5 Factors contributing to successful espresso

In Italy there is a set of four basic elements which comprise the path to perfect espresso, commonly referred to as the “4 m’s”. Others tack on a fifth m, this one referring to maintenance. While I believe maintenance to be important I propose my own fifth element for the purpose of this post (related to the 4th, but in my opinion important enough to merit standing on its own). So the 4 m’s and a p.

1. Miscela: the espresso blend, the beans.
2. Macinadosatore: the dosing grinder and the grind.
3. Macchina: the machine.
4. Mano dell’operatore: the hand of the operator, including the tamp and that which is under the control of the barista.
5. Patience

1. The Beans / Miscela

Coffee beans are grown around the world and fans will argue their preferences until blue in the face. Origin can play an important role and it’s worth tasting a variety of coffees from around the world. The most accepted view is that Arabica beans are best, but most espresso is extracted from a blend of different coffees. Often these blends will include a small amount of the less favoured Robusta in order to ensure a good crema.

There are four different coffee roasts: light, medium, dark, and very dark, the latter two being what we generally conceive as best for espresso. It could be argued that the flavours of origin and bean are easier distinguished in a medium roast, the preferred espresso beans used by many Italians.

2. The Grind / Macinadosatore

It’s funny to me how most people would agree fresh is always better but many let this concept slide when it comes to coffee. Fresh is important if you want a good shot and, coupled with an even grind, you’ll really spot the difference between a shot made with pre-packaged or badly ground coffee versus a shot from a fresh and even grind.

There are two primary types of coffee grinders: the burr grinder and the more common blade grinder. The latter are what you’ll mainly see at the local shops and are not in any way suitable for grinding espresso. A burr grinder costs more, but if you are serious about coffee then this should arguably be your greatest investment. A good burr grinder can be adjusted to produce a variety of consistent grain sizes, an important factor when you consider your end goal, which is to produce a shot of good espresso.

To better explain that point, it’s important to note just what espresso is. It’s a drink made from 5-10 grams of finely ground coffee which, under 9 bar of brewing pressure and with water between 194-204 degrees Fahrenheit, produces a 30ml (approx) shot when extracted between 20-30 seconds.

This drink cannot be easily achieved with an uneven or too large grind no matter how hard you pack it down, and that’s the sort of grind you will get with a cheap blade grinder.

Buy a classy £1,000 home espresso machine without a good burr grinder and you’ll still only pull mediocre shots at best.

3. The Equipment / Macchina

I’ve already discussed the espresso machine to some extent (see point 3 in that post), but want to explain further why it’s important to buy a pump machine and also why the machine won’t ever be the solo star in your dream shot.

The definition of espresso I provided above is actually quite a basic one. You’re probably thinking “how is that basic?”

That’s my point. It’s not. While many espresso machines will come with just 3 basic switches: power, pump, and steam, espresso is a beverage which demands some seriously precise conditions. You need a machine capable of producing 9 bar of pressure, but that’s not enough on its own because the machine also needs to be able to maintain accurate temperatures on multiple levels (the boiler will reach different temperatures for espresso brewing and milk frothing, for instance).

And now, after demanding you find and pay for quality, I tell you the machine isn’t the most important aspect of the process. Consider a chef who is attempting the creation of a stunning meal using only mediocre kitchen tools. Sure, the style may be lost and it may be a more cumbersome task, but the end result still streams from two more important factors: quality ingredients and an experienced chef. The same applies for coffee, only the ingredients are the freshly burr-ground coffee and the barista becomes the chef.

4. Barista Skills / Mano dell’operatore

This element, combined with the grinder, are in my opinion the most important factors to consider in the espresso process. You don’t need to have a rack of barista championship trophies in order to make a good shot, but you do need some know-how.

The tamp (packing the coffee into a tight puck in the basket) is crucial in the espresso brewing process. People underestimate the importance of this step, one which ensures the water flow to extract your espresso shot under ideal conditions. Properly tamped coffee ensures the water is forced evenly through all of the coffee rather than through some of it, which is what happens when the tamp is uneven.

Think of it this way: you’ve got a powerful machine producing a whole lot of pressure and the water is trying to find its way down the path of lesser pressure (which in this case is out through the coffee). An even and solid tamp creates a resistance of sorts to the initial pressure, so instead of the water finding the path of least resistance (that is, the path of less densely packed coffee) it has to push evenly through the grind. The end result? You get a quality shot rather than just a measure of strong coffee.

The tamp really can make or break that shot.

5. Patience

There are always several parts to one whole, and this is perhaps one of the most overlooked. Unless you have a super automatic machine which does it all, you’re going to spend some serious time getting the hang of this. And after you get the hang of it you’ll spend yet more time making your shot better. That still won’t be good enough, so after that you’ll spend the rest of your days seeking absolute espresso perfection.

Don’t be afraid to mess up, because that’s how we best learn to do it better the next time. In fact I’d even recommend purposely going against all the recommended methods just to see how coffee shouldn’t be. Consume shots from the chains, local establishments, and other wannabe home baristas. Try everything you can and learn to tell right from wrong when you taste a shot so can apply better techniques to your own efforts.

Oh, and don’t do this for no reason other than to impress your partner’s boss or your upper middle class neighbours. Do it because you want to learn how, a must if you want to pull a better shot (see above about time dedication). A machine which sits on the counter to be used as a declaration of your bank balance when the mom of your kid’s friend collects them simply won’t do; you have to learn how to use the sucker regularly to get anywhere.

Stay Tuned: What’s behind the names: an espresso beverage guide

Espresso is complicated business, one which merits a constant education and never-ending practice. To further the confusion are the plethora of espresso based and other coffee drinks on the market, many of which are misrepresented by coffee shops. Stay tuned for the next post on coffee drinks and why Starbucks’ ballsup of a macchiato is actually just a bad latte.

All posts in this series

1. There’s No “X” in “Espresso” and Other Tales of Coffee Woe
2. What Espresso Isn’t: A Primer on Ghettopresso and more
3. Ingredients For Successful Espresso
4. The Coffee Shop Menu, Simplified

In my previous post about Espresso myths and tales of coffee woe I discussed a few myths about espresso and its process. Here are a few more morsels of information about what espresso isn’t and how to spot a cup of what I call “ghettopresso”.

1. Nescafe is not a Barista

Much like a cup of strong coffee cannot be equated to an espresso, those sugary packets of instant cappuccino mix you keep at the office also don’t fit the bill. That’s like comparing spray cheese with vintage cheddar or bringing Manischewitz to a wine tasting party.

Also consider the coffee you buy. You’ll notice on many pre-ground coffee packs an image or statement that the blend is appropriate for everything from a cafetiere (French press) to an espresso machine. This simply isn’t true; you use a different grind of coffee for an espresso machine than for a drip machine, another grind again for a cafetiere, and still another for Turkish coffee. And so forth.

Yes, this means the espresso blend you used in your French press isn’t in fact espresso. It’s just as it sounds: finely ground coffee beans in hot water. It’s a cup of coffee, a cup of inefficiently brewed coffee.

2. Some things were never made to be super-sized

…and good coffee is one of them. Sure we all like to indulge from time to time, but with most things in life I find I will both remember and savour something more if the portion is sufficient and the product is divine.

My personal thought is that you lose out by super-sizing espresso drinks because the proper ratios are thrown out the door. A cappuccino, for instance, should be 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, and 1/3 milk froth. Using double espresso shots, that’s 2 ounces (60 ml) each of espresso, milk, and froth. With those proportions in mind, Starbucks should use 6.6 shots/ounces of espresso in their 20 ounce drink. They use two.

And I don’t think I would want to drink nearly 200ml of espresso in one sitting anyway.

Do yourself a favour and find something more authentic, just to give it a try. With good coffee, less genuinely is more.

3. When an espresso machine is not an espresso machine

There are several types of espresso machine, but for the purpose of this post I’m breaking them into two basic categories: those which make real espresso and those which don’t, my focus being on the latter.

My first gripe is with the stove top moka pot. Sure they may have roots in the original process behind the drink, but don’t expect its end product to mimic the shot your local [skilled] barista pulls. It’s another producer of strong coffee and nothing more. I have a feeling most people realise this.

Then there’s the steam powered espresso machines. These operate on the basic principle of boiling water (and espresso is not in fact made with boiling water) and using the steam to push out the coffee. Keeping that process in mind, the drink produced by steam powered machines will be closer to one from a stovetop espresso maker than to a modern day shot. True espresso is crafted using a pump process, one which doesn’t boil the water first and one which uses a minimum of 9 bar pressure.

While it’s maybe a bit snobbish to say the steam powered machines cannot produce espresso, it’s certainly reasonable to say you simply cannot obtain professional results using one.

But don’t despair. If you love your venti caramel latte and what comes out of your Delonghi ghettopresso machine then that’s what really matters, right?.

I am by no means a professional, so I’ve only touched on the very outskirts of machines. If you’re interested in reading more, the topic of machines is explained in detail elsewhere by people who really know what they’re talking about and with good espresso machine advice to offer.

Stay Tuned: Ingredients for successful espresso

It’s clear to most people that espresso involves the use of a coffee bean (no, there is not an espresso plant) coupled with equipment of some sort. Stay tuned for the next part in the series to learn why the espresso machine is arguably one of the least important tools in the process.

All posts in this series

1. There’s No “X” in “Espresso” and Other Tales of Coffee Woe
2. What Espresso Isn’t: A Primer on Ghettopresso and more
3. Ingredients For Successful Espresso
4. The Coffee Shop Menu, Simplified

Three Espresso Myths

1. Espresso has more caffeine than “regular” coffee.

Many people are surprised to learn espresso generally has a much lower caffeine content than a cup of filter coffee. One possible (read this Roast Magazine article for a differing point of view) reason is most espresso consumed is brewed from dark-roasted beans. Very generally speaking it’s thought the darker the roast the less the caffeine.

A more plausible reason surfaces when you note the water content and time in preparing a cup of filter coffee. Filter coffee uses more water and this combined with a longer brewing time often means more caffeine in your cup. In the end you’re looking at about half or two-thirds the content of caffeine in a latte versus a cup of drip coffee of the same size.

2. Where’d they get that “x” from, anyway?

That letter has never been, nor ever will be, a feature in espresso. There’s nothing “express” about the process of espresso; it’s an incredibly refined and skilled technique. Good baristas spend years of their lives acquiring and furthering this complicated skill.

On a side note I can think of a few coffee chains who’d do well to hire less 17 year olds and more dedicated career baristas. In Italy this is a respected profession with an average age seemingly double that of Starbucks’ equivalent. This is for good reason.

3. Espresso is just really strong coffee

No, no, no! By all means enjoy your cafetierre, but you will never ever make an espresso by simply adding a dark roast in extreme quantities with less water than you would normally add for a standard cup.

Think of it like this: cheese and butter are both made from the same base ingredient, milk, as espresso and filter coffee are both children of the humble coffee bean. Each takes a completely different process down two separate paths in order it get to the final product, however. You don’t make cheese by churning milk in a butter churn just as as you don’t make espresso by coupling excessive amounts of coffee grains with a few millilitres of water.

Espresso is made from a very specific grind of coffee combined with an equally specific method. Coffeegeek.com sumarises it appropriately below.

The coffee beverage produced by a pump or lever espresso machine. This Italian word describes a beverage made from 7 grams (+/- 2 grams) of finely ground coffee, producing 1-1.5 ounces (30-45ml) of extracted beverage under 9 bar (135psi) of brewing pressure at brewing temperatures of between 194 and 204 degrees Fahrenheit, over a period of 25 seconds (+/- 5 seconds) of brew time.

Stay Tuned: What Espresso Isn’t

There are all sorts of arguments for what makes the best shot, from blend and grind to machine and individual barista skills. Nevertheless one thing is certain, and that’s the fact that there are solid facts behind the highly skilled process that ends in that shot in your cappuccino.

I always find it useful to think of what something isn’t in order to understand what it is. Stay tuned for the next part of this series to find out more of what espresso isn’t, plus why that £50/$75 Krups machine Granny bought you for Christmas can’t really make true espresso.

All posts in this series

1. There’s No “X” in “Espresso” and Other Tales of Coffee Woe
2. What Espresso Isn’t: A Primer on Ghettopresso and more
3. Ingredients For Successful Espresso
4. The Coffee Shop Menu, Simplified

Over the years I’ve tried several varieties of vegan ice cream and while not completely unimpressed, I was, well, not that impressed. The first commercial product I tried was perhaps 12 years ago, and it tasted like sugar flavoured straw soaked in rain water drained from the gutter of a halted urban development project which eventually became no more than a bird toilet.

Enter Booja-Booja, an English company known for its production of organic vegan chocolate truffles. On my bulk Bonsoy run one Saturday (have you tried the stuff? It’s to die for), I saw tucked in the freezer of my favourite organic shop a new gem: Pompompous Maple Pecan “Stuff in a Tub.”

I had to try it.

This so-called “stuff” immediately rivalled recipes of my good friends Ben and Jerry in flavour, if not in texture as well. I was gob smacked. How could this be?

“May contain nuts”

The culprit behind my new discovery which brought me so much joy? Cashews. Vegan, organic, delicious ice cream based on cashews.

I never knew I liked cashews so much, and I have since extended their use across many other aspects of my cooking. I tried cashew based ice cream recipes from books and from the interwebs, and with some success made made some ice creams fairly close to that of my beloved Booja-Booja.

But I wanted to experiment with my own methods based on what I already knew about making ice cream, what I’d tried and liked, and concepts about which I’d read somewhere once upon a time. This is my result, and really it’s pretty good.

Will I make it again? Most certainly. Will I likely experiment some more with the ingredients? Definitely. This is a work in progress, only one where the first attempt came out damned good.

Recipe Notes

A lot of people ask why I used vodka in my ice cream recipes as most ice cream doesn’t contain vodka. The only reason I use it, aside of course from hoping to take advantage of those I feed, is because alcohol doesn’t freeze. This is a useful trick for anyone with a home freezer which doesn’t circulate air well. Is your ice cream so solid upon removal from your freezer that you have to leave it to thaw before a spoon can touch it? Easy solution: add some alcohol to the mix.

I used granoVita CremoVita as part of the cream base in this recipe. While I usually like to provide generalised products for ingredients, this one fell into the mix simply because I spotted it on the shelf and had to try it. I’m sure you could use any other soy-based sweet whipping cream alternative.

The sorbet vs sherbet argument came to me when I was preparing this recipe. Sorbet is, or at least should be, vegan by nature. Sherbet, on the other hand, has dairy components (though clearly not as much as ice cream). The texture of sherbet isn’t quite as smooth as that of ice cream and is generally lighter in texture, an apt description of my final result. For that reason it became more of a sherbet than an ice cream in my mind. My recipe is “creamy,” but less rich. It’s good. I think so anyway.

And now on to the good stuff…