ESPRESSO IS ALREADY HARD, MAKES EVERYTHING ELSE AROUND YOU EASIER!







Yes, i caught your attention! Espresso is hard? In what sense you may ask me. Hard to drink, hard to extract, hard to get right? One of the above or everything of it?

Well in general the simplest thing are the hardest to master and with so many parameters that affects the extraction and the quality of that espresso, it is only right that we do not over-complicate things by making everything else around espresso making easier. What are they?

The Roast Profile

Light roast are for filters, medium to dark are best for espresso and then we have some coffees that works for both (i quit calling them Omni as they are always misrepresented!). The masters of their craft will tweak grind size, dose, temperature of water, extraction time and 1001 other parameters to only use light roast, that are meant for filters, for their espresso and still get it right. For the non-masters, please do not make it harder for yourselves. Just buy coffees that are roasted for espresso!

The Method

To extract espresso, use a reliable espresso machine, be it a heat exchanger (HX) or a dual boiler espresso machine. It must be able to provide a water temperature between 92 degrees to 94 degrees celcius and reach a water pressure of 9 bars. Do not ask your roaster on how to make it (like how it taste in the cafe) using french press, moka pot, aeropress, turkish pot and all the other handheld devisces out there because they are not the same! You are better off with a Nespresso machine or a Fully Automatic in this case, atleast it produces a decent crema.

Grind-size and Grinder

Invest in a very good grinder that grinds and not crush your beans, that grinds in very quick seconds and not minutes and in the process does not transfer too much heat to the grounds. I have said it alot in all my other blog posts, its better to spend money in a very good grinder than an expensive espresso machines. The difference in quality is second to none.

Only espresso grind size for espresso making, when pinch and rub between your thumb and index finger, it should feels very fine or the least fine - in between feeling like a flour (thats too fine by the way) to a table salt with a smooth texture that is approaching to how powder feels like. Please again do not make it harder for yourself to go coarse like a french press and dose high or fine as a flour and under dose that basket, creating sloppy and wet pucks.

Basket Size

A favourite topic of mine. There are so many variations of OEM basket today and often enough, barista are not using the standard basket provided by the espresso machine manufacturer and I support this too as those baskets are not usually well made (a topic for another day, i will write about this one day). There are reasons why there are different size variation from 18gm to 22gm, with ridge and ridge-less and single hole pressurise basket - all with a purpose. Why do you have to make your life again difficult by packing 24gm in a 18gm basket, going so fine in the process) or 15gm in a 20gm basket? Go with the maximum dose of what basket you own, they usually too have a tolerance level of + 1-2 gram of what they can usually hold and make tasty espresso in a consistent manners. 20gm in a 20gm basket or 21gm in a 22gm basket will always create compact and dry pucks, which makes cleaning easier too.

So yeah, those are some quick tips there. Espresso is already hard, keep the rest simple to achieve consistency. You are welcome.

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