Lounge counter closes
- 7pm 4W Café closes
Bacon Butties on Campus
For a quick comparison, here’s what Hospitality at Bath offers in the way of the great British
bacon butty across campus:
- 4W Café – Bacon roll £1.50 (or £2.40 with Americano takeaway)
- Claverton Rooms – Bacon roll with any large hot drink £2.60
- Blues Café – Bacon roll £2
The Perfect Cup of Coffee
What makes a good cup of coffee when drinking Tiki coffee from 4W, Claverton Rooms and Blues
Café?
Water: 9 bar = 132 PSI 88-92°C hot water Coffee dosage: Single = 7-9 gms Double = 16-18 gms
Fluid levels: Single shot = 30ml Double shot = 60ml
Time: 22-28 seconds
If this is all correct then the espresso is on its way to achieving ABC - Aroma, Body, Crema A
– Aroma.
A. The aroma is developed through roasting, grinding and extraction. Espresso aroma is
complex and can be made up of over 800 components.
B. The body needs to feel quite heavy in your mouth.
C. The Crema is the lighter coloured layer that sits on top of your espresso. It is a
foam of tiny bubbles made from the oils extracted from the coffee beans.
In an ideal world, creating the perfect espresso can be split into 12 steps:
- Unlock the portafilter from the Group (during working hours these should always be locked into position to keep warm)
- Briefly flush the Group by pressing a brew button
- Ensure the portafilter is clean by removing any old coffee grounds, rinsing with hot water and dry
- Place the clean, dry portafilter under the grinder dispenser and dose with freshly ground coffee (1 flick of the doser handle for a single shot; 2 flicks for a double)
- Even out the coffee surface in the portafilter by tapping the sides
- Tamp the portafilter firmly
- Tap the sides of the portafilter once more to redisperse the tamped coffee
- Tamp a second time with slightly more force - ideally 40 psi (generally achieved by pushing down firmly with the hand you don't use for writing). As you do this, "twist" the portafilter under the tamp
- Brush off the tamp to remove any coffee, and also brush the portafilter rim
- Carefully lock the portafilter into the Group
- Place the espresso cup under the brew spout(s) of the portafilter
- Press the appropriate brew button to brew the espresso shot into the cup
