What is the difference between pre-fusion and stirring fusion of coffee pulled flowers? Beginners 'latte pulling tips!

Just like steaming hand-brewed coffee, during the process of pulling coffee flowers, there is also an important preparatory action similar to steaming! What is it? That's right, it's-integration. The so-called fusion (fusion in pulling flowers) means that we will use part of the milk to mix it with coffee in advance before the formal drawing of flowers. The purpose is to integrate milk and coffee more fully, maintain a consistent taste, and raise the liquid level for easy drawing. Although it may seem simple, you should never underestimate this step of integration, because the quality of integration will be directly linked to the overall quality of the coffee.

High-quality fusion can make the drawing pattern cleaner and more beautiful, and at the same time, the taste of the coffee can be consistent. Every bite will be a balanced experience in which coffee and milk complement each other; if the fusion quality is low, it will lead to messy background of the pattern., or layered taste! As it is often mentioned on the front street, drinking it in one gulp first has the bitterness of concentrated oil, and then it has the taste of coffee and milk.

Because of this, for all kinds of milk coffees that need to be pulled or brewed with milk, it is crucial to control the quality of the fusion. The best way to improve the quality of integration is naturally to study hard and practice hard to achieve high-quality integration by improving the proficiency of skills. In addition, under different circumstances, we can also reduce the difficulty of achieving perfect integration by choosing and using the appropriate integration method. That's right! There are also different methods of fusion, and this is also the fusion trick that baristas use: choose and use different fusion methods according to different situations. This is what Qianjie wants to share today! Different integration methods will have different advantages. As long as they are used flexibly, they can be used to their greatest value and achieve perfect integration. So first of all, Qianjie wants to introduce the most classic fusion method-mixing and fusion.

Stirring and fusion When a novice first starts learning to draw flowers, the first fusion method they come into contact with is stirring and fusion, because it is a very classic and very practical method. It can not only increase the speed of production, but also use it to fuse the liquid surface can also be used to make various complex patterns. Stirring and fusion is actually a bit like making coffee by hand. We use a trickle from a high position (relatively) to inject milk foam into the coffee liquor. During this period, we will stir the coffee liquid by constantly circling it, so that the milk foam can be evenly mixed with it until the liquid level rises to the desired height.

The main purpose of stirring and injecting it with a small water stream from a high position is to prevent the milk bubbles from leaving lines on the surface. By raising the flow distance, the milk foam can have more force to rush directly into the coffee. Combined with a small water stream can reduce the area in contact with the coffee liquor, and at the same time, more stirring times can be used to fully mix the milk and coffee. Although it sounds simple, after actual operation, everyone will find that it is actually a bit difficult because it is more proficient as a barista!

Because while controlling the flow and distance, we have to constantly stir in circles, the left hand and right hand need to circle at the same time. Therefore, this results in that during fusion, either the flow distance and flow are not controlled (as shown in the figure above), or the amplitude of the winding is not controlled. In the end, the blended coffee liquid surface has "clusters" lines, and the produced flower pattern has a messy background and lacks aesthetic feeling. The taste of coffee can also easily differ. Therefore, this is a difficult point in mixing and fusion, which we must overcome through constant practice (we can ignore if there are no requirements for pulling flowers). One disadvantage of mixing and fusion is that it is not suitable for some taller cups, such as packaging cups.

Since the packaging cup will be taller, this will widen the flow distance during fusion. When the flow distance is too large, the impact force of the milk will cause it to hit the bottom and rebound after being injected, and the coffee surface will easily turn white (which will make the liquid surface look more messy). Well, in this case, in addition to carefully stirring and fusing, we can also choose another fusion method to reduce the difficulty of fusion, that is, pre-fusion.

It can be said that pre-integration is a fusion method that has only emerged in recent years. It actually includes the action steps of stirring and fusion, but before stirring and fusion, we need to use a little milk and concentrate to pre-blend it. The specific method is to first pour a small amount of milk into the coffee liquor (equal to or less of the coffee liquor), then shake the entire coffee cup so that the milk foam poured into the cup can be fully mixed with the espresso, and then start the stirring and fusion step. The advantage of this is that it can reduce the impact of coffee grease and reduce the difficulty of fusion.

What impact will coffee grease have? Qianjie once shared that the quality of coffee grease will affect the difficulty of pulling flowers, and too rough and too thin grease will increase the difficulty of pulling flowers in coffee. The former is because the oil is too rough, which is prone to agglomeration, stratification, etc., which will lead to a reduction in the mobility when drawing flowers, making it difficult for us to draw delicate and exquisite lines; while the latter is because the oil is too thin, which will make the mobility too high, making it easy for us to have pattern deviations and irregular patterns when drawing flowers. In addition to the drawing pattern, both will have an impact on the quality of the fusion. Their appearance represents the freshness of the coffee beans used, which are too fresh and have been left for a long time. Because it is often mentioned on Qianjie, I won't go into it too much here.

In short, in these two cases, the use of pre-fusion will well eliminate the negative impact of insufficient oil quality. The addition of a small amount of milk can reduce the fluidity of coffee, and the shaking action can effectively break up the agglomeration of coffee fat and increase the fusion of fat and coffee liquor. In this way, we can better integrate and draw flowers, thereby improving the quality of coffee.

The same is true for using a packaging cup to pull flowers. By pouring a certain amount of milk against the edge of the cup in advance, the liquid level is raised and the flow distance is reduced, making it less likely that we will have white and dirty liquid level during fusion. However, pre-integration also has certain shortcomings. One is that its drawing pattern will be limited, making it difficult to make overly complex combination patterns. The reason is that the pre-addition of milk and foam reduces the overall mobility, and the increase in the action of fusion shaking causes the time of drawing flowers to be postponed backward, which increases the stratification of milk and foam in the cylinder, and the mobility is further reduced. Therefore, after using pre-fusion, some complex combination patterns are more difficult to make.

Secondly, because the milk and coffee are completely integrated in advance, the color of the liquid surface will be lighter than that of the stirring and fusion method, and the color contrast of the resulting pattern will be relatively low. Everyone will know by comparing it ~(Be sure to ignore the pattern)(On the left is the regular stirring and fusion drawing flower, on the right is the pre-blended drawing flower)

But no matter which shortcoming, they will not affect the taste of coffee, so you can choose the fusion method you like to use. Or as mentioned in Qianjie earlier, use it according to different situations ~

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