Have you perfected the art of making a great flat white?
It’s a skill students at our youth accommodation facility at Trinity Hill are on their way to mastering.
As with all of Anglicare’s supported accommodation facilities for young people, at Hobart’s Trinity Hill we support students on their learning journey. And late last year some students completed an introductory course in espresso coffee making.
The ‘Espresso Essentials’ course is run in-house at Trinity Hill in collaboration with Drysdale-TasTAFE and our community sector partner Mission Australia. There’s a commercial kitchen on-site including an excellent coffee machine. During the course, students were taught the basics of making a great cup of coffee. And they learnt about the various requests customers might make. Such as a cappuccino, flat white or a café latte, to a ristretto, long macchiato or a straight short black.
“Grinding the beans is a really important step to make an excellent espresso coffee. You don’t want it to be too dark or too pale, but a rich, reddish brown crema,” said Helena Cerjak, Drysdale teacher. “And with the milk, you need to heat it to the perfect temperature. Then pour with care, changing the speed as you go, and including a subtle twist at exactly the right moment”.
The art of making a great flat white takes time.
“It’s definitely a case of practice makes perfect,” said Helen. “And if a student wants to become a professional barista, after the Essentials course they can progress to an extended 6 day course to get up to industry standard”.
The opportunity to do the Essentials course has been taken up by a number of students at Trinity Hill since the course was first offered back in 2018.
“It’s a good taster for people to see if they’d like to go to the next level,” said Rafael Patterson, a senior worker at Trinity Hill. “But even if they don’t go on to become baristas, the important thing is they have taken the first step to re-engage in their education. It all helps to build the confidence of young people. Many may not have not studied since they were at high school”.
Another popular course offered on-site at Trinity Hill is a one day course in first aid and CPR delivered by St John’s.
“These types of short courses don’t require a major commitment. This means they are not too intimidating,” said Rafael. “And along the way students can improve their skills and add to their resumes”.
You can learn more about Anglicare’s supported youth accommodation at Housing Support.
