How to make Espresso

From thedomesticbarista.com

How to make Espresso

How do you make Espresso coffee? Read on and I'll tell you how to make espresso that’s better than you’ve ever tasted before! A well made cup of coffee is one of the most luxurious drinks in the world. Enjoyed since the forth century it has evolved into a sophisticated drink with a wide range of flavors, aromas and even textures. Espresso coffee machines are becoming popular in many households as, with the rise of coffee shop franchises like Starbucks and Costa Coffee, consumers increasingly want to replicate that ‘freshly pulled’ taste in their homes with a proper espresso recipe rather then settle for filter or instant alternatives. Well, you can not only replicate that taste, by applying some simple rules you can better it every time. Unfortunately for most consumers, there is initially more than meets the eye to preparing a truly great cup of espresso. It takes some practice and experimentation to get it right. Here’s my guide…

The Machine

There is a minimum equipment requirement to make good espresso. You don’t need to spend a fortune but you do need to spend a bit. Here’s what I think you need to do the job properly.

What machine to buy?

Avoid anything made by a company who usually make cheap toasters, and everything with ‘dual function’ (i.e. Drip coffee and espresso coffee) The Espresso machine you need contains a pump delivering at least 9 bar of pressure. Most really cheap machines rely on pressure generated by steam as a result of water boiling, avoid these as they deliver water which is too hot at a pressure which is too low.

Your machine will also have either a boiler or a ‘thermoblock’. A boiler is just that, whereas a thermoblock is a heating element that water is passed through on it’s way to or from the pump. Boiler machines are usually more expensive, higher maintenance and take longer to heat up, but come from the high end makers and are ‘better’ through the virtue of quality and sharing heritage with professional machines. Thermoblock machines are cheaper, low maintenance and come from lower-end manufacturers but good examples work fine for household use. That said, it a thermoblock machine breaks you can bin it, a boiler machine is the kind of thing that you can take apart, fix and modify.

A couple of the more popular home machine manufacturers are Gaggia and Rancilio (reviews here) and they both make a good machine. Cheaper brands like Krups thermoblock machines (reviews here) will also do the job well but beware of spending too little as you may want to upgrade a cheaper machine soon. The real secret is in both knowing how to prepare the coffee and use the machine well.

Here’s a minimum spec to look for

• Pump driven, 9 bar pressure
• Boiler or Thermoblock water heater
• Two sizes of coffee hopper (single and double shot)

Here’s what you don’t need

• Combined with a filter machine
• An automatic cappuccino attachment
• A ‘pod’ system

The coffee grinder

You need to grind your own beans to make really good espresso, Buying pre-ground coffee affects the taste, texture and 'pull' of espresso. You will not get a good result with pre-ground coffee. Budget for a good grinder when you buy your Espresso machine.

Roasted coffee contains a lot of CO2 (Carbon Dioxide), when freshly roasted it contains huge volumes of it and needs to be rested for a few days before it is drunk. The flavour of coffee comes from the oils and lipids within the beans and these are not water soluble - they need the CO2 in the beans to carry them into the cup. When you grind coffee the massive increase in surface area causes most of the CO2 to be lost to the atmosphere within a few minutes and this really does affect the taste.

Budget for an espresso machine and a grinder together, or even buy a good grinder first and drink press-pot coffee for a while until you can get the machine. Money spent on a cheap grinder is often money wasted because you'll want a better one soon!

What are you looking for in a grinder?

• A burr grinder.
  • A burr grinder literally ‘grinds’ coffee between two toothed plates or cones, rather than the more common kind of coffee ‘grinders’ which are more like coffee ‘choppers’. You NEED a burr grinder. Bladed grinders can't deliver a grind that is consistent enough for espresso. Avoid manual burr grinders from kitchen shops. Some grinders to look out for are the Iberital MC2, The Gaggia MDF, the Rancilio Rocky, the Solis Maestro and the MACAP M4 - any of these is an excellent home grinder.

• Not too big
  • You don’t need a large bean capacity, you probably won’t be storing beans in your grinder anyway. And you’re not grinding for a cafe, just yourself and guests.

Some popular brands for domestic use are Iberital, Rocky, Gaggia and Mazzer.

The Coffee

The third part of the good coffee trilogy, the right machine, the right grind and the right coffee. If you can source fresh roasted coffee use it as it will deliver the best cup of Espresso. Steve Leighton at HasBean.co.uk does some really great coffees all dispatched within a day of roasting.

You can also buy green, unroasted coffee beans and roast your own at home for really, really fresh coffee. If you want to buy from a supermarket, buy something like Lavazzo or Illy. Avoid supermarket own brands and don’t buy from open jars or tins on the shelves of Delicatessens, the coffee that they contain has been so exposed to sunlight, odours and the atmosphere that it’ll be well past its best when you drink it.

What is good coffee? Well, that’s a matter of taste. Espresso coffee can be a blend of different beans, or a 'Single Origin' coffeem all the same variety from the same farm. Beans should be well roasted without being burned (so think dark tan rather than treacle) and should contain 100% arabica beans, with maybe a little robusta in a blend. Robusta is called ‘robusta’ for a reason, it’s very strong and usually of poor quality. High-street coffee chains generally over-roast their beans as they serve large milk-based drinks and need a strong shot of espresso to carry the flavour in the cup so don't use theirs as a guide.

Coffee Storage

Store it in an airtight tin with a tight lid or the bag (rolled over and sealed). You can store coffee in the cupboard and it will be fine for a few weeks. Storing coffee in the fridge or freezer makes little difference to the shelf-life from the point of view of the flavours in the cup, if you rarely drink coffee then i’d simply throw it away when it becomes stale. If you can, spend your money on a smaller quantity of freshly roasted beans - only what you can drink in a week. These may cost more per Kilo but you’ll waste less and the coffee will taste better, it’ll probably work our cheaper in the long run.

Things you should know…

There are some things you should keep in mind when making coffee. I’m going to run down some of the important points here so that I can be more concise describing the process later.

Pre-warming

It is important to pre-warm your equipment so that you always have hot water running through the coffee in the hopper. You can switch your machine on before hand and allow the warming plates to heat your cups but this isn’t really convenient if you want a quick coffee in the morning. I turn the machine on, let the water warm up and then run a cupful through an empty hopper and into an espresso cup, this heats it all up nicely.

When you have run the water through the hopper, turn out the now warm espresso cup and remove and dry the hopper. This is important, if you have moisture around the edges of your hopper then the water you pump through your coffee later will try, as water does, to follow the path of least resistance around the coffee and flow to the edges which will result in an 'under-extracted' shot.

Tamping

‘Tamping’ the coffee is the process of press it down into the hopper with a tamper. It’s probably the thing than most people don’t do right. The tamp distributes the coffee evenly around the hopper at the right density. You put your ground coffee into the hopper and then press hard enough that the coffee is compressed into a nice 'puck', most baristas reacon that around 20lbs of pressure is about right, you’ll get used to the feel and know after a month or so when you’ve done it right. Along with the 'grind' the tamp will determine how long it takes to pull that shot of espresso and how it tastes.

Grinding the coffee

Only grind the coffee that you need. You should have a fine ground coffee - so that it forms a nice dry ‘puck’ in the hopper once you’re done with it (rather than a coffee goop) but allows water to pass through. You need to experiment to get the right setting, just finely adjust the grinder setting in whichever direction every time you make coffee and have a consistent tamp. When the coffee volume matches the 22-37 second extraction time you're there.

Crema

This is the nice layer of 3-4mm of light brown ‘cream’ that you get on a well pulled espresso made from emulsified coffee oils. You can’t really make it, but if you don’t see it you’re doing something wrong. It should curl up the edge of the cup and be robust enough to float most of a spoon of sugar on top for a few seconds. If your coffee doesn’t produce any crema, or only a thin and sorry looking layer, then the beans are probably old and stale (although grind and tamp do play a part).

Volume of coffee

There are two types of shot you’ll be pulling a single (using 8-9 grams of ground coffee) or a double (16-20 grams of ground coffee). Don’t pour too much from one hopper, it’ll be weak and bitter.

Volumes, Times and other stuff

One double shot = 60-80ml or 2 fl oz or just over 1/4cup of coffee

You should be taking about 25-30 seconds to pull a double shot

Making the coffee

So, you’ve got the espresso machine, you may have a coffee grinder, and you've got an espesso cup.. Let’s get you a great cup of espresso. Hopefully you’ve read everything so far and not skipped ahead (if you’re reading this first, go and stand in the corner). Let’s go.

• Warm up your espresso machine
  • A domestic machine usually needs 20-30 minutes to warm up. Leave the portafilter handle locked in place and allow time for all the components to come up to temperature. The brewing temperature is important as cool water will deliver a sour shot and water which is too hot will leave a lot of bitterness in the cup.

• Warm your espresso equipment
  • Warm your espresso cup and hopper - don’t forget to dry.

• Fill the filter basket with coffee and tamp
  • Grind your coffee and place into the filter basket. then tamp down with around 25lbs of pressure (use the bathroom scales to practice). Some people develop a personal technique with twists of the wrist, taps of the portafilter and the like - develop yours! Wipe left over coffee from the rip of the hopper with the palm of your hand.

• Pour your espresso
  • Place the portafilter in the machine, make sure it’s tight. Place the warm espresso cup below it and press the button (or move the lever) - it won't come gushing out straight away (if it pours straight away, you’re probably not tamping hard enough) but after 5 seconds or so you should have a nice, thin, steady stream of dark brown coffee with cinnamon coloured highlights. About 25 seconds is the sort of time that it should take to pour a shot when you have your grind and your tamp sorted. Stop the pour and remove the cup with your aromatic, delicious espresso.

That’s it. Now you have to decide what flavours you do and don’t want, choose your beans, learn what variables change what flavours (that’s just experience) and then refine your pulling technique for your perfect shot.

Conclusion

• You can’t make a great cup of coffee for nothing. But you don’t need to spend a fortune for a set of equipment that will turn out a perfect result with a little practice.

• If you remember a few simple principles, buy equipment for basic functionality rather than useless extras and practice until you get a result you’re happy with.

• Start with a good quality machine, but remember that you need not spend a fortune and you can afford to spend a little more on those little extras that’ll bring the drink together. Investment a little in a quality Burr grinder and your setup will be complete.

• Learn about what makes a perfect espresso, think about what you change every time you make one and remember what works to bring out the flavours you’re looking for.

• Realise that once you get hooked on coffee, your setup will never be good enough and your shots will always have room for improvement.