How to Make Espresso at Home

When you go out to dinner at a fine Italian restaurant, have you ever ordered espresso after your dessert? It is an amazing taste, and maybe you find yourself wishing you could make espresso at home. Perhaps you have even been given an espresso machine as a gift, but it's still sitting in your cupboard because you have been too intimidated and afraid to use it. 

Or, perhaps you are entranced by watching a café barista at work – carefully dosing each shot, deftly steaming milk, and topping each drink with latté art. However, espressos, cappuccinos, and lattés are not meant to only come from behind a coffee bar counter. They can also come from your kitchen counter!

You can brew that perfect cup of fresh, deliciously thick, and rich espresso with just a bit of practice. First of all, become really familiar with your espresso machine and faithfully follow the instructions for using it. Then, take note of these espresso brewing tips.

Clean Your Espresso Machine After Use

Why is this our first piece of advice? You might react by thinking, bummer, making espresso already sounds like too much work! Well, you save a lot of time and effort by cleaning your espresso machine immediately after using it. If you leave the cleaning for later, coffee oils can bake on the machine's surface, resulting in a brown sludge that is stubbornly hard to remove. A quick cleaning involves emptying the filter and discarding the coffee puck, cleaning the filter basket and dirty drip trays, and wiping down the surrounding area.

·      A little TLC will keep your espresso tasting great and add more years to your machine's life.

Use Freshly Ground Coffee

A perfectly brewed espresso gets its wonderful aroma and rich taste because of freshly ground beans prepared in a quality burr grinder. Don't make the mistake of grinding a large amount and storing the excess for next time. Leftover grounds soon go stale and flavorless.

·      Making espresso requires a very fine grind with particles finer even than table salt. For this reason, you should always use a burr grinder and never a blade grinder.

Get Your Dose Right

Most espresso brewed today can be thought of as a "double shot" that produces about 2 fluid ounces of liquid espresso. To brew a double espresso, you'll ideally use 18–21 grams of ground coffee. When figuring out how large of a dose to use, first check the amount recommended by your basket's manufacturer. Your basket should have measurements marked on its sides. Try to stay within 1 gram of the required number for best results.

Pay Attention to Your Water

In case you aren't aware, your brewed coffee is 98% water. So, it follows that the taste of your espresso will be affected by the water you use. Water that's too hard or too soft or chlorinated, and aqua with noticeable flavors of its own will all hobble your ability to make espresso that tastes absolutely wonderful. 

·      The type of water you use will also affect how much scaling will build up in your machine. Click here for a good discussion on your water choices.

Tamp your Coffee Grinds the Right Way

Compacting ground coffee with a tamper restricts water flow, forcing coffee and water to interact with appropriate pressure. Tamp firmly and evenly without using unnecessary force. Think of it like this: once the coffee is thoroughly compacted, there's no benefit to tamping any harder.

·      Yes, there's an art to tamping. Tamping can make the difference between a great espresso and a watery drink that's just bland, and no one wants a bland espresso!

Pay Attention to How the Espresso Pours

To understand your coffee and improve your skills, you must watch your espresso pour. The way it pours says a lot about its quality. A slow flow means that the grounds are too fine or the coffee has been overly compressed. A fast flow indicates that the beans have been too coarsely ground, and your espresso will taste feeble.

·      There must be a good balance of consistency, strength, and flavor to achieve the best results. The flow should not be too watery or too thick, not too strong or too weak.

Serve Your Espresso the Right Way

Even if you make espresso just for yourself, make sure you pour your coffee into a good coffee mug. If you like drinking super hot coffee, get a cup warmer to ensure that your drink stays warm until the last sip. Serve espresso to your guests in demitasse cups of suitable sizes.

Make Espresso: “Grounds” for Thought!

For a more detailed description of how to make espresso, click on this link. Yes, there's quite a lot involved with making espresso at home. However, with a little practice and care, you can be your own accomplished home barista.