Espresso at Home

[Mister Moo]

A few words about espresso.

1. It is the ultimate expression of coffee, as a fine cigar may reasonably be considered the ultimate expression of tobacco.



2. Making conventional espresso at home is not a casual occupation for a FNG coffeehead; it makes a mess and demands a longish learning curve, good equipment and absolutely fresh roasted coffee. Except, perhaps, for a trial decision period to figure out if you want to buy into making espresso at home, the process does not work especially long or well with bottom-end equipment. Yes, yes... there are always some folks who really sweat the details and get highly focused on the craft (and the machinery) who can make low end gear really sing but it isn't easy. There are certain laws of physics that low end gear simply cannot address. This is a nasty bit of business to mention but, with espresso hardware, what you pay for is pretty much what you get. No $200 espresso manine will ever do what a $2000 machine will. Does that matter? Maybe yes - maybe no. But it is the way it is.

3. No snob zone? This is the fact of it. Anything less than freshly roasted coffee makes swill from an espresso machine; and anything less than exemplary single origin beans (or well crafted/roasted blends) makes, at best, 2nd rate espresso.

4. Trying to make what the technical people define as "espresso" requires a machine that produces a lot of pressure - min. 9-bar - and can hold brewing water at a steady temperature (198-205f as a rule) over a 20-30 second brewing cycle. You cannot do this with a mokapot or a steam-driven machine.

5. Making GREAT coffee with an AeroPress, mokapot or other steam driven devices is certainly possible - it just isn't espresso. It's strong coffee - maybe even fantastic strong coffee. Maybe even as tasty or better than espresso - but it isn't espresso. This is like the thing about ISOMs vs NCs. There may be a range of great, overlapping taste on both sides, but one is not the other.

6. I love coffee but don't drink much of it; I usually have one or sometimes two espressos in the morning. I'd rather have one good espresso or great mokapot brew than 5-cups of brewed coffee.

7. Badly made espresso tastes like crap. Espresso has a richness of flavor, mouthfeel and aroma that is not comparable to any other straight coffee drink. If you have ever had espresso that was bitter or otherwise unpleasant, it was badly made, produced on a filthy machine or was brewed from stale beans or a rotten roast. Well made espresso is smooth, almost oily or buttery, stays in your mouth for half and hour and ranges somewhere around the word "sweetish" to the experienced palate.

8. Without a superauto machine, well made espresso in the home is more of second job than a means to a morning eye-opener. Espresso produced from pods (pre-roasted, pre-measured, pre-ground, vacuum sealed packages) is faster, cleaner, easier and may produce a very decent shot according the quality of the pod and the brewing machine. Most pod espresso I've tasted was pretty much awful but some was quite good. I suspect the bad-est of it had more to do with cheap equipment or improper machine cleaning than anything else; a dirty machine is the first culprit to finding the source of bad espresso in my experience.

9. Anyone who works her way through the maze of cigars to find nirvana from an evening puff will probably love good espresso. This is not to say you'd necessarily love the process of making good espresso unless, of course, you insist on rolling your own cigars.

10. There are many ways to make really fine coffee. They involve better bean selection, finding a good roasting company to buy from, home roasting, fresh grinding, alternate brewing methods, etc. If you want to learn how to make good coffee, I say explore everything EXCEPT making espresso at home.

11. If you plan to make any kind of good coffee at home over the long haul, get yourself a kick-ass burr grinder before spending a nickel on anything else. The kicker-ass it is, the longer it will last (a lifetime, say) and the more versatile it will be. It will grind for espresso if you ever go there, but will serve you well for everything else coffee no matter what your tastes or budget.

12. I do not qualify as an expert on this subject. I'm merely a post whore with a laptop and a coffee jones, that's all.

13. Like Seinfeld and the menage-a-trois ("Then I'll need orgy clothes and orgy friends. I'll need lotions and I'll have to grow a mustache...") you may find espresso requires a community and many accessories. You would not be the first to wonder, "Where does it end?" Tampers. Pitchers. Skim or whole milk. This grinder. That grinder. Bigger filterbasket. New portafilter... it goes on and on.

Insane thing to do, making espresso at home. I love it. But a mokapot, for a thousand dollars less, ain't too shabby, either.

Are you a home espresso weenie? Are you thinking about becoming one?



Relax.

Explain.

Take plenty of time to decide.

[Fumes]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

12. I do not qualify as an expert on this subject. I'm merely a post whore with a laptop and a coffee jones, that's all.

You may not think you qualify, but for the purpose of answering this question I appoint you Resident Expert:

How much better are high-end espresso makers than budget/econo machines? For example, I recently jumped into the shark tank and acquired a DeLonghi EC155 -- a pump machine that can be had for well under $100. It has some really serious design flaws, but ignoring those it seems to make pretty good coffee. Pretty good, I say, because I was expecting better. I'm still new at this so there's a lot of room for operator error, but I'm working on my technique, and I am not afraid to fail. (Lately I've been failing with a nice blend of Brazil Pedra Grande and El Salvador COE. Not too shabby for failure.)

Yet I wonder -- am I setting my sights too high? Is this the best I can expect from a budget machine? And what is "fake" crema? (as critics of this machine have espressed.) What's fake and what's real and how do I tell the difference?

[md4958]

Great post Moo. I cant bump your rep anymore than I already have!

[King James]

awesome post...thanks moo!

[Mister Moo]

How much better are high-end espresso makers than budget/econo machines?

More than night and day.

For example, I recently jumped into the shark tank and acquired a DeLonghi EC155 -- a pump machine that can be had for well under $100. It has some really serious design flaws, but ignoring those it seems to make pretty good coffee. Pretty good, I say, because I was expecting better.

This is where things historically have gone off the track and peope begin sending me exploding cigars. So! This is just an opinion based on my experience, not a statement of fact: low end steam and pump machines are what they are. In general, if you have low expectations for espresso, they will be met. Otherwise they're good:

1. to help one decide if they want to make good espresso at home (which I already said was a bad idea - expensive ticket to play); or

2. as a teriffic looking paperweights. (Most of them end up in the garage.)

I had three cheapies and I really like great espresso. One of the three delivered great brew but I had to play it like a violin to get the right tune out of it more than 50% of the time. I'd call it a learning experience. If I knew then what I know now I would have bought one extreme grinder and a $10 mokapot instead of four espresso machines and two grinders

I'm still new at this so there's a lot of room for operator error, but I'm working on my technique...

Zakly. Start where you are. Making good espresso is, in part, learning how to eliminate operator error. Learn how to make the best with whatever you have. That might be great espresso half the time, or it might be not-so-great espresso 100% of the time. If it makes you crazy after a year or two, upgrade or slide happily into mokapot world.

Yet I wonder -- am I setting my sights too high? Is this the best I can expect from a budget machine?

Old saying - "When you think you might maybe have a problem then you already do."

And what is "fake" crema? (as critics of this machine have espressed.) What's fake and what's real and how do I tell the difference?

False crema is the floaty foamy brown emulsification you might get when producing coffee with methods under 9-bar of pressure.

[Fumes]

Thanks for your sage counsel, Moo. Expert or no, it helps. Meanwhile I have some really nice beans to work with and this forum to look to for comaraderie and sound advice. On my part, practice, discipline, and a trainer machine. One day I hope I can snatch the coffee bean from your hand.

Mister Moo thanks for putting this down. I really like reading what you have to say about coffee. I enjoy coffee but i like putting sugar/ milk in which I know it is wrong but I drink what I like. I hope to someday enjoy coffee to the point of no add ins. I have been cutting back on all that stuff. Thanks for your wisdom.

[md4958]

Originally Posted by leasingthisspace

Mister Moo thanks for putting this down. I really like reading what you have to say about coffee. I enjoy coffee but i like putting sugar/ milk in which I know it is wrong but I drink what I like. I hope to someday enjoy coffee to the point of no add ins. I have been cutting back on all that stuff. Thanks for your wisdom.

I was once at a winery in Piemonte and asked the manager there, what he considered the best wine... his response "the one you enjoy drinking." The same holds true for coffee. Drink what you like, like what you drink.

There is nothing wrong with putting in sugar and milk in your espresso. In fact in Italy MOST people use sugar or sweetner in their coffee.

As far as milk goes, if you add a touch of steamed milk it is called a macchiato (that crap that starbucks calls a macchiato is really a caffe latte) If you add cold milk it is called a macchiato freddo.

If you add 1/3 espresso 1/3 steamed milk and 1/3 foam from the steamed milk, then you have a cappuccino. Alter the portions to 40% espresso and 60% steamed milk (leave out the foam) and you have a caffe latte.

Take your steamed foamy milk and make it very very warm (not hot) serve it in a highball glass and add a short shot of espresso (2oz) and you have a latte macchiato... the ladies love this one because it looks really beautiful when you add the espresso to the milk.

When steaming milk remember the rule I always tell my employees... if its too hot to hold, its too hot to drink (the steaming pitcher). If you scald the milk, not only will it taste bad, the first sip will fry your tastebuds for the rest of the drink.

Also cold milk+ chilled frothing pitcher= better foam.

Moo, any thoughts you would like to add?

[Buena Fortuna]

Best place to get a Moka Pot? Stainless or aluminum?
Posted via Mobile Device

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by Buena Fortuna

Best place to get a Moka Pot? Stainless or aluminum?
Posted via Mobile Device

Bialetti Moka Express 1-3 cup, aluminum. Moka, not espresso, technically spreeking.

[Buena Fortuna]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

Bialetti Moka Express 1-3 cup, aluminum. Moka, not espresso, technically spreeking.

Thank you,

Do retailers carry them as a general rule, or is it best to get them right from Bialetti?

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by Buena Fortuna

Thank you,

Do retailers carry them as a general rule, or is it best to get them right from Bialetti?

They are sold everywhere. I see them at discount stores now & then. Bialetti is a huge brand and widely distributed.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by Buena Fortuna

Thank you,

Do retailers carry them as a general rule, or is it best to get them right from Bialetti?

Shop around, Under $20 for a three cupper is good.

Grind and fresh roast is important. See examples and learn the basics at: http://fantes.com/espresso-stovetop.html

This is an espresso thread, btw. Mokapot coffee is not true espresso - close, but no cigar. Read and discuss more about moka at:
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=705.

[ghostrider]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

A few words about espresso.

1. It is the ultimate expression of coffee, as a fine cigar may reasonably be considered the ultimate expression of tobacco.

Why not combine both? Introducing...tobaccoccino

[germantown rob]

I swore I would never get into home espresso but here I am.

I just decided tonight to waste good money and now I am getting overwhelmed with info on machines. I need some counsel on the matter of what to get. I don't want something I will have to upgrade in a couple of years or ever, but I don't mind doing some mods to achieve a great machine. So any help is appreciated.

[germantown rob]

So after a few days of research I ordered the Oscar, this should do the trick till I want something serious.

Oscar

[Mister Moo]

Oscar should do the trick for 10-20 years. Get the killer mill, a /reg Barber tamper and a good knockbox. Enjoy.

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

Oscar should do the trick for 10-20 years. Get the killer mill, a /reg Barber tamper and a good knockbox. Enjoy.

Where is good for accessories? At Chris' the Barber tamper is $45 I think, but when I search the web I find more selection (of Barber tampers) at cheaper prices.

What is a good knockbox for countertop use? I see mostly ones for cafes that go on a trash can. I think I will be using a doserless grinder so I am sure I will be brushing off lots of extra grounds so I want a box that is big enough but fitting in a home kitchen.

Again what is a good place to shop for accessories?

Originally Posted by germantown rob

robofan,
I leave the insanity and cost of making espresso for crotchety old geezers and coffee shops for now.

Originally Posted by germantown rob

So after a few days of research I ordered the Oscar, this should do the trick till I want something serious.

Does this mean what I think it does?

Congrats on your recent purchase.

[Swampper]

The Oscar is Serious!

Accessories I recommend:

Bumper Tamper - Espresso Parts NW has them.

Knock box, get what ever fits your space.

Naked portafilter - chriscoffee.com has a good one for the Nuova Simonelli

If you have hard water, get some kind of softener system.