Espresso is extracted at 9 atmospheres of preassure, usually at around 197 degrees. I follow the David Schomer school of thought and cranked my machine at my shop up to 205, but most people don’t. A mocha pot wont do it, but it comes close…kind of paleo-espresso
Certain flavors in the coffee do not bond with water under normal preassure.
The crema is what differentiates espresso from regular coffee. If you have no crema, you have strong coffee, not espresso.
The beans should NEVER be more than 2 weeks old, and should never be ground more than 45 minutes before brewing. I roast my own in my shop for this reason. Before I had a coffee shop, I roasted in my kitchen starting from green.
Around 30 pounds of tamp is perfect.
I personally believe that a perfect double shot is 2 oz extracted at 27 seconds. Shots become more sour the faster they are extracted, and bitter the longer they are extracted. If a shot runs over 30 seconds we dump it down the sink. Same with less than 25
*$'s barrista machcines are usually just Saecos, and can be aquired cheaper. If your really want a nice home machine go for a Rancillio Silvia and Rocky grinder…
I used to have one something like this, though mine was white plastic instead of polished stainless. ‘Used to have’ because during a power outage at the Massiv household, an unsupervised youngster was playing with the buttons. When the power was restored, the water reservoir was quickly depleted and, eventually, the circuit breaker to that part of the house was tripped. The motor had melted through its mounts and the ‘yummy’ smell of burnt black rubber gaskets and coffee lingered for several days. A total loss, I still haven’t replaced the unit.
It’s worth pointing out that there are two major types of espresso machines: pump driven and steam driven. Pump is better and start at around the $200 mark. Steam machines develop pressure by heating the water and have no moving parts other than perhaps a valve or two.
All this espresso talk has me feeling drowsy. Where’s my can of Chock MaxHills O’ClockWell Brothers?
La Pavoni is a nice machine. I want to get one of their lever machines some day.
Steam machines are kind of inbetween the stovetop mocha pots and the “real” espresso machines. It is possible to get a good shot out of one. I started out with one and with a lot of luck I could get a decent shot. Some of them you cant tamp or you will stall them.
The biggest mistake most people make is skimping on the grinder. The little whirly blade grinders wont do it. Most burr grinders wont do it. The grinder needs to not only be able to grind, but should also be able to grind to a consistant particle size.
If you have grounds that smaller, they will extract faster and the larger ones will extract slower. The poblem is that you wind up with both in the portafilter then you some bitter elements and some sour elements.
Also, underpreassure you wind up with channeling where the water blasts through the uneven packed grounds and most of the water follows that path. You wind up with a cup of something not unlike bong water.
The cheapest usable grinder for home espresso is the Zassenhouse hand crank models. Some people buy these and us an electric drill to turn them. Some people also wind up breaking them in the process. They will produce a perfect grind but they are more trouble.
Bodum makes a burr grinder that will work, but you have to take it apart and set it to grind finer than the factory does. I used one of those for a while.
We’ve been using espresso machines of various sizes and types for 25 years.
We used to have a funky Italian stovetop machine that took a good 45 minutes from start to finish.
Sweeeet! can I spend a few hours pulling shots if I’m ever in the neighborhood?
I think have every device that makes coffee in all of it’s forms short of a vac pot and an Ibrik.
For espresso I have a Gaggia Carezza machine paired with a Rocky grinder and can pull shots far superior to any cafe in my area. I roast my own coffee so freshness is never a problem. Even still I drink more drip coffee than anything else.
I was going to build one of those…was looking for one of those mythical stainless trash cans…Then I got my 7 kilo Diedrich. Theres a picture of it in this article http://www.coffeegeek.com/opinions/newbiecolumn/07-18-2005
its an article about my shop…Hope that doesnt violate any rules.
