Black (coffee) art

So last week, I acquired a Krups XP4020 espresso machine to replace my recently deceased Morphy Richards. It's a bit of a highly-strung beast, but it makes great coffee (providing you treat it with due deference and make sure you do everything "just so").

But my question is this. Americano coffee - shot of coffee in first and then pour the hot water in, or the other way round? How do they do it at Starbucks? I've never watched them. We must keep an eye on their technique at lunchtime.

Haven't cracked how to froth the milk properly yet either.

But if you want a really awesome straight-up-no-messing-about espresso, I'm your man...