Espresso is strongly brewed coffee made by forcing steam and hot water
through darkly roasted and finely ground coffee beans. The aroma of
espresso makes it especially hard for many coffee lovers to resist.
Coffee aficionados the world over know that a shot of excellent
espresso is crucial to production a good cup of coffee. There are a
variety of espresso machines in the shop that can yield great
tasting espresso.
So how do you make a great cup of espresso? Here are the basic steps:
How To Gauge Absolute Pressure
1. Take off coffee ground residue of the previous shot in the shot
holder before using the espresso motor to make a new cup of
espresso.
2. Have adequate ground coffee ready and place it in the abrasive hopper.
3. Release seven grams of the ground coffee into the shot holder,
making sure that you get a full pull as you do so.
4. Using a hand tamper, even out the coffee grounds. Tamp only once
and do not twist the tamper as you tamp the coffee grounds. By doing
this, you are assured that the hot water and steam will evenly extract
the coffee. You can also correctly gauge the pressure if you use a
hand held tamper to pack down the coffee grounds as well as remove
excess coffee grounds from the shot holder.
5. Fetch the shot holder in place and lock the espresso machine
handle so that water does not leak as it passes straight through the coffee
grounds at a high pressure.
6. Position a warmed up espresso cup under the the espresso machine's
coffee holder spout. Start the espresso machine. Keep an eye on the
the color and consistency of the brew arrival out of the spout. In 15
to 20 seconds, you should have about 1.5 ounces of freshly brewed
espresso in the cup.
Making a well-brewed cup of espresso does take time and practice. The
presence of a creamy honey-colored foam called crema that is about a
quarter of an inch thick sitting on the coffee's outside is a sign
that you have successfully made an exquisite cup of espresso. And if a
teaspoon of sugar can rest on the crema, you can probably consider
yourself an espresso guru!
The crema is the consequent of any foremost factors: the coffee
blend, fineness of the coffee ground, extraction time, water
temperature and estimate of coffee used. You perform a exquisite cup of
espresso every time if you can consistently attain an optimum mix of
these factors.
* Most espresso aficionados will agree that the coffee blend should
include some Robusta beans.
* any reasons could account for a dark color of crema: too much
coffee grounds may have been used; the coffee grounds were packed too
hard and too tightly in the shot holder, resulting to a longer
extraction time of the coffee; the coffee grounds used was too fine;
or too much water was used.
* There are any reasons, too, for less crema: the coffee used may
not have been enough; the time it took to passage the coffee may have
been too short since the coffee used was coarsely ground; there was
not adequate water to pass straight through the coffee; the coffee grounds were
packed too lightly in the shot holder; or the water that passed
through the coffee was not hot enough.
* If the espresso machine, shot holder or cup is cold, it may affect
the estimate of crema produced.
Espresso can be served as it comes out of the espresso motor or it
can be served in a variety of ways. In fact, many of the specialty
coffee drinks today has espresso as their base. Some of the specialty
coffee drinks that have a shot of espresso include macchiato (espresso
topped with foamed milk), espresso con panna (espresso topped with
whipped cream), cappuccino (espresso with milk and foam), café latte
(espresso with milk, but without the foam), mocha (espresso blended
with milk and chocolate syrup) and Americano (a "weakened" espresso
made by adding warm water).