I just did the SCA Foundation Barista Course, and it turns out there’s a lot more science behind coffee service than I realised – even after 15 years of making it. 😂

I trained with Garith from @theneighborhoodbarista and wanted to share how it all finally clicked for me – or at least, how it made sense inside my brain.

It blew my mind how much coffee training has changed, even just in the last couple of years – it’s now an actual science, not just “press button, froth milk, hope for the best.”

When I first learned (back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and I worked front of house at a gym), the “lesson” went something like this:

Fill the handle with coffee, two pushes of the grinder, froth the milk by bobbing the jug up and down until it looked vaguely foamy.

Done. ☠️

Even the last course I did around 2019 covered milk frothing and latte art, but nowhere near the level of detail they teach now.

And calibrating a grinder?

Never even mentioned – which, considering it’s the whole foundation of a good coffee, feels slightly criminal.

However, everything finally makes sense to me!

👀 Quick Coffee Terminology 101

If you’ve never worked with a proper espresso setup, here’s a quick run-through so the rest of this makes sense (and if you do know what these are, you can absolutely skip this bit 😎):

• Grinder → the machine that grinds your coffee beans and controls how fast or slow the water flows through.
  
  
• Portafilter → the metal handle that holds the coffee grounds and locks into the machine.
  
  
• Grouphead → the part of the espresso machine the portafilter locks into – where the hot water comes from.
  
  
• Tamp → pressing the ground coffee evenly into the portafilter to create a level surface for the water to pass through.
  
  
• Steam wand → the metal stick you use to heat and froth milk (the one that screams like a dying kettle).
  
  
• Extraction → the process of water running through the coffee to make your espresso.
  
  
• Calibration → adjusting the grinder so the extraction happens in the right amount of time – basically the whole point of this post 😅.

Here’s a little diagram below if you want to see what’s what – super simple.

Now that we’re all speaking the same caffeine language…

☕️ Coffee Has Become a Science – And No One Told Me

On one yacht I worked on, we had a grinder that basically ran its own personality cult. Only one person on board knew how to calibrate it, and if anyone else touched it, chaos ensued.

Every time it was used, it needed recalibrating – even though the beans, humidity, and environment never changed.

Then for years, I didn’t even have to think about it.

Every boat I worked on since about 2020 had one of those press-the-button-and-pray coffee machines – Jura, Nespresso, you name it.

Easy for service, terrible for learning anything useful.

Fast-forward to the last six months, and the boat I’m on now has a proper espresso machine and a grinder.

I decided enough was enough. I was like: right – someone show me exactly how to calibrate this thing properly.

I finally got a decent explanation onboard, but it made me realise I still didn’t actually understand why it worked.

So I decided to do a proper course, which led me to the SCA Foundation Barista Course.

The SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) now has a proper standardised training system – which, honestly, is a godsend. All the random bits I’d been taught over the years (by chefs, stews, baristas, and the occasional engineer who “once worked in a café”) were completely irrelevant to what’s taught now.

Everything finally makes sense.

☕ From Dish Soap to Drinkable

I started with the training trick my instructor showed me – water and a drop of dish soap in the milk jug, so you don’t waste real milk. It froths exactly like the real thing, minus the smell of success. (Also using the old coffee grounds).

I was going for a heart. What I got looked like a sperm. 👇

Then we moved to actual coffee and milk. I did a heart, but it accidentally had Snapchat energy. Cute and mildly inappropriate. 👇

A real heart at last – and not the kind that needs explaining in HR training. 👇

⚖️ 18g In, 36g Out, 25 Seconds – The Golden Ratio

Here’s how it’s been explained to me this year (and how my brain finally understood):

• You want 18g of fresh coffee IN your portafilter (this is the amount for a double shot of espresso).
• You want 36g of coffee OUT in your cup.
• That extraction should take roughly 25-30 seconds (aim for 25).

To put it simply, that’s a 1:2 ratio – whatever you put in, you want double out.

That’s it. That’s the entire secret of coffee.

To get those numbers, you have to play with the grinder coarseness – keep adjusting it until you hit that balance where all three line up perfectly.

Here’s how to tweak your grinder 👇

☕️If it’s taking closer to 30 seconds or more, it’s running too slowly → your coffee’s too fine → make it coarser.

☕️ If it’s pulling in closer to 20 seconds or less, it’s running too fast → your coffee’s too coarse → make it finer.

The goal is to land around 25 seconds, give or take – that’s usually where the flavour’s balanced.

When that clicked, I genuinely had a eureka moment. Like I could see sound.

⚙️ The Grinder Lesson That Changed My Life (Dramatic But True)

Think of your group handle like a vase:

Coarse grind = golf balls 🏌🏻‍♀️
If you pour water into a vase filled with golf balls, there’s loads of space between the golf balls, so the water runs straight through – fast. That’s what happens when your coffee is too coarse: the water runs through too quickly, and you get a weak, watery espresso.

Medium grind = sand 🏖
If you pour water into a vase filled with sand, the water goes through the gaps between the sand, but a little slower, (a good speed!). That’s your happy medium – good flavour, no bitterness, no drama.

Super fine grind = clay 🫠
And then if you pour water into a vase filled with clay, the water moves through it at a snail’s pace. That’s what happens when your grind is too fine: the water struggles to get through, the shot takes forever, and it tastes harsh and over-extracted.

That visual analogy honestly changed everything for me.

☕️ Superyacht Coffee Training: The Other Nerdy Things That Finally Made Sense

• The longer your shot pours, the more bitter it becomes.
• The shorter your pour, the more acidic it tastes.
• The first ⅓ of the espresso is acidic, the middle ⅓ is sweet, and the final ⅓ is bitter – you want a balance of all three.

Also, if your coffee tastes too bitter, stop the pour sooner.

Too acidic? Let it run a little longer.

It’s science, but it’s vibe-based science.

🥛 Milk Frothing Tips (That Actually Work)

If you want to practice without wasting milk, pour water in the jug and add a drop of washing-up liquid – it froths exactly the same way.

For the real deal, I’ll leave it to the professionals – this video from @Goldenbrown.coffee explains milk steaming perfectly. It’s exactly what I got taught today.

👩🏻‍🏫 Why Every Superyacht Stewardess Should Do This Course

I don’t actually make many coffees onboard anymore – my team’s got it covered – but I loved going back and re-learning everything properly. It’s so worth keeping up to date with how things are done these days – especially when standards keep changing.

Coffee service has come so far, especially in the last couple of years and it’s one of those skills that genuinely makes a difference in guest experience.

A perfect flat white in the morning?

That’s five-star service in a cup.

And when it comes to presenting those skills on paper, clarity matters just as much. If you want help explaining your experience properly – without generic wording or copy-paste CV templates – I’ve put together a Superyacht CV Guide + editable Canva CV templates that walk you through structure, wording, and real examples.

If you’re in yachting or thinking about starting, this is the one course I recommend before wine or cocktails – because you’ll use it every single day.

Huge thank you to Garith – @theneighborhoodbarista – for teaching such a great course (and for not judging my latte art journey). Check him out on Instagram – he travels around South Africa teaching, so could be near you!

(FYI, this isn’t sponsored – just wanted to share!)

☕ Before You Go…

If you made it this far, you officially know more about espresso extraction than half the crew I’ve worked with – proud of you. 💪

Whether you’re brand new to yachting, running your own interior team, or just here for the behind-the-scenes chaos and caffeine, there’s something for everyone on the blog:

• 🛥 So… You Want to Work on a Superyacht?
  Everything you actually need to know before diving into yacht life – all the things they never tell you in the job ads.
  
  
• 🧰 Superyacht Shipyard Survival for Chief Stews
  Because coffee is great, but caffeine alone won’t get you through refit season.
  
  
• 🛏 15 Superyacht Stewardess Cabin Essentials: Amazon Finds You’ll Actually Use
  The little things that make crew cabins feel slightly less like a storage cupboard.
  
• 💅 Botox, Curtains & Stroopwaffles: My Chaotic Glow-Up Week
  Just lols — it won’t make you smarter, but you’ll giggle.

If this helped, send it to your coffee-obsessed stew friend — may all your grinders stay calibrated and your hearts pour perfectly. ☕✨💖