Home Espresso Savvy

Home espresso makers are among the fussiest machines commonly in use for making a cup of coffee. While preparing a perfect espresso takes practice on any equipment, home models are a little less forgiving than their commercial counterparts due to a smaller boiler size and a pump mechanism that is not as powerful. As a result, many people get a home espresso maker, play with it for a while, and find they are spending a lot of time and effort only to end up with bad coffee. They then pack the machine back in the box where it collects dust indefinitely. Pull that espresso maker out of the box because it is possible to make good espresso with home machines. While it will still take a little practice, understanding the technical issues involved can help.

The first issue is the grind. It is always best to grind the coffee as soon as possible before brewing. Grinding your own also allows you to fine-tune the grind for your machine. While possible, it is generally impractical and only inconsistently possible to use a chopper grinder for espresso. The better your machine, the less possible it is. An adjustable burr grinder is strongly recommended if you want to make espresso at home. This may not be particularly reasonable; home espresso makers have come down in price to the point where a good electric burr grinder can cost the same as a low-end espresso maker. Wilson's can grind the coffee for your machine, but we'll need to know what type (not brand) of machine you have.

There are two basic types of espresso makers. The difference is in the boiler and water reservoir. To fill a pressure vessel machine, you need to depressurize the chamber and unscrew the top. Pump machines are more convenient in that the reservoir can be filled at any time. These typically have a lid which simply flips onen. Pump machines can usually take a finer grind than pressure vessel machines.

An espresso maker will typically come with two filter baskets that can be loaded into the portafilter (the handle that you load into the machine), a small one for producing a single shot of espresso and a larger one for producing a double. About one tablespoon of grounds should be used for each shot of espresso. A technique that usually works is to overfill the basket and then run the edge of a spoon handle or other straight edge across the top of the basket to remove the extra coffee and have a level surface of grounds. The removed coffee can be used for the next shot of espresso.

After this, you may need to tamp the coffee. All this means is pressing evenly on the grounds in the basket. Most espresso makers come with a hand tamper to do this with (it will be a piece of metal or plastic, one side of which fits into the basket). This step is the trickiest to get the hang of and it will probably take some practice. It should take more than 15 seconds and less than 30 seconds (20 is good) to get 1 to 1.5 ounces of espresso per shot. This time is counted from when a stream of coffee starts to come from the portafilter. It may take a few seconds more if you are counting from when the switch is pressed. It should take about the same amount of time to prepare a single and a double espresso. If it takes too long to get the right volume of coffee, try tamping less or not tamping at all. If the espresso brews too quickly try tamping with more force. If the espresso brews too slowly without tamping, try a courser grind. Similarly, if no amount of tamping causes the espresso to brew slowly enough, a finer grind is recommended.

The next thing to look at is your crema. Crema is made up of lipophilic compounds in emulsion and looks like a red-gold layer of tiny bubbles on the surface of a perfect espresso. The quantity of crema is not as important as the quality, but the most common problem with espresso is not getting enough crema to cover the surface of the espresso. This is easy to see from the black spot in the center of the cup. Grinding the coffee a little finer or tamping a little more should fix this problem. The crema will still vanish over time. This is normal. Because crema is essential to the taste of espresso, it is important to drink the espresso before the crema vanishes or, in the case of milk drinks, to add the espresso to the rest of the drink as quickly as possible.

With milk drinks, the most common problem is not being able to create milk foam. The trick here is to place the steaming wand just under the surface of the milk, lowering the pitcher as the milk expands. When you have enough foam, raise the pitcher a little (the wand should never touch the bottom of the pitcher) to bring the milk up to the proper temperature if it is not already. If the steaming wand came with a plastic piece connecting it to a tube going back up, it may help to remove this.

With a little practice it is possible to make delicious espresso and espresso based drinks at home.