au lait. [tapping milk pitcher] >> Small soy latte. Thank you.

>> My name is Jonathan Rubenstein, I own Joe in New York City. [flipper, steaming] Joe

has five locations in Manhattan and our primary focus is to treat coffee as a culinary art.

>> Will Gross, barista: The first step in the process is dosing which is actually getting

the coffee into the portafilter….

>> When we opened our first location in 2003 New York didn’t really have an artisan coffee

bar, they had Starbucks, they had deli coffee, they had a few people that were really trying

it, but no one had really treated coffee as a culinary art….

>> …tamping is a two-part process. There’s a ten pound and a little knock to get the

coffee off the sides and then a thirty pound…

>> Espresso is a very tricky thing to make correctly and there’s a lot of theory and

lot of science behind it…there are a whole set of variables, there are steps that have

to be followed very exactly.

>> This is the espresso.

[141 Waverly Place, New York, 10014, Greenwich Village café] >> Gabrielle Rubenstein: The

important thing as far as the beans is concerned is the freshness of the beans so we get our

beans two or three beans a week and when we call and make an order they don’t just take

the bag that’s already been roasted that’s been sitting on the shelf they take the green

beans, they roast them in small, small batches, they bag them, they send them the same day.

>> …and there’s certain things you want to look for when you’re pulling a shot of

espresso…flow rate, which is the speed at which the espresso is flowing. The time at

which it drops…it should drop at around six seconds and then it should run (Espresso

to go!) then it should run to about 22 to 26 or 27 seconds.

>> Our baristas will go through about a month of training just pulling espresso shots before

they even touch or talk about milk.

>> When you’re steaming the milk it’s important to focus on the consistency for

the drink you’re making depending on whether it’s a cappuccino or a latte so for the

latte it’s going to be more wet in consistency and for a cappuccino it’s going to be more

dry….

>> This is a small double cappuccino.

>> For someone to be a great barista they really have to understand food and coffee

and wine – they really have to be excited about taste because if they’re not someone

who really understands and enjoys and is passionate about food and taste they’re never going

to really understand why it’s important and how it’s so important to make great

espresso.

>> Non-fat cappuccino.

>> So with a latte you’re not going to get too much air at the surface but you want this

whirlpool effect to start pretty much immediately.

>> You can get an espresso, or a latte, or a cappuccino almost anywhere but that’s

a very different product than we think we’re serving. Ours is all about the quality of

the coffee beans, the quality of the milk, the training of the baristas and obviously

great equipment.

>> You wanna get all the bubbles out from the espresso and the milk so you have a smooth

consistency in both. The most important thing to do when pouring a latte is to really tip

the pitcher…

>> Unless you have all those elements together it’s not really possible to get what we

call a beautiful, artisan, hand-crafted espresso drink.

>> That’s a large latte.