Zentveld’s are a unique coffee roastery, dedicated to sourcing our arabica beans exclusively from Australian growers.
We aim to become the Australian coffee specialists through sourcing premium quality beans from individual Australian estates, and drawing out their fine characteristics in a delicious and award winning range of roasts and blends.
Independently rated as one of the world’s finest coffees, the local beans are grown without harmful pesticides or genetic modification and are distinctively sweet, smooth and low in caffeine.
Rebecca Zentveld has been roasting the fine coffee that is grown in the hills behind Byron Bay since 1993. Her specialty coffee roasting business produces fine espresso blends and plunger roasts to suit a range of palette preferences. For the sweetly smooth Medium Dark Roast and fuller bodied Ernesto Roast and Byron Blend, for plungers, Rebecca's roasting style brings out the distinctive smooth and chocolatey characteristics without any bitterness.
Here are Rebecca's tips for serving fine plunger coffee:
Buy your coffee as you would your vegetables – fresh and often! Freshly roasted beans, freshly ground for the best tasting cup.
Store your coffee in an airtight container.
Buy whole bean coffee rather than ground - invest in a grinder!
A small electric grinder is fine - just shake up & down as you grind, for a more consistent sized grind. (Raw sugar sized grains for plunger coffee.)
Use at least one rounded dessertspoon per cup - 6 spoons per 4 cup sized plunger is an enjoyable brew strength for most. (small 2 cup plunger = 2 rounded dessertspoon)
If you want a weaker coffee, add extra water to your cup. Don’t reduce the amount of coffee as the brew will over extract, have less flavour and body and taste watery.
Use good tasting and freshly boiled water always. Bad tasting water = bad tasting coffee.
Pour water that is just off the boil - wait for the bubbles to die down before pouring. Boiled water scalds the grains, producing bitter tasting coffee.
Stir for a few seconds, before replacing the plunger lid and sieve on top of the brew, to hold in the heat whilst the coffee is brewing for two minutes. This makes a more flavoursome and fuller bodied brew as the coffee grinds come into greater contact with the water, extracting more flavour, quickly.
Slowly push the plunger down through the stirred coffee after the two minutes.
Rinse the plunger parts well and scrub away any coffee oil residue as these stains will make the next brew bitter. Reward your acid-loving plants with the used coffee grains.
Remember: Fresh Fresh Fresh - Freshly roasted, freshly ground, freshly brewed …
Zen and the art of Espresso - the steps to serving great coffee from seed to cup!
Espresso Principles : what makes a fine espresso?
3 key elements : the beans / the machines / the barista skills
Beans
Quality of blend / freshness
Machine
Clean, well serviced machine working at the correct pressure and temperature.
Clean grinder with sharp blades and set to dose correctly.
Barista skills
Crucial to extracting the best pour and ensuring a fine espresso is served.
Barista Skills Development - 3 areas to understand before making espresso coffees
the grind || the pour || and milk frothing.
1. Grinder grind set correctly: check fineness of the grind
dose set correctly: at 7-8 gms per serve.
tamp set correctly: to suit grind. Press and twist down for a polished surface.
Check for clean lugs on the group handle before inserting in group head.
2. The Pour length: 1/3 of a cup. 30 - 45 ml max. for an espresso
(Use this espresso length as the basis for ALL coffees.)
time: 20 - 25 seconds
visual: thick golden orange/brown streaky crema.
The coffee should pour "like honey off the back of a spoon" - not gushing out like water. Stop the pour when it starts to look white. i.e before the coffee tastes bitter from over extracting.
There should be a thick, solid crema on top of the black liquid. Little or no crema = bad pour.
Do not serve a coffee without a fabulous solid, golden crema.
Note - the first 2-4 coffees poured for the day are usually not the best the machine is not hot enough.
3. Milk Frothing
Select size of jug to suit number of coffees making at one time
(suggest 1 litre medium size)
Keep cold in the fridge
1/3rd full only of fresh cold milk
Machine Maintenance & Cleaning
Grinder - empty at the end of day, store extra coffee in airtight container.
Wipe down weekly as oil builds up and goes rancid.
Check regularly for grinder wear. Grains should be of consistent size.
Machine - Keep clean at all times!
A clean machine = a well functioning machine = untainted coffee
Wipe down and rinse around the group heads, steam wand and drip tray all day long.
Back flush anytime with water, using the blind filter basket.
Nightly backflush with the cleaning powder, using half a teaspoon and flushing until all the dirty 'backflushed' water turns clear. Then rinse until no residual bubbles are in the blind filter.
Soak filters and filterholders and removed showerscreens in a jug of hot water with a half teaspoon of espresso cleaner - to keep rancid oils from turning black and clogging up the holes.
PREPARATION
Espresso Machine: should be on and warmed up.
Cups: Cups should be warm.
Jug: should be stainless steel and kept icy cold
Milk: For the best results use very cold milk , warm or hot milk will not froth. 
Generally, the lower the fat content of the milk, the quicker it will froth, while full cream milk tastes better.
Pour fresh cold milk into stainless steel jug. Develop a habit of frothing an amount of milk for the number of coffees required, and not more; also, only fill the jug no more that half-full, to allow for expansion of the froth.
Position the tip of the steam nozzle just below the surface of the milk at the side of the jug (and not touching) furthest from you.
Tilt the jug to one side at about a 45o angle. This will result in a whirlpool motion of the milk.
When the milk commences expanding and you have some foam, slowly move the jug down so that the air is drawn into the milk. Add steam only in small amounts to create tiny bubbles and a velvet foam. As the volume of your milk and foam increases, hold the jug upright and continue to heat the milk with the wand at the bottom of the jug, for a few seconds until the temperature reaches 60oc. If the jug is to hot to touch, you’re boiling the milk, turn the steam off. NB: frothing is achieved by forcing hot air through cold milk, heating (not boiling) the milk in the process.
The froth should be dense with fine bubbles. Slap the bottom of the jug to collapse any large bubbles within the bulk of the milk. Then, immediately clean the steam nozzle with a clean damp cloth.
Make the coffee in a clean and warmed coffee cup, then slowly pour the frothed milk into the centre of the coffee. This will form a marbilisation of milk foam and espresso coffee.
After every drink, open the steam valve to clean the nozzle.
When adding the stream the noise you need to hear is "ssst ssst ssst". If the tip of the nozzle is too far below the surface of the milk, you will hear a howling sound. – an indication that you are scalding the milk.
Left-over milk can be re-steamed if it is immediately refrigerated and if new cold milk is added to regenerate the foam producing proteins. However, avoid repeatedly refrothing milk.
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