Help! My Espresso is Messy
Does great
espresso have to be messy? Some say so, others say no. Here we explore
this topic.
When you have created a truly excellent shot of espresso you
immediately marvel at the rich color of the coffee and the creamy dark
golden colored crema foam resting on the surface. So, how do we create
this coffee masterpiece? And how big a mess will be created as well?
Let’s
take a look at the process of making a great espresso. For starters,
we will review the process of making espresso with one of my favorite
machines, the Pasquini
Livia Semi-automatic. We will also look at how some other
machines have attempted to make the process of making espresso easier
and less messy.
We
will examine seven espresso-making steps in some detail, highlighting
the potential for mess in red.
1)
Preparing the Machine
2)
Water Quality
3)
Selecting Your Coffee
4)
Grinding the Beans
5)
Dosing and Tamping
6)
Extracting
7)
Clean-up and Maintenance
1)
Preparing the Machine
Add
fresh water to the water tank. Turn on the Pasquini Livia and allow it to warm
up for 7 to 10 minutes. Prepare a blank shot,
and release some steam through the steam wand. This will ensure the
machine is completely warmed up. With the Pasquini Livia, I can do
this once a day, as it is designed to stay on and be ready to prepare
espresso all day long. Add fresh roasted beans to the bean hopper on
your grinder, and dose
out any old coffee remaining in the doser.
2)
Water Quality
High
water quality is critical to producing excellent espresso. Hard water
contains mineral deposits which may or may not adversely affect the
taste of your espresso, but they will damage your machine over time.
Regular decalcification
of your machine or the use of soft water will prevent
damage to your machine. Chlorine and other foul tastes must be removed
or avoided – if your water does not taste good, neither will your
espresso. Either filter
your water or use bottled water. Even the most expensive bottled water is
affordable when producing a 1 or 2 ounce shot of espresso.
3)
Selecting Your Coffee
Roasting
your own coffee is a whole other topic, but many insist it is the only way
to ensure truly fresh coffee. A local coffee roaster, if you’re
lucky enough to have a good one, is another good source of fresh
roasted coffee. If one is not available, a variety of quality Italian
roasted espresso coffee is available. Companies such as illy and
Lavazza are some quality brands. A favorite of mine is
illy’s
whole bean medium roast, which comes packed in airtight 250
gram tins.
4)
Grinding the Beans
Freshly
ground beans are important for two reasons:
Freshness – Once
coffee is ground, it oxidizes (gets stale) much more quickly.
Grind Adjustment
–
Fine-tuning your grind to maximize the extraction of your
espresso is one of the true arts in the process of making great
espresso.
The
grind should be consistent and about the coarseness of table salt.
Also, only a minimal amount of heat should be generated during
grinding. A quality burr grinder is required.
5)
Dosing and Tamping
Once
you have ground your coffee, approximately 7 grams of coffee for each
1 to 1½ ounce shot is normally used. With the
Pasquini
Moka grinder, this is accomplished by using the grinder’s
built-in doser to portion the coffee into the filter basker/portafilter.
Inconsistent dosing will lead to inconsistent espresso.
After
dosing the coffee, the coffee needs to be firmly and evenly
packed
or tamped. I prefer to do this with my
58mm
Reg Barber tamper. Apply approximately 30 pounds of
pressure until the surface is level. Any remaining loose
coffee should be brushed away. The portafilter is then ready to
be placed into the group head of your espresso machine.
6)
Extracting Your Espresso
I
generally run the pump for about 25 seconds to yield a 1 1/2 ounce shot of
espresso. Extracting into pre-warmed espresso cups is required. I
really like the illy
collectors cups designed by Atelier van Lieshout.
7)
Clean-up and Maintenance
After
extraction, remove the portafilter and dump the grinds. Rinse the
portafilter and basket. Periodically clean out the drip tray and wipe
up any spills. Use a soft brush to remove any coffee from up in the
group heap. Periodically back-flush the machine using an appropriate
cleaner.
Follow
these simple tips, and you’ll always have a great shot of espresso
with minimal mess. Enjoy!
Wow, perfect espresso, and it is always
worth the effort. Can it
be simpler, can it be less messy? Lets explore three alternatives:
Capresso Espresso Classic, Nespresso D150 and the Jura Capresso E8 super
automatic coffee and espresso center.
Capresso Espresso
Classic
The Capresso Espresso
Classic provides many time
saving and mess reducing features.
1) Preparing the machine: the Espresso
Classic’s Thermoblock heating system warms up in about a minute.
This is accomplished because the espresso pro does not pre-boil
a quantity of water, it super heats a block of metal through which a
water tube runs. When
water has passed completely through the tube, it is consistently
heated to the proper temperature.
3)
Selecting your coffee.
4)
Grinding the beans
5)
Dosing and tamping
The Espresso
Classic utilizes ground coffee or
espresso pods. An
espresso pods is a pre-ground, pre-measured disk of coffee held
together by a fine filter paper.
Espresso pods eliminate the need to grind, measure and tamp
your coffee. And after extracting your espresso, the used grounds are
easily and cleanly disposed of. 1st in coffee sells
espresso pods from illy, Lavazza and San Giorgio.
The Nespresso D300
The Nespresso D300 also utilizes a Thermoblock
heating system, but what makes it totally unique are the Nespresso
coffee capsules. The
Nespresso system was designed to utilize Nespresso capsules from the
beginning. The capsules
contain 7 grams of pre-ground espresso coffee and inert gas to
maintain freshness. Similar to pods, there is no need to grind, measure, tamp the
coffee.
The Jura Capresso
E8 Super Automatic
Preparing the machine
Place whole bean coffee in the hopper, fill
the water tank, turn on the machine.
After about a minute, the machine is ready.
Adjust the water volume dial to 2 oz and select one cup regular
and press the brew button.
The Jura Capresso
E8 then grinds, measures,
tamps and brews serves and cleans up, automatically.
No other type of machine automates the process of making an
espresso like a super automatic.
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