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When it comes to Italian coffee, one must mention Espresso. As the main tool for extracting Espresso, an Espresso machine is an essential piece of equipment. The coffee extracted by an Espresso machine is rich and mellow. However, compared to ordinary coffee lovers, the use of an Espresso machine is too complicated. It is difficult to extract high-quality Espresso without professional training. Today, Front Street Coffee will talk about how to use a simple Espresso machine.
As the most well-known coffee product/category in the world, espresso has always been famous for its richness, mellowness and extremely high concentration. Some friends said that no matter how hard they cook it at home, they can’t get the same concentration of espresso sold in coffee shops, and it even burns!
How to extract espresso?
In fact, espresso does not boil coffee powder directly with water, nor does it mean that the extracted coffee is concentrated by heating. The production of espresso requires a special coffee machine, which is the espresso machine we see in coffee shops that can spray steam.
The extraction principle of an espresso machine is to generate steam by heating water in a boiler. Using the pressure of steam, hot water at 94 degrees Celsius is quickly passed through extremely finely ground coffee powder at a pressure of 9-10 bar, and a coffee liquid as thick as honey is extracted.
The coffee liquid will appear brown-red in the early stages of extraction, with a concentrated and smooth texture. As the extraction time increases, the coffee liquid will turn golden yellow and then light golden yellow.
How to tell if espresso is extracted properly?
The entire espresso is extracted very quickly, and the espresso is usually extracted in 25-30 seconds. However, since the performance of each coffee machine and grinder will be different, there is no specific parameter to refer to for espresso.
Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee can only provide you with an initial parameter, and you can adjust it according to the taste of the final espresso: (double powder bowl) use 20g powder in a ratio of 1:2 + 9bar pressure + 94 degrees Celsius hot water to extract 40g of coffee liquid; (single powder bowl) use 10g powder in a 1:2 ratio + 9bar pressure + 94 degrees Celsius hot water to extract 20g of coffee liquid. The extraction time is between 25-30 seconds.
If the flow rate during extraction is too fast/the espresso is too thin, you can adjust the grinding to a finer amount/increase the amount of coffee powder to be extracted (choose one of two). If the flow rate is too slow/the espresso is burnt and bitter, you can adjust the grinding to a coarser grind/reduce the amount of coffee powder to be extracted (choose one of two).
What coffee beans are used to make espresso?
If you are new to espresso, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using coffee beans blended specifically for espresso. The advantage of blending coffee beans is stability! And cost-effective. Through the blending of different production areas and different proportions, reducing single-origin coffee beans (coffee beans from a single production area) will show its own shortcomings with high concentration + increased extraction.
If you want your espresso to have a unique and rich aroma, you can try the "Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans" produced by FrontStreet Coffee stores. The 227g package is very suitable for home use. This coffee bean is made from Ethiopian Yirgacheffe sun-dried coffee beans + Honduras Moka Estate Sherry coffee beans. It has a rich fermented aroma like whiskey, smoothness like vanilla cream, sweet and sour like berries and sweetness like hazelnut caramel.
If you want espresso that is mellow but not sour, full of aroma, and rich in oil, you can try Front Street's classic Italian blended coffee beans. It is very suitable for those who like American coffee with a mellow taste and latte that can easily draw latte patterns. This coffee beans are made from Arabica coffee beans from the Cerrado region of Brazil and Sumatra Island in Indonesia, as well as a small amount of Robusta. The espresso extracted not only has a rich roasted nut-like aroma, as rich and mellow as black cocoa, but also has a caramel-like sweetness and aftertaste. The most important thing is that it also has a very beautiful golden oil.
Espresso extraction steps
First, turn on the coffee machine and wait for the inside of the coffee machine to automatically heat up. When the temperature on the display reaches 94 degrees Celsius, you can start preparing for extraction.
Before extraction, you need to dry the powder bowl first, turn on the grinder, grind out a double amount of coffee powder, place it on the electronic scale and increase or decrease it to reach a weight of 20 grams.
Then use a powder spreader to spread the coffee powder, and press the powder press vertically downward to fill the coffee powder cake tightly to ensure more stable coffee extraction.
Then turn on the extraction switch and let in water for 1 to 2 seconds to moisten the brewing head and take away the coffee grounds stuck on it. Then place an electronic scale under the cup where the Espresso is connected, return the weight to 0, and place it under the brewing head during extraction.
Gently snap the handle onto the brewing head and start turning down the extraction switch. Observe the changes in the extraction liquid. When the electronic scale shows that 40 grams of coffee liquid has been extracted, and the time is about 30 seconds, pull down the extraction switch.
If you need to make Americano, prepare a cup with a capacity of 200-250ml, pour 160-200g of warm water, then pour in espresso, and a hot Americano is ready.
If you want to make a cup of hot latte coffee, you need a 300ml large cup. First pour the espresso, then pour 220ml of fresh milk into the latte art vat, then whip it to 55-60 degrees Celsius to ensure a smooth layer of milk foam, and evenly blend the two to create a beautiful pattern.
It should be noted that the brewing parameters will change subtly based on the air humidity and coffee bean status every day, so the amount of coffee powder, scale, and extraction amount of coffee liquid need to be adjusted up or down.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
