Creating espresso coffee at home can seem like an overcomplicated art - rather it is pretty simple.
Golden ratio - grind size, dosage and extraction time.
There's multiple variables - but to brew the perfect espresso coffee with your espresso machine, we focus on keeping things very simple.
Experience through experimentation, so you done have to re-invent the wheel over and over again.
Equipment you will need:
Coffee grinder - conical burr or flat burr
Espresso machine
Tamper
Stop watch / Timer
Kitchen scale or precision scale (optional)
First check what size basket you have in your portafilter, usually -
Domestic manual coffee machines you will have the following sizes: 14g , 18g or 21g.
Commercial grade baskets can be 21g, 22g or 23g
Calibrate
This is the first step you'll have to go through and for the majority of home users, who don't use a precision scale, you are simply going to start grinding out coffee from your coffee grinder and fill the portafilter basket to a level where you will have a mountain of coffee just sitting inside of the portafilter. See image below.
This is where you will keep the dosage much the same to result in maintaining only one variable which will be grind size.
Next will be to Tamp
This is done by first resting the tamper on top of the heap of coffee and then pressing down with a force equal to compress the coffee grounds into a puck.
Next - twist and remove the tamper
Slightly twist and remove the tamper revealing a clean puck of coffee in your portafilter which should now be ready to lock into your espresso machine's group head.
Locked and loaded - time to brew
Now it is time to lock your portafilter in and press the brew button.
Espresso extraction is now measured as volume per unit of time.
30mls of espresso per 30 seconds is usually the standard serving to result in a single shot of espresso.
Espresso is measured from the moment you turn on the brew button until 30ml of volume is completed.
Trial and error
Now, there are two main variables you will have present in the preparation of espresso which will directly affect the taste and body of your espresso shot.
They are:
- Grind size
- Dosage
When calibrating your grinder and dosage to extract espresso, there is usually some trial and error until you'll achieve acceptable extraction.
Fine tuning
Before getting to this stage, you'll need to time your espresso shots, while keeping the dosage the same.
Changing grind size is the next thing that needs to be done.
If you go:
Finer - your espresso will run slower.
Coarser - your espresso will run faster.
During fine tuning, you are only going to move the grind setting two notches at any given time.
Taste
Let your taste guide you, don't be dictated by numbers. what this means is you generally aim for e.g. 30ml in 30 seconds, however small adjustments to your grind setting could result in better tasting espresso 30ml in 35 seconds or even 30ml in 25 seconds.
Your brew recipe
It will take some practice to find your brew recipe. So long as you minimise the variables so that you dosage remains constant, leave the one variable which is grind size to dictate the flow rate of your espresso extraction.
What your espresso should look like
Here's a visual guide as to what your espresso should look like with corresponding flavours you will experience with under extracted, balanced and over extracted espresso.
Why does espresso need to be balanced in flavour?
A perfect extraction usually will have balanced flavours which are important in allowing both non milk beverages and milk based beverages to be flavoursome, decadent and delicious!
Perfect blend for the perfect espresso
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