All about Espresso

How do I make an espresso?

An espresso is a coffee preparation that is made by pressing hot water through the finely ground espresso grind.

What do you need to make an espresso?

• Espresso machine
• Espresso coffee beans
• Coffee grinder
• Tamper (and possibly a distributor)

You start by making espresso at your espresso machine. You can turn this on in advance because it takes about 10 minutes to heat up the boiler in the machine. Once the machine is up to temperature, you can let some water run through to get the brew group and portafilter warm faster. It is important that the portafilter is then made dry again, otherwise, this will affect the extraction and the taste.

Grinding the coffee beans

When brewing coffee, it is important that the grind is fresh. This means fresh beans and only grind when you are going to use it right away. Because the grind is freshly ground, there will be more flavor and aroma in your espresso. Setting the grinder to a nice espresso grind is something you can try out and you can read more about it here. The grind fineness can differ per bean and offers the barista a lot of experimentation with the taste.

Pressing or tamping

After you have removed the grind from the coffee grinder, the grind (if it is good) will be in your portafilter. To properly distribute the grind, I always tap the piston against the holder of the coffee grinder. Next, it is important that the coffee is evenly distributed in your portafilter. This can be done very easily by using a distributor or leveler. If you don't have this, it can also be done by hand, this is of course slightly less accurate. You've divided the coffee and it's time to press down the grind. Put your portafilter against your tamper mat and press the grind with your tamper.

Extraction

Turn your portafilter into the espresso machine and immediately let the water run through. This is important because otherwise the coffee will burn and this will give an unsavory taste to the espresso. How long you want the espresso to run is up to the barista and depends on taste. We recommend keeping it between 25-30 seconds and stopping at 30ml.

How do I get a crema layer?

A good indication of a good espresso is a nice crema layer. A nice overview of good and bad espresso can be found below. A lighter shade is a sign that the water is not hot enough. This may be because the machine was not yet fully up to temperature or because the PID is set too low. A layer that is too dark indicates that the grind is too fine or that the grind has been pressed too hard. It then becomes dark because the water is difficult to get through and the grind burns. If you don't have any crema at the moment, the grinding degree of your grinder is probably too coarse and the water goes through it too easily. This will give you watery coffee.

How long should an espresso last?

With an espresso machine, faster is not an advantage. We recommend sitting between 23-30 seconds for a really tasty espresso of 7 grams of coffee. Giving direct advice on the lead time is very difficult, this is because a 23-second espresso tastes different than a 30-second espresso. It may just be that you like the 23-second espresso and someone else the 30. In short, it comes down to taste and this is a fun quest for the barista.

How many bars for a good espresso?

As indicated on the pressure gauge on many of our machines, an ideal pump pressure when the water reaches the coffee is 9 bar. If you buy a new machine, it is adjusted correctly when it is made and it is no longer necessary to adjust the pressure. Have you been using your machine for a while and see that the pressure is no longer at 9 bar? Then there is a good chance that there is limescale in the machine so that the water can no longer flow through or with difficulty. Maintenance is therefore very important. In order to get good coffee from your machine, an occasional service is required. Fortunately, we have locations throughout the country that love to make your machine top-notch. 

How many ml is an espresso?

An espresso is on average 30ml. The espresso is prepared with 7 grams and with an extraction time of about 25-30 seconds. Still, it's nice to sometimes vary a bit, this way you get different flavors in your espresso. And you might get exactly the taste you like if you use 8 grams and the extraction is 32 seconds. In short, the numbers above are a good guideline, but experimenting with it yourself is never a bad thing!