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How to make great espresso.
This is the one method of making coffee that
borders on being an art form. The better the
machine you have (yes, often the more expensive)
the better result you will achieve. In my opinion you
are better serving great Stove Top Espresso
or Plunger than bad Espresso.
So how do you master the art of making the
best tasting Espresso cup after cup? Simple,
follow our 4 step guide. Put your heart and soul
into the process and you will be the equal of any
professional barista.
TROUBLE SHOOTING.
Thin and dirty tasting coffee.
Your grind setting is too fine or it’s too tightly
packed. The water is struggling to flow through
the coffee. The resulting coffee tastes dirty and is
overly dark. This is known as over extracted coffee.
To fix it, make your grind setting more coarse, so
you extract 50/60ml of coffee over the 25 to 30
second time frame.
Sharp and metallic tasting coffee.
Your grind setting is too coarse or it’s too loosely
packed. The water is flowing through too fast.
The resulting coffee looks thin with little or no
crema. This is under extracted coffee with a sharp,
metallic taste. To fix it, make your grind setting
finer – remember 50/60ml over 25 to 30 seconds.
A dirty machine will always lead to poor results.
Your Espresso machine needs to be
CLEAN, VERY, VERY CLEAN. Use
filtered water if you can and fresh
water if you can’t. Use a conical burr
grinder and grind your coffee really
fresh ie; just seconds prior to use.
If your beans are getting old throw
them out and buy a fresh batch. Buy
and use a professional quality tamp.
Now you should have 50 to 60 ML of
fine dark, oily espresso. PERFECT.
Remember that 50 to 60 ml is the
maximum amount of your extraction,
from this point on there is no flavour
left in the ground coffee. For milk
based coffee, simply add the hot
milk to the desired amount, or for
a long black add hot water.
Fill the handle of the machine with your
freshly ground coffee to within 3mm of the
top of the basket. Use a FIRM tamp, by firm
I mean a decent push but no more than that.
The tamp pressure must be the same, cup
after cup. Along with the grind setting, this
controls the rate at which the water flows
through the ground coffee.
THIS IS THE SECRET TO GREAT ESPRESSO.
Fit the coffee filled handle
to the machine and start the
extraction process. The time
of the extraction (the pour)
should be no more than 25 to
30 seconds before you turn
the machine off. You’re looking
for a good heavy, viscous pour,
we call it a mouse tail.
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