How to make Perfect Espresso at Home

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So you love drinking delicious espresso at the coffee shop? Sometimes you may wish if you could make that same great espresso at home, isn’t it? This guide is going to share how you can prepare a cup of the perfect cup of espresso at home. 

All you need is practice and follow some techniques and this is not as complicated as you are thinking. Keep practicing and someday you’ll also be able to pull great shots of espresso in your kitchen. 

NB: If you want to make a great cup of espresso you’ll need dedication, practice, patience plus attention in detail and consistency. Remember, your effort is the best thing that is worth it. Okay, then let’s start and discuss how you can prepare a great espresso at home.

Definition of Espresso

Before we drive into the discussion, it would be ideal to know – what is actually espresso? Well, this is an intense taste coffee beverage that is made from ground coffee and a small volume of water. You will need 30 to 40 seconds to prepare an espresso. 

Making Perfect Espresso at Home 

To prepare any coffee drink, you have to know the number of dry coffee grounds, water, time, and the volume of the espresso. All of these are related to each other – so this is very important. However, when it comes to espresso you don’t need to pay attention to the water volume. 

Here are some guidelines for you to prepare espresso – do some experiments on espresso while you are new. It’s simple to prepare, let’s begin then – 

Choose Good Coffee

Freshly ground coffee would be the best choice for making espresso. Choose coffee that is roasted recently and while roasting the coffee you should be careful. 

If you roast the coffee too dark then this would taste bitter or if the coffee becomes too light may taste acidic, so you have to maintain balance while roasting. 

Always try to choose medium roast coffee beans. You can learn how to roast coffee beans at home from the Friedcoffee easily. 

Equipment 

When it comes to making espresso, good equipment makes it easier. You’ll need an espresso machine and grinder and these two machines is very important. 

• The Espresso Machine 

Choose an espresso machine that has stability in the pressure, temperature, plus the volume of water, and the machine can give you the same result from the first cup to as many espressos you want. Plus make sure you maintain the espresso machine regularly. 

• The Grinder,

A grinder machine determines how much coffee you will need for an espresso. While choosing a grinder machine, determine the grinder size so that you don’t overdose or under-extract the espresso. To check the dose, you can use a scale. 

Grind the Coffee

When you have freshly ground coffee, your espresso will be tastier. And espresso expert recommends using a whole coffee bean so that you can grind the bean right before you prepare the espresso. 

Before grinding the coffee, consider the size of the coffee beans since the size of the extraction has effects on the flavor of the espresso. 

Grind the beans in a fine texture so that this can take 20 to 30 seconds of shots to pull the espresso (if the grind is not fine then you will take more time to make the espresso). 

Decide the water Ratio

Once you grind the coffee, now its time to decide how much water you want to use? Depending on how strong espresso you want, you have to decide the water ratio. You can start with a 1:3 ratio – according to an expert. 

Do some experiment depending on your preference – increase or decrease the ratio and find out which one you love or suit your coffee tastes. 

Still, if you are not sure then use a scale to measure the coffee and water ratio. Or you can visit Friedcoffee, there you’ll find how to measure water. 

Espresso Cup 

To prepare espresso this is very important to warm the cup before you use it. You can rinse the cup with warm water so that the cup does not cool down until you prepare the espresso. This is an ideal way to keep hot your espresso for longer. 

The quality of the water and temperature 

Not only water measurement is important, but also the quality of the water is also important that you should consider. Your espresso will be tastier when you choose the best quality of water. 

You can use bottled water and there are many brands that produce bottled water for home use that is always good. Skip the tap water if you want to get a perfect cup of espresso. 

And when it comes to temperature, we’d say do some experiment. If you choose hot water then you can prepare your espresso quickly and the temperature changes the flavor. 

Distribute the ground coffee evenly

It’s time to pull your first espresso shot. In terms of distributing ground coffee, the process should be even. If you distribute the ground coffee unevenly then you’ll have a bad espresso. 

So, to get evenly distributed espresso make sure the grounds are distributed properly. You can use a portafilter and move it around to get uniformly distributed grounds. 

Once you distributed the coffee, now you have to tamp the coffee. For this, use a tamper and then press the coffee. Make sure you press the tamper straightly with sufficient pressure.

Pull the Espresso

Now into the espresso machine, insert the portafilter handle and brewing your espresso. Always, brewing immediately or else this will burn the surface. After 25 seconds or until your espresso comes out, stopped the machine. 

Your espresso is ready. Enjoy your perfect espresso! 

Easy Espresso Recipe

Here is a quick and easy espresso recipe for you, follow this recipe, and make your espresso. 

Ingredients

• 1 shot of espresso
• Milk

Instructions 

• Pull the shot of espresso in a cup and then pour the milk into the espresso. 
• Use a spoon and stir thoroughly, the espresso drink is ready.
• If you want you can make art on the coffee or add sugar as well.

Final Thoughts

See, making a homemade espresso is very simple when you have an espresso machine. After making the espresso, make sure you remove the portafilter and then clean the handle including the group head. 

Making espresso is very simple, hopefully, now you can prepare espresso yourself. With time, you will be experienced and you may forget the fancy barista.