For the ardent coffee enthusiast eager to master the art of brewing the perfect espresso shot at home, our comprehensive analysis of top-tier espresso machines, grinders, and accessories will guide you towards an excellent beginner's kit. However, honing your skills will require a blend of patience and practice. To aid you in this journey, we sought the expertise of our Master Roaster, Filippo Tomelleri.
To embark on your espresso-brewing journey, the essential equipment includes the espresso machine itself and coffee ground to the correct consistency for espresso (a much finer grind than you may be accustomed to for filter coffee). Ideally, you should grind the coffee beans for each espresso shot right before brewing, as coffee loses its freshness quickly once ground.
Choosing Your Coffee
Superior equipment alone cannot guarantee a sublime espresso if the coffee itself is subpar. While traditional espresso is brewed with a darker roast, it is not necessary to select a coffee bean marketed specifically as "espresso." The choice is yours, and owning your own setup allows for experimentation. Numerous commendable coffee roasting techniques are available, so why not explore a few? You will find that the finest roasters aim to create coffee blends that maintain their distinctive characteristics when served with milk and taste balanced and pleasing during the espresso brewing process. Our 3 home blends have all unique characteristics but all 3 can be used for Espresso brewing. You can find more info here, why not try them all and see which one suits your taste better?
Regardless of your choice, freshness is paramount, so ensure your coffee is at its peak. This does not mean grinding beans straight from the roaster—coffee is typically "rested" for a few days (we found that for our coffee, 2 weeks is the optimal time to allow for the de-gassing of CO2, which affects brewing).
Quality roasters now print roast dates on their packaging; look for these labels or stamps wherever you purchase beans. At supermarkets, you may encounter vague "best by" dates, which do not provide much information.
You may have heard suggestions to store your beans in the fridge or freezer to maintain freshness, but this is a contentious topic. Instead of risking moisture (or odour) contamination, store your coffee in an airtight container in a cool, dark place, and remember to use it promptly. If you treat coffee like any other produce and purchase smaller quantities more frequently, you will always enjoy the freshest and most flavourful results.
Grinding and Measuring Your Coffee
For precision, it's advisable to use a scale to ensure that you're dosing each shot (i.e., measuring out the coffee grounds) accurately—at least until you're confident that you're consistently following the same steps.
For a double shot of espresso (about 2 ounces), a standard dose is between 13 and 18 grams of coffee. However, since every espresso machine is unique, you may find your ideal dose by ensuring just enough headspace remains after you've tamped down the shot to allow for efficient brewing when you lock the portafilter into the machine. We use 18 grams for all our double shots.
Once you've determined the amount of coffee you want to use and start pulling shots, you'll need to adjust your grind size to ensure that water saturates the grinds properly, rather than under-extracting (grind too coarse, tastes sour) or over-extracting (grind too fine, tastes bitter). As a general guide, the coffee ground for espresso should be very finely ground, less coarse than sand, but not so fine that the machine can't push water through the portafilter. When adjusting your grind size, always remember to purge the grinder by running it for a couple of seconds to flush out any remaining particles from the previous grind setting. Otherwise, you'll end up with a mix of grind sizes in your next shot, leaving you clueless about the correct grind.
Pulling a Good Shot
Ready to begin? Fill your portafilter with a double-shot dose of coffee, weighing it if possible. You'll have a mound of espresso that needs distribution to ensure the portafilter fills evenly without leaving significant gaps or channels for water to exploit. Distribute the coffee by hand, then place the portafilter on a steady surface like the edge of a countertop and tamp as evenly as you can (it's important to apply consistent pressure each time to ensure consistent brewing from one shot to the next).
Run the machine briefly without a portafilter in place to purge the group head (the nozzle where you insert the portafilter). Now lock the portafilter into the machine, prepare a glass or cup (glass is easiest for beginners to observe the consistency and layering of their espresso) — and start your shot!
We recommend timing your shots to achieve the best brew ratio (the ratio of ground coffee to hot water). "Typically, with espresso, we use a 1:2 brew ratio, because espresso inherently is a very concentrated drink” To achieve that ratio, look for a brewing time of between 24 and 30 seconds (we always target 25 seconds). If your machine seems to be pulling shots much faster or slower than that, it's likely that your grind size is off—make adjustments and aim for that target time range. (If the brewing is too fast, make the grind finer, if the brewing is too long, make the grind coarser)
Some semiautomatic machines may come with pre-set times for both single and double shots, but you can also start and stop them manually. And once you've determined your ideal timing, you can adjust the pre-set times accordingly and repeat them at the touch of a button.
Now that you've pulled your first shots, you can delve into the details of perfecting them. If everything appears visually acceptable at first—a nice volume of viscous liquid, with a caramel-coloured crema on top of the shot—taste it, and proceed from there. Just remember: No amount of reading will train you to produce excellent espresso more than training your palate by tasting, tasting, tasting, and adjusting, adjusting, adjusting.
After each use, clean and dry the portafilter to prevent coffee build-up on the inside.
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