Skills
Eight skills, and everything else is variation
Almost every complaint about a home-made drink traces back to one of these eight. None of them needs equipment beyond what a normal kitchen already has, and most take under five minutes to learn properly the first time.
ICE
Why Home Ice Is Cloudy, and How to Fix It
The white core in a home ice cube is not dirt and it is not your water supply.
24 hours, of which about 10 minutes is workFOAM
Cold Foam That Holds
Cold foam is the one piece of technique on this site where the window between right and wrong is measured in seconds.
30 seconds, plus 5 minutes of chillingCITRUS
Getting the Oil Out of a Peel
Most of what people describe as the taste of a citrus drink is actually smell, and most of that smell is oil from the outer skin rather than anything in the juice.
2 minutes, once you have done it twiceSYRUP
Simple, Rich and Flavored Syrups
Syrup is the cheapest thing on a drink station to get right and the most common thing to get wrong.
10 minutes active, plus coolingICE
Ice Size, Dilution and Why Drinks Go Watery
Every iced drink is a race between how fast the ice cools the liquid and how fast it turns into part of it.
5 minutes to read, applies to every drink you make afterwardHOSTING
Batching Without Ruining the Drink
Batching is not multiplication.
Plan the night before; 30 minutes on the dayPOURING
Layers That Stay Separate
A layered drink is not a trick, it is a consequence of sugar content.
3 minutes per drink, less once you know the orderPREP
Prepping Garnish the Day Before
Garnish is the step that gets dropped when things get busy, and it is dropped precisely because it is the only step that involves picking up a knife mid-service.
20 minutes the night before