How to Handle Clumped Coffee Powder? Is Coffee Powder Sticking to Walls Due to Static Normal? How to Eliminate Air Bubbles in Latte Art Milk Foam?

The Mystery of Coffee Shop "Table Tapping" Ritual

Have you ever noticed that when baristas prepare certain drinks, they often tap something against the counter, creating a "Duang Duang Duang" sound, as if performing some kind of ritual that makes the coffee taste better?

In fact, these actions are indeed intended to make coffee taste better. However, when the movements are too forceful, they can disturb people nearby. So, FrontStreet Coffee would like to share why baristas do this and offer some proper solutions!

Reason 1 for Table Tapping: Static Electricity

As autumn and winter approach, these tapping sounds become more frequent, especially when making pour-over coffee. The drier weather makes coffee grounds more prone to static electricity due to friction. Static electricity not only causes finer coffee particles to clump together, creating extraction obstacles, but also makes coffee grounds stick to the container holding them. Therefore, baristas tap to dislodge coffee grounds that are either clumped together or stuck to container walls.

The darker the coffee roast, the stronger the static attraction, requiring more time and frequent tapping to dislodge the coffee grounds, which can indeed affect those nearby. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee would like to present a solution here—one we often mention—the use of RDT!

RDT (Ross Droplet Technique) is a static elimination method proposed by David Ross. This method is quite simple: since dryness causes static electricity that leads to coffee grounds clumping and sticking together, we can solve this problem at its source. By spraying a tiny amount of water on coffee beans before grinding, we can address the dryness issue, making static electricity less likely to occur. However, when implementing this method, it's best to use a tool that can mist water to ensure the amount is controlled. Too much water can negatively affect the flavor of coffee beans and the grinder's burrs. Therefore, the water amount must be minimal. Alternatively, if you prefer not to add water, you can place something soft where you tap, such as a cloth or rubber mat on the table.

Reason 2 for Table Tapping: Eliminating Bubbles

Another situation that causes baristas to tap tables is when making hot milk coffee with poorly frothed milk! When we don't use the correct technique or make mistakes during the milk frothing process, leaving many large bubbles on the surface, most baristas will tap the pitcher to "pop" these bubbles. This action has a professional term called "pitcher tapping."

Compared to other methods, pitcher tapping can quickly eliminate large surface bubbles. However, it also has significant negative effects! Because the tapping force is often quite strong, it accelerates the separation of foam and milk. If not used immediately, this will cause the foam to lose fluidity quickly due to separation, making it less suitable for latte art. (Exaggerated example ↓)

Of course, not just pitcher tapping, but pouring between pitchers (pouring milk foam from one pitcher to another) has a similar effect. Although it can also eliminate foam, it similarly accelerates the separation of milk and foam. However, unlike pitcher tapping, it doesn't create much noise. So, when we don't want to disturb others and don't mind the extra work (washing one more pitcher), using the pouring method to eliminate foam is an excellent choice!

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473