Espresso

Making the perfect espresso can seem daunting to start with, there are many different factors that can play a part in your final shot. A finer grind will slow down how quickly the water passes through your grouphead and will give you more of an extraction, if your brew time is taking longer than planned then you may be over-extracting resulting in a bitter and dry espresso. A coarser grind will speed up your brew time but give you less extraction.

Measurements

Grind size very fine
Coffee weight 1:2 ratio, 1g dry coffee for every 2g brewed coffee
Water double your coffee
Brew time Around 25-30 seconds

How to make it

  1. Clean and dry your group handle from your espresso machine
  2. Purge your grouphead with hot water for a few seconds
  3. Weigh your group handle, then zero the scales, add your freshly ground coffee to the desired weight. You may need to play with the grind size to get the right extraction time.
  4. Distribute and settle your coffee evenly in the filter basket.
    place your portafilter on a flat surface and position the tamper on top.
  5. Apply pressure directly down through your tamper
  6. Place your portafilter into the grouphead, being careful not to bang it or disrupt the coffee inside which could create channels for the water to pass through.
  7. Select your water setting and allow the shot to drip. It should start slowly and then speed up with a creamy crema forming towards the end.
  8. Sit back and enjoy a freshly brewed espresso.

The Golden Rules

  1. Bean – Always use the whole bean, as soon as you grind your coffee you’ll start to lose flavour and the coffee will begin to go stale. If you can keep it whole bean until you brew, you’ll notice the difference.
  2. Weigh your coffee – weighing your coffee is crucial to understand the brew time and ensure you are getting an even extraction, if you don’t weigh it might be differences in the grind quantity causing over or under extraction
  3. Water – water can have a big impact on flavour and also on your coffee machine. Ensure you use filtered water to stop your machine scaling up and to improve your cups flavour.