# Make coffee like Costa



## Runnerpart2

Hi guys

I've been really into my coffee for year and the past few years I've been working on perfecting my coffee making skill. My favourite drink I've been working on is Hazel Nut Mocha but I seem to be struggling pretty bad when making it at home.

I just can't seem to get the milk as hot or milky as it is in the shop, the coffee seems weak & the coco powder taste isn't right either.

i have a very basic entry level coffee maker DeLonghi EC270 if anyone can give me any tips on improving this to get the right flavours that would be great.


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## Mrboots2u

Hi and welcome to the forum , glad you are enjoying your coffee and are making it at home .

I don't tend to frequent costa anymore as I believe I canmake far better coffee at home









A lot of costas tend to overheat their milk and as a result loose a lot of the sweetness to it , which means adding syrups etc to balance out the dark roasted more bitter coffee and scalding hot milk.

Try getting your steamed milk to say 60-65 c and taste it after . Plenty hot enough but lovely and sweet to boot !!

You can do this using a thermometer or a temp tag . Or if steaming get it to the heat just where the bottom of the jug is too hot to hold .

Give it a try !

Also want beans are you using at home may I ask ....


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## Charliej

There are several answers to this question. Firstly the facetious one of not cleaning your portafilter basket, group head and milk wand ever, use nasty over roasted beans, guess the dose and don't tamp properly and you'll be at authentic Costa standards. Now for the serious version if Costa is the taste you must have then buy and grind Costa beans, use Monin Hazelnut syrup and Galaxy instant hot chocolate powder.

You can however, even with your DeLonghi make far better coffee than Costa do by simply buying a decent grinder Iberital MC2 auto is the generally accepted minimum standard an electric grinder to get an acceptable espresso grind, or you could go down the handgrinder route and buy yourself a Porlex for ~£30. The key is to use the best ingredients you can, freshly roasted, properly rested beans from any of the suppliers on the UK roasters thread will be better than Costa hands down.


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## Daren

This won't help you improve your coffee making but try some decent independent coffee shops - a real eye opener which will make you see Costa are not all that.

You should see that milk doesn't need to be scalding hot (it takes the sweetness out of the milk)


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## DavidBondy

Hi and welcome.

I can't help for two reasons: first I never go to Costa and second I never drink anything other than espresso.

That said, I'm glad to see you here though!!

David


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## Runnerpart2

Charliej said:


> There are several answers to this question. Firstly the facetious one of not cleaning your portafilter basket, group head and milk wand ever, use nasty over roasted beans, guess the dose and don't tamp properly and you'll be at authentic Costa standards. Now for the serious version if Costa is the taste you must have then buy and grind Costa beans, use Monin Hazelnut syrup and Galaxy instant hot chocolate powder.
> 
> You can however, even with your DeLonghi make far better coffee than Costa do by simply buying a decent grinder Iberital MC2 auto is the generally accepted minimum standard an electric grinder to get an acceptable espresso grind, or you could go down the handgrinder route and buy yourself a Porlex for ~£30. The key is to use the best ingredients you can, freshly roasted, properly rested beans from any of the suppliers on the UK roasters thread will be better than Costa hands down.


Hey Guys

Thanks for the responses

the equipment that I use is as followed

* Delonghi EC270 coffee maker

* Metal just with temperature gauge

* Tamper

* Costa Coffee

* I have a range of Coco powders

* Hazel nut syrup

the only reason I started with the taste of Costa as out of all the places there coffee tasted the best.


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## Eyedee

If you tell the members just whereabouts in the country you are situated someone might be able to suggest some independents to visit.

This of course should indicate why most people on here have a particularly low opinion of Costa when it comes to making coffee.

Ian


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## Charliej

Without wishing to sound sarcastic and facetious again there is also the well mentioned by (current and ex Costa employees) of their insistence of running a shot at 20 seconds as well which is never going to be that nice given the volume of liquid they get in that time.


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## Taylor The Latte Boy

It's very unhealthy and a lot more expensive but try using about 1 quarter to a third of double cream and the rest milk/cocoa powder/hazelnut syrup (steam the syrup with the milk) - IMO hot chocolates are so boring and usually tasteless adding cream makes it taste a tonne better, just don't drink one every day.


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## snegger

Charliej said:


> Without wishing to sound sarcastic and facetious again there is also the well mentioned by (current and ex Costa employees) of their insistence of running a shot at 20 seconds as well which is never going to be that nice given the volume of liquid they get in that time.


to be fair to costa, they run 2 shots for 20 seconds not 1.


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## jeebsy

Not Costa but was falling asleep as my desk yesterday and didn't want to leave my desk for too long on my first day so thought i'd try the cafe in work.

Asked for a flat white as per the menu as had a feeling the coffee wouldn't be great and didn't want to risk a straight espresso. Barista said 'we call that an Americano here. It says flat white on the menu but a flat white is 10oz, and an Americano 12oz so most people order that for the bigger drink'.

Full of trepidation I said I still wanted a flat white. The barista was using the advanced technique of having filled and tamped portafilters ready and waiting under each group although they did have a Mythos. Shot was pulled using volumetrics, seemed to take roughly an appropriate time. Barista then grabbed a milk crusted jug and just reheated what was in it with the minimum of care. When she poured the drink she held what little foam there was back and poured very thin looking milk into the cup, then dumped a wee dod of thick foam on the top. It was completely disgusting, barely better than machine coffee.

Reinforces my 'good coffee or no coffee' attitude.


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## Kyle548

jeebsy said:


> Reinforces my 'good coffee or no coffee' attitude.


I don't think I would have drank it.....


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## The Systemic Kid

Portafilters ready dosed - so they would be at the right temp for extraction....not

Good to see Costa's attention to staff training is on the ball!


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## jeebsy

Kyle548 said:


> I don't think I would have drank it.....


The poor beans gave their life for my cup, would have been rude to pour it out


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## Kyle548

By the sound of it, not far away from coming back from the dead to end you.


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## Atilla

I think the problem is that you are trying to emulate something that most Costas can't even replicate accurately from one shop to another.


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## mrmike1

I had some Costa in Bristol the other week and it was actually decent, surprised actually. I also believe in either good coffee or no coffee but was in desperate need of some caffeine.

Nice pull, pre-heated glass, clean pitcher... The barista knew what he was doing

ps First post on coffeeforum.co.uk!


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## Daren

Welcome Mrmike1. How about an into? Start a new thread and tell us all about yourself. All new users welcome (even if they like Costa - yuk!)


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## Scotford

Costa??? Why would anyone want to emulate that???


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## mrmike1

Daren said:


> Welcome Mrmike1. How about an into? Start a new thread and tell us all about yourself. All new users welcome (even if they like Costa - yuk!)


Hi Daren,

The link below is to my introduction page.

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?16238-Manchester-coffee&p=167769#post167769

I little about me


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## Jon

Charliej said:


> Without wishing to sound sarcastic and facetious again there is also the well mentioned by (current and ex Costa employees) of their insistence of running a shot at 20 seconds as well which is never going to be that nice given the volume of liquid they get in that time.


And *I think* they run their Flat White and Cortado at 10s...


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## Mrboots2u

Delicately extracted over 10 crucial seconds .....

Are they using ek43s.....


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## froggystyle

Its funny, wife mentioned this morning why cant i make a drink like costa/crapbucks and the service station machines...

She says it must be easy to let the pour run longer to get a bigger cup of coffee!

I guess she has a point, we all know these machines are rubbish, but how the hell do they get it to taste of strong coffee, whcih it does, but with such a big cup and so much milk in it?

Hope that makes sense!


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## Jon

'Delicately extracted over 10 crucial seconds' Jeez - really?!

Also 'Top 1% of beans in the world' - how can that be true?! I suppose if the volume market for instant and stuff is taken into account it could be, but seems implausible.

What do you make of that video?

If anyone has time to waste I would love to hear someone more knowledgeable than me voiceover this... I have thoughts - but not sure if they're right!


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## Jon

froggystyle said:


> She says it must be easy to let the pour run longer to get a bigger cup of coffee!


A few years back, I went to a local shop near me (where there is no good coffee shop) and asked if they did double or single shots - she said single so I asked for a double as I figured they'd used the double basket and it might be OK...

Well she clicked the button - walked off did something else - came back (in her own time) then clicked the button again using the same basket/puck.

I said 'excuse me, what are you doing?'

She said 'doing a double shot'

I think I tried it at the time...

It was disgusting.


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## Mrboots2u

froggystyle said:


> Its funny, wife mentioned this morning why cant i make a drink like costa/crapbucks and the service station machines...
> 
> She says it must be easy to let the pour run longer to get a bigger cup of coffee!
> 
> I guess she has a point, we all know these machines are rubbish, but how the hell do they get it to taste of strong coffee, whcih it does, but with such a big cup and so much milk in it?
> 
> Hope that makes sense!


They roast very very very dark


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## froggystyle

French roast style?

Would be interested to try some of these beans and then flood it with milk, just to keep wife happy!

My little cup gives me about a double with twice the volume of milk, just right for me i feel, hers gives a double plus half a cow of milk as the cup must be full and she doesnt want to drop down to my size....


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## Kyle548

froggystyle said:


> French roast style?
> 
> Would be interested to try some of these beans and then flood it with milk, just to keep wife happy!
> 
> My little cup gives me about a double with twice the volume of milk, just right for me i feel, hers gives a double plus half a cow of milk as the cup must be full and she doesnt want to drop down to my size....


French roast implies they stopped the roast at a target roast level...


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## shrink

Whereas we all know that Costa roast until the fire alarms tell them to stop!


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## Charliej

I'm sure this is where Costa get their beans from (well at the very least they look like they do):


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## RagingMammoth

Mrboots2u said:


> Delicately extracted over 10 crucial seconds .....
> 
> Are they using ek43s.....


This can't be real...


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## froggystyle

haha feeling the costa love tonight!


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## DavecUK

froggystyle said:


> haha feeling the costa love tonight!


I'm going to take the Balinese view:

It's the original posters fault, because if he had not posted, there would not be any "costa love" happening.









based on the fact that when in Bali many years ago, I was advised not to hire a car..."why" I asked. Gorna, our guide said "because if you have an accident, the courts will always say it's your fault". I asked why and was told "the defence simply makes the argument that you are a visitor in Bali and had you not been driving, the accident wouldn't have happened and so....it must be your fault". Apparently this defence always wins.

So original poster...this is all your fault...how dare you ask a question on this forum


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## Burnzy

I used to love costa.. I think its most peoples main experience of coffee on the high street so people naturally want to emulate it i guess... Where i live it would be a sin to go to costa.. Too many decent independents...

was watching one of the costa "barista's" in tescos the other day... She ground straight into the portafilter and didnt tamp at all... She just whacked it straight on the machine....not really sure how that shot must of turned out!! Always loved the way they dump the shot in the milk too, no love whats so ever... :-/


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## RomanWinter

I had the same problem until I came across Monin bottles. Always take careful consideration when using Monin though!


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## jlarkin

RomanWinter said:


> I had the same problem until I came across Monin bottles. Always take careful consideration when using Monin though!


doesn't even make sense.


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## mrsimba

I went into a Costa (Wyndley - Sutton Coldfield) a while back and was amazed at how the 'barista' (well that's what it said on her badge...) tamped the basket with little to no pressure whilst holding the basket at about 30 degree's off the flat surface on the Mazzer to tamp on!

She then managed with two portafilters both with the same 'guesstimate' dose to pour two shots volumetric dispensed to the same ml one in 16 seconds and the other in 35! All then poured into what looked like a 20oz bucket and it tasted like I'd imagine licking an ashtray to taste!

So yep Costa get a hard time on here but thoroughly well earned from my experience!

I was more saddened by the fact that the otherwise very polite & helpful girl had been let down by the management with no obvious training at all - or none she'd taken in anyway! - and just left to 'get on with it' whilst the punters formed a line!

And then they (Starbucks, Costa, Nero, and about 4 other coffee shops of equal quality wondered why the 'new' local indi espresso bar went straight to number one on trip advisor after 6 months of opening in Sutton and is still at number one 7 months later


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## Fevmeister

its a shame as the costa/charbucks is the laymans idea of great coffee


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