Home Espresso – The Slippery Slope
12 Comments Published by Tonx December 14th, 2006 in Coffee. Share This
Don’t do it. You’ve got so much to live for. Don’t listen to the chorus of coffee geeks chanting “one of us, one of us”. Note the skeptical look on the face of your significant other: you’ll be seeing it again many more times before you get within reach of your quixotic goal. Home espresso sounds like an innocent idea but its really the hobbyist equivalent of the Iraq war – it will cost way more than you expect, and in spite of repeated failures you’ll resist cutting and running.
But if you really feel compelled to invade the realms of espresso, a bit of intel and planning can help you dodge the quagmire.
First lets talk about what espresso really is. Andrea Illy in the coffee nerd bible Espresso Coffee: The Science of Quality
Espresso is a brew obtained by percolation of hot water under pressure through tamped/compacted roasted ground coffee, where the energy of the water pressure is spent within the cake.
Beyond that, defining espresso can get complicated with different factions proposing conflicting orthodoxies about exact volumes, shot times, and ratios of ground coffee to final brew. But the general consensus is that you want between 45-75ml of reddish-brown crema laden brew between 20-30 seconds of total extraction. Crema is the hallmark of espresso, the dense, persistent foam that only appears when all the right preconditions have been met.
There are three hurdles to overcome to get true espresso at home that I’ll lay out for you after the jump:
The right gear
You need a machine that can deliver water at the right temperature, a pressure near 9 bars and can do so reliably and consistently. You need a burr grinder that produces fine grinds of relatively uniform size, on demand, and allows for very small adjustments. None of this gear is cheap, and no cheap gear will do anything close to the proper job. There are devices that can produce an espresso-like, low-pressure steam extraction such as stovetop moka pots and many cheaper so-called espresso machines. But this is in fact a different beverage. In my next post I’ll show you a range of devices and point you to some online resources.
The right skill
Assuming your machine does its job well, there are still many variables that are in your hands and require some precision and skill. From dosing, distributing, and tamping techniques to troubleshooting your shots and knowing what grind adjustments to make, a number of seemingly simple but potentially frustrating variables mean the difference between garbage and the mythical “god shot”. Even the most fancy commercial superautomatic machines can’t replace a skilled operator (try ordering a straight shot from Star*ucks if you’re in doubt). Gaining true barista skills without the benefit of a trainer, commercial gear, and infinite quantities of coffee is really frigging hard. The best place to start is David Schomer’s essential Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques
The bean conundrum
On a good day you’ll step up to your machine, fire up your grinder and within a shot or two with small adjustments be in the “zone”. The next day perhaps you’ll roll through a half pound of beans before getting even close to a drinkable shot. This wreaks havoc on trying to keep a suitable inventory of fresh roasted beans which can run dry quickly on a bad day or lose their oomph when you’ve overstocked and the days tick by.
Why would anyone take on these challenges? Because espresso done well is like nothing else in the world, and there are very few outlets to have that experience. Taking matters into your own hands requires some fortitude but online forums like home-barista.com are peopled with lunatics who’ve blazed the trail ahead of you and can offer advice and moral support.
While I know it won’t end up approaching the quality of someone who really knows what they’re doing, I recently purchased a superautomatic.
Essentially, I had to acknowledge that fact that I probably wasn’t ever going to have the time or inclination to learn how to make espresso better than the dandy machine that not only did that for me, but also ground the beans and cleaned itself. (I do plan on learning how to steam milk properly, though, at some point)
I guess my question would be: Is the espresso made by a decent superautomatic – using good, recently roasted beans – still worthwhile by the standards of people like you who really know their espressos?
It’s just not practical for me to learn (at this point) how to become good enough to make the best espresso myself – but I still hold out hopes at managing to produce something considerably superior to S$.
Daniel – I guess my personal feeling is that if you’re already willing to buy good fresh coffee, you can achieve greatness with a much simpler brewing method where you’ll only get okay results on most automatic machines. I admit I have the bias of years of working with the best of the pro equipment, but I think its a pretty safe consensus among the serious espresso crowd.
Ultimately, if you like what you’re getting out of the machine and its proving to be trouble-free then thats the ultimate criteria.
I’ve had a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine (and the Rancilio Rocky grinder) for the past five years. I’ve made countless shots on it.
I would say perhaps one in four shots have been drinkable and one in twenty have been excellent. My ratio lately has been much better (every one of the them drinkable, more than half excellent) because I’ve gone absolutely OCD. It’s like rolling a cigarette (as discussed here): you just have to do it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…
It helps, however, to troubleshoot and play with one factor at a time while keeping everything else constant. These variables? Shot time, tamp pressure, fineness of grind and the coffee itself. (Another variable is the temperature of the water coming through the grounds, which varies alot even on a relatively high end machine like the Silvia. What I do is count down from the last time the “light went off”. On mine, about two minutes from when the thermostat called it quits the water temperature reaches something approaching optimal.)
So, get a good amount of a decent espresso coffee. Calibrate your grinder to what you think is a decent grind (this is the one I played with the most). Get a shot glass. Get a timer (optimally that counts down from twenty, but a stopwatch works). Measure a very *consistent* amount of grounds. Tamp it to a *consistent* pressure. Let ‘er rip and time how long it takes to get the right amount in the shot glass in twenty seconds (tour coffeegeek for the right amount of grounds for the right amount of espresso). If it takes too long (i.e. at twenty seconds you haven’t hit your mark of, say, 1.5 oz) then make the grounds a little coarser. If it’s too short (you fill up your 1.5 oz well before the twenty second mark) make the grounds finer.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Avoid your wife’s glares.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Ignore your wife tapping her foot.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Ignore the door slamming.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
Then do it again and adjust.
….
I’ll be the first to admit I have a problem with coffee, but when you get it right at home… It is a beautiful thing. I’ve owned my Salvatore semi-auto for about 3 years and it gives up between 4-8 double shots a day. So, figure I’ve pulled close to 10,000 shots. I still screw it up. And, I still don’t have the hang of the whole microfoam thing for cappucino (then again, I tend to drink Americanos, so it hasn’t really been a priority).
Couple other warnings I’d give prospective home baristas…
First, even if you have everything set right, you can get the same roast from the same roaster and have to change everything. BTW, if anyone wants a good roaster in the DC area, check out Misha’s in Old Town Alexandria. Sometimes the beans just come out different. Stay flexible.
Second, home espresso is messy. You spill beans, drip espresso, and generally make a mess all around your dedicated coffee area (you did realize you needed a
“dedicated coffee area,” didn’t ya?). Not for the super clean freaks among us.
I took the plunge long ago and have been delighted with the results after only a few weeks of testing and tampering. I purchased a Spidem Trevi Combi Plus machine and, although the grinder is a bit on the messy side and the hopper needs a good whack or two to get the beans unstuck and flowing again, I love it. First off, the equipment is really manufactured by Saeco, an acknowledged major maker of first rate equipment. It has a reliable vibrating pump that delivers 8-9 bar consistently. The boiler is a little slow to heat up, but adequate for home use. It’s not a Rancilio Silvia, but it puts out the occasional “God Shot” and almost always delivers a perfect microfoam for latte. It’s more about technique and the beans than the hardware.
I use a Starbucks “Barista Milano” (a model that only was marketed in Japan, OEM of Saeco) and a Starbucks grinder. I agree that a really tasty hot espresso is hard to come by at home, but that’s no reason to dissuade everybody from going home espresso, cuz as long as the shot is decent , which can be achieved with minimal investment–both monetary and time-wise–then you can make out of if great lattes and cappuccinos. During the warmer months of the year, I’m just totally in love with my setup and the iced lattes that it produces. Just remember to be consistent with the measurement (7g/shot) and tamping pressure. Really, the only tough thing about it is the tamping, and the rest, once you’ve tweaked everything (timing, particle size, etc), is just mechanical.
My biggest problem with brewing espresso at home is this:
I can’t have coffee anywhere else – it just doesn’t compare.
Quite frankly, nearly all of the coffee you get is poorly made. This includes coffee at most restaraunts and even at most coffee shops. It’s sad but true. So I go somewhere, I have a great meal, and then dessert and … dare I? should I? an espresso. It’s usually unimpressive, but I love a coffee at the end of a meal. And yet, the dissappointment!
Anyway, pretty quickly, at home, you’ll be making espresso that’s a cut above most things (there are still that are a cut above – Intelligensia in Chicago, Mud in NYC, Verlet in Paris). But the downside of brewing at home is that it raises the bar, your tastes, your standards, and just zipping over to the coffeeshop and having a cappucino becomes frought with gustatorial peril.
However, the coffee you can make at home is _soo_ much better, it’s truly astounding. My setup includes a Rancilio Silvia and a lovely Macap M4 grinder. Getting fresh beans, a good grind, and a bit of pressure behind the extraction and delicious espresso is a daily occurance.
So, before any of you think of brewing espresso on your own, know in advance, that you will be disappointed by much more espresso, from this point on. There be dragons! ;)
“Home espresso sounds like an innocent idea but its really the hobbyist equivalent of the Iraq war – it will cost way more than you expect, and in spite of repeated failures you’ll resist cutting and running.”
so true, tonx! i’ve just spent my latest $100 on various accoutrements to my coffee setup.
i mean, i’m blessed to have several stunning coffee shops within a couple miles, but still … the joy i experience when i pull a crema-rich shot and pour in well-frothed cream is worth the time and investment.
damn you for getting me hooked!
Tonx -
I think I am happy with it, at least for now. At the very least, it will let me try to learn how to do microfoam and lattes without needing to worry about the espresso part. (And I imagine that once I get on top of the foam/steam part, I may be tempted to go get a semi-auto and start learning it how to pull shots properly… But simply knowing myself, I’m never going to get it dealing with two variables at the same time)
I’m interested in what the brewing methods you’re talking about are, that are both easy enough for a rank amateur, but will result in high quality output… Or are those topics for later? (I’m guessing the simplest is probably just the the manual way of doing drip, right?)
That first paragraph pretty much sums it up, but I’m a “stay the course” kinda guy…
Hey Bob Kuehne
I just got a Silvia and a Macap M4, and I am wondering if you wouldn’t share with me where you have your grinder set to? I dont want to blow thru tons of beans and I am very new to both machines so any help or even some more tips I would be very appreciative. Thanks
Erik
I really think of the whole lot of machines I have worked with, it has to be a Linea La Marzocco that always stood by making the perfect quality espresso shots. A single group Linea La Marzocco would be ideal for home use too. Its a manual machine with a separate milk steamer.The steamer is great. I prefer starbucks beans any day to any other coffee beans since the ‘Starbucks Espresso Roast’ as they call it gives amazing quality espressos with the right creamy caramelly aftertaste.