Beautiful Wedding, Wonderful coffee and Great Atmosphere!

Looking for a unique idea to treat your guests? How about a full service specialty coffee bar making fresh to order drinks for each of your guests. 

Imagine your guests walking into your venue hall to the smell of fresh coffee made just for them! With the aroma and visual appeal of a coffee shop set up in the corner, you get atmosphere, a dynamic of entertainment, favours for the guest and an energy boost for the party! 

Whether you choose coffee to be served at the ceremony for before and after drinks while people mingle, or at the reception, the coffee bar can be versatile. We can set up indoors or outdoors. We have adult drinks with coffee and kids drinks that are not so hot;) You could use it in place of a liqueur bar to treat your guests, or you can pair it close to the bar for your guests to add kahlua, baileys or Rum to their fresh gourmet latte! Either way, this is an affordable way to add a memorable aspect to a wedding!

Our menu includes but is not limited to:

Cappuccino

Latte

Espresso

Americano

Caramel macchiato

White mocha

Dark mocha

White and dark hot chocolate

Steamers

London Fog

Chai Latte

Assorted black and herbal teas

And we now offer ICED COFFEES!! 

Our Flavours we offer are Vanilla, Caramel, Hazelnut, peppermint, white chocolate, chocolate, Cinnamon and Toffee Nut. We offer whipped cream, chocolate powder, cinnamon and rainbow sprinkles as drink topping options. 

For the dietary restricted guests, we can also bring soy milk upon request, and all of our beverages are gluten free and Kosher! 

www.espressocateringbykirby.com

Serving Edmonton,AB and area

780-915-2101

Candy Skewers as a Buffet or as Centrepieces at Your Special Event!

A Candy Buffet doesn't have to be self serve. We make pre-made individual skewers or baggies for each guest to take and enjoy with personalized ribbon for that special extra touch.

Deliciousness of Coffee

Check out this vid on Specialty coffee made delicious and simple.

http://scoutmagazine.ca/2013/02/11/smoke-break-1018-a-short-film-on-the-delicious-subculture-of-specialty-coffee/

25% off Spring Wedding latte bar booking in Edmonton!

Book your latte bar for your spring wedding with us before midnight January 31st 2013 and get 25% off!!
www.espressocateringbykirby.com

Tips for a Good Shot of Espresso

For an even shot of espresso, tamping is important.

Tamper

The tamper is the tool used to press the ground coffee into the portafilter. 

The portafilter or group handle, is the part of the espresso machine that fits into the group head. It is the basket that holds the coffee grounds.

Portafilter

Getting the grounds packed into the portafilter can be a lot easier if you have a good quality tamper, or at least one that fits your portafilter properly. I like my Reg Barber but you can play around with what ever you have already. 

When I first entered the coffee world, I had a small home machine from the Bay. It was a wedding gift and I played around with that for quite a while. I personally didn't like the plastic tamper that came with the machine. It didn't fit the portafilter and was very rounded on the bottom. I prefer my tamper to have less curve on the bottom. 

If that is the situation you are in, play around with what you have and see what you can do with that first. I ended up seeking out a stainless steel tamper that fit my smaller entry level machine portafiler and used that until I upgraded my home machine. 

So back to tamping. When you are tamping, you want to press down evenly and with a downward ~30lbs of pressure. This is hard to measure at first. There is a tamper that clicks or "gives" once you have reached the proper pressure. If you are learning and $$ is not an factor in your tamper decision, this is something you could try. Another option is using a scale and practice tamping down onto the scale to "feel" the pressure. 

Once you have the pressure down pat, you can focus on an even tamp. The goal is have the puck, (packed espresso grounds), evenly and tightly packed into the portafilter. This is so the high pressure water evenly saturates and extracts the grounds. If the coffee is packed more tightly on one side or another, the water will choose the path of least resistance and over-extract the looser packed espresso grounds. Practice makes perfect! 

Another tool you can use to better measure and see how you are doing, is a naked portafilter. You can watch (with caution) as the shot comes out the bottom. You will be able to see where the problems are and work on your pressure and evenness from there. 

Anyways, practice makes perfect! Why do you think I had so many people over for coffee those first years ;) My little guinea pigs! haha! I must say, I didnt hear many complaints though! :D 

Take care for now, and don't be afraid to tinker and try different things!

Baby Shower Candy Buffet

Is it a boy or a girl? The parents have chosen not to find out until birth. One of the games at the baby shower was guessing boy or girl. Everyone who think it is a girl took the pink side, and those who thought it is a boy chose blue. Everything was pink or blue, from the candy buffet to the decorations, juice and cupcakes! A beautiful event to celebrate a beautiful time in this family's life!

Tips for a Great Shot of Espresso

A strong factor in your results rely on the grind. Start by using a good quality burr grinder and play around with it. Don't be afraid to try a finer or a more coarse grind. Every bag of beans is different so adjust your grinder to the bean. It may take some practice, but hey! It makes a good excuse to have friends for coffee!