No matter how much talent you have for brewing a cup of coffee, an espresso still always seems to taste better at the café or restaurant than at home from your own coffee machine. Why is that? And what can you do about it to make the perfect cup of espresso without having to dig very deep to buy a professional machine. Here I have five tips that can help you brew the perfect espresso.
Preparation for the espresso
You can’t make espresso without the right coffee maker. Not everyone has an espresso machine at home. If so, we definitely recommend you look on the Internet and invest in one. This black drink created under pressure (presso) is considered the basis for many other coffee drinks such as cappuccino and americano.
Buy only coffee in beans
I have not been buying ground coffee packs for a long time. In fact, it has been proven that if you grind coffee beans, the aromas, moisture and flavor of the coffee drops by about sixty percent within 5 to 10 minutes. So the best espresso is made with freshly ground coffee beans. So for this you will need to buy a coffee grinder or bean grinder if you don’t already have one. By the way, coffee beans should not be left for too long, as they can become stale and that is not tasty.
Always look at the burn date
The roast date should always be right. That is, for the best cup of espresso, you should use beans that are ground and used for your espresso exactly three weeks after roasting. If you use the beans too soon, there may still be some gases and substances in them that are not very tasty. If you wait too long, then the beans may become stale and this too, as I said, is not tasty.
Give your beans a good grind
I think this is one of the most important aspects of brewing the perfect espresso. The grind has to be just right. If the coffee grind is a little too coarse, then the water pressed through the filter under pressure does not have enough time to absorb the properties (flavor and aroma) of the coffee. If it is ground too finely, the water absorbs too much flavor and aroma and the cup becomes very bitter. Finding this golden mean may well take a dozen cups of practice.
Press the coffee grounds well
Once you have ground the coffee beans, scoop the filter three-quarters full with these freshly ground coffee beans and press it with a tamper. If you don’t have a tamper, really invest in this. It’s best to apply quite a bit of pressure to the coffee so that it sits tightly in the filter. Coffee grounds should not fall out of the filter if you hold it upside down.
Keep the correct espresso time
An espresso should be made in a time span of exactly 24 to 30 seconds. It should not be longer, because then the coffee burns and becomes very bitter. It should not be shorter either, because then you will have a very dirty and syrupy coffee that becomes very watery. Again, it may take some time before you actually master it. That’s not a bad thing.
This is how to make the perfect espresso
You probably know the characteristics of a good espresso – there should be a beautiful cream on the black substance. Also, black coffee should leave a good taste, not too sour and not too bitter. As I mentioned, it can take quite a while to completely master everything, but once you succeed, you won’t unlearn.