I do, as mentioned above, and it makes excellent coffee, every time, with zero effort. Fine crema, too.
BTW, I also find it funny that people are pooh-pooing the use of technology in making a type of coffee invented by 19th-Century Italian industrialists specifically so that their workers take shorter coffee breaks.
Despite the name ‘espresso’, faster doesn’t automatically produce ‘better’. Making great espresso still depends on so many variables that the task has not yet been successfully mechanized.
I disagree. First, because my completely mechanized espresso machine does, in fact, make great espresso; and second, because espresso is, by definition, “technology coffee”, and rejection of the most advanced automated methods available is a rejection of the spirit of the drink. If you want hand-made, artisanal coffee then drink French press or something. Or just bang some rocks together.
I want espresso that tastes decent to me; I’ve never gotten what I (and many other folks) consider decent espresso from a fully automatic machine. Nor from semi-automatic machines where the operator does not know what they’re doing.
I’m glad you enjoy yours, but your experiences don’t match mine.
Have you tried Nespresso? IMHO, it’s far, far better than any capsule-based espresso I had tasted before.
Along the same line of semi-automatics, I have a Jura and I love it. I used to use a “real” machine (still do, but don’t use it). I found that I used it less and less because of all the effort needed to, grind, tamp, pull, and clean.
I bought one that only makes espresso (no milk connection or frother). I prefer it this way since the entire milk thing becomes a huge clean-up headache.
If I want a cappuccino I cheat and use a Breville frother. It’s super easy to clean.
It all depends on what you want. My household has decided that ease-of-use was more important than “real” espresso.
I have a Nespresso machine and like it. I have read many reviews on the espresso it produces. Some say it is swill, some say it produces barristro quality shots.
I then found this online article which is very interesting to me. “This is not a fanciful scenario. In the UK, more than 15 Michelin-starred restaurants use Nespresso, the market-leading capsule system, to make their coffee.” That shows to me that Nespresso must, at least, be pretty good.
Thanks, Chefguy, based on your recommendation ( as well as Amazon reviews and my history with Delonghi) I bought this machine, and am loving it. I also got a Capresso Infinity Burr grinder (all the reviews said the DeLonghi grinder tended to spill grinds on the counter when you pull the tray out.) So far they are working out wonderfully. Of course, today was my first day with them, but this thread isn’t that old.
So, my machine and technique are good. The only weak point is that sometimes, the ground coffee is not quite right.
I will get a better grinder. Burr rather than blade or something else, right?
Flat or conical burr? Electric or manual?
Anything else to know about grinders?
Update:
Any coffee recommendations? I find that a lot of espressos are too bitter to my taste without being incorporated into a latte or cappuccino.
What kind of beans should I use for a milder-tasting espresso? I
've noticed that I also tend to prefer espressos with lots of crema. How does one maximise that?
I got into espresso a BAD way a few years ago. Like Qadgop, I had a Rancilio Silvia, a PID setup, the works. I was even roasting and blending my own beans. Everything I did right, I attribute to info I got from David Schoemer’s books. Technique, temperature, everything’s in there. The guy is a major scientist, and if you go into his cafe, he’s got a running timeline of all his ideas and how they improved the espresso.
Two things. I bought one of his aluminum tampers; the bottom is slightly convex and exactly the interior diameter of my portafilter. After working with a bathroom scale to get my tamp pressure just right, I learned that you need a twist at the end to polish the surface.
I also know that the freshness of the beans and the correct blend makes a huge difference. Something like 5 percent robusta beans doesn’t affect the flavor but does wonders for the crema. And my ideal roast was just a hair lighter than you might expect. The really dark roasts cut through the milk well, but lose some of the sweetness and delicacy.
The beans themselves will affect the amount of crema you get. I would try a different supplier. The amount of crema decreases as the beans age - you want to use stuff that was just roasted a few days ago. Whenever I have to buy coffee from the local grocery store instead of directly from a roaster, it is usually a month or two old and there is little to no crema.
The temperature of the water makes a big difference in taste - if you are getting a bitter taste, the temperature may be too high. Too low temperature results in a sort of sour taste. The optimum is somewhere in the middle. Can you change the temperature on the machine you’re using? Just a few degrees makes a big difference. On my machine I can adjust the temperature by controlling how much water I flush through the brew group before extracting. When making a latte, I lean towards higher temperatures so that the bitter flavor balances out the milk, but when drinking straight espresso, lower temperatures result in better flavor.
As for recommendations, this is my favorite espresso blend. It is not bitter and produces plenty of crema:
I can kinda change the temperature by not turning it on until just before I extract, by letting time pass between extractions and by splashing water on the machine. It was a 200$ Breville on sale at 120$ so it’s missing some features.
When I extract it with as little warming up as possible, instead of getting a dark early drip that gradually lightens, I get a drip that starts pale and stays that way for a while. It ends up tasting sweet which I like but the coffee is lukewarm and acquires a bitter taste within about 5 minutes.
What is the lightest common roast on coffee beans? Any downsides to that?
People think espresso must always be made with a dark roast, which is not true. Dark roasts tend to have more bitter flavors in espresso, and the flavor results primarily from the roasting process itself. Light roasts retain more of the original flavor of the beans, but can sometimes be sour in espresso. As with extraction temperature, you need to find the right balance the matches your taste.
I don’t know much about the different terminology people use to refer to roasting styles - it differs from vendor to vendor. The Red Bird Espresso I linked is a fairly light roast that most vendors would not refer to as an “espresso” roast, but it tastes great.
EDIT: I see on their site it is referred to as “Rich Medium”. In any case, it is lighter than what most people would think of if you asked for “Espresso Roast”.
Has anyone not interrupted the reading of this thread to make a nice cup of coffee?
I bought myself an AeroPress a few months ago and am generally very pleased with it.
Are there any machines which can use milk, perhaps 0% milk, as a fluid instead of water?
I think I’ve got the extraction and frothing process down well enough. Anything else I might do to make it more interesting?
I’ve had good experience using espresso as a coulis on vanilla ice cream. Anything else it goes well with?
I’m not an espresso snob by any means, but the boutique hotel I stayed at recently had an Illy capsule espresso machine in the room and it produced a very tasty espresso.
Instead of water? That sounds like a very bad idea. It’s not the fat you have to worry about, it’s the protein. I don’t even like machines that dispense milk, such a pain to clean. Scorched Milk clogging your machine is what you’d end up with.
Yeah, it would have to be low temperature and high pressure. Perhaps manual espresso machines could work with milk. It just seems that impregnating milk rather than water could be interesting.
I’m getting contradictory information from several sources about the best way to make microfoam. I’ve practiced plenty but I could definitely benefit from tips.
Usually, my microfoam is either lacking in quality of quantity: I make enough foam but it has large bubbles and lacks the taste/texture of microfoam or I do make actual microfoam but there’s only a very small amount of it, not enough to even cover the top of the coffee.
What do?