Presso America

Eggnog Chai Tea Latte
words and pictures Wendy Robinson

Eggnog Chai Tea Latte

I’ve had my Presso for two months. While I have enjoyed every delicious espresso and Americano I’ve made with it, I wanted to experiment a little bit and try something different.

With that in mind I picked up a bag of loose leaf Chai Tea from a local tea shop, keen to put the Presso to a new test…

I’m no barista and certainly have never made tea any way outside of the usual steeping a bag in a cup. When I use the steeping method I either remove the bag too soon and get weak tea or I forget the bag in the cup and end up with bitter tea. It occurred to me that if I ground up the loose leaf tea with a coffee grinder just like I would with espresso beans, I might just be able to press out Concentrated Chai from the Presso and add hot water for a good flavoured cup of tea. I’m happy to say that after some trial and error, I managed to do just that.

Now as I never like to do anything “ordinary” if there’s possibly a more exciting way, I thought I’d take it a step further and introduce some egg nog into the mix to add a little flavour and holiday spirit. So, if you’re an egg nog fan like I am, you’ll love this. If you’re not, well, I am sure you could do similar using milk or just add hot water to your chai for regular tea.

How To:

1) Find a good quality loose leaf chai tea blend. I like the Yerba Mate for it’s lack of caffeine. I also find it less bitter than black tea.

2) Grind up your tea in a conventional coffee grinder. This was one of the original attempts. I later found that a more concentrated flavour could be achieved with a finer grind (just like coffee), but this still made for a tasty drink.

3) fill the portafilter to the “single shot” line and pack it down with the tamper. Don’t pack it down too hard though as that just causes water absorption and seals the portafilter basket, causing a big mess when you remove it. Just make it flat and even. The top should sit just below the single shot line.

4) Time for the eggnog! I filled my cup about 1/3 before pressing the shot of chai.

5) Now time to add some hot water. I filled it to about here:

6) Operate the Presso like you would for an espresso. Slowly lift the arms up and when the water is released from the top resevoir, start pressing down with even pressure on both arms. I have found with tea that you need to press for a bit, then release some air by letting go and then press again. Repeat until all the water has filtered through the grounds. You’ll want to wait a little bit and then do one last press to get the extra moisture (and the most concentrated mix) out.
What you get as a result is a very pretty layer of chai on top of the egg nog as shown:

7) I think that much concentrated egg nog and chai would be a good recipe for a stomach ache, so I top the cup up to almost the top with boiling water to lighten it up a bit (also keeps the drink hot).

Now just stir with a spoon and voila! A delicious and spicy egg nog chai latte made in your own home with your Presso.

For a spicier and less of a thick drink, fill the cup 1/4 full with egg nog and grind your chai almost to powder, then top up with hot water to the 3/4 mark.

This was so fun and with such a good result that I can’t wait to try other tea and mix combinations.

We Presso folk tend to be pretty simple, but there are certain things that we think are really important in making a great cup of coffee.

Ask any coffee lover and they will tell you, the fresher the grind the better the coffee. If you really want to take your coffee making seriously you must invest in a grinder so that you can grind your own coffee at home. Do you need the most expensive one on the market? Probably not. But it’s a great idea to invest in a conical burr style grinder. This kind of grinder won’t heat the beans up while it grinds the coffee, which means the flavour of the coffee isn’t compromised. You can get manual or electric burr grinders (manual grinders are great for those times when you are off the grid with your Presso).

Grinding your own coffee is all about experimentation. Try altering the coarseness of your grind. Traditionally, you want a finer grind for espresso but you want to make sure that it’s not too fine. If when you begin to press the Presso arms down you feel a tremendous amount of pressure and no liquid is coming through the portafilter, then you know you have gone too fine.  If the coffee starts pouring through the filter at warp speed, you’ve probably ground your coffee a bit too course.

At Presso headquarters, after a little bit of playing around, we have found the perfect grind from our machine. Our grinder produces that perfect consistency when it is set on a fairly course setting. Who woulda thunk?

Another important aspect of your grind, is how you tamp. Fill your portafilter with your desired amount of coffee, and then using the tamper press down on the coffee (once again, you will have to experiment with your tamp- you need to find a level of strength somewhere between dainty and He-Man). It’s important to keep the portafilter level when you tamp-resting it on a counter top usually helps. Some people go as far as tamping on a scale to make sure they are applying the correct amount of pressure (usually around 30 lbs), but after some experimentation you will know what works best for you and your Presso.

Grind at home, play around with your technique, and start drinking some really delicious coffee!