Posts from — December 2007

(This is Part 3 of a 4-part series called “The Four ‘M’s of Perfect Coffee”, in which we’ll talk about the four elements of making great espresso-based drinks at home: Machine, Mill, Mix (blend), and Method.)

The Third “M”: Mix

The trouble with pinning down a good mix, or espresso blend, is two-fold. The first, clearly, is that taste is subjective; there are as many different blends as there are people to drink them and not everyone’s tastes are the same. The second is more logistical: not every coffee is available everywhere, so even if you know exactly what you want your espresso to taste like, you may not be able to find the coffee you need at your local shop.

Almost every coffee shop sells its own espresso blend by the pound, so the simplest way to get a good mix is to find a shop whose espresso drinks you like and simply buy their blend. If you can do that, you’re already in good shape. If you’re extra-finicky about your espresso blends like I am, however, you may find yourself wanting to “tweak” the blend you just bought, or even build your own blend from the ground up. It’s not as hard as it sounds, but there are some basics that should govern any good espresso blend.

(Keep in mind that, again, tastes are subjective and I’m largely advocating the kind of blends I personally tend to like. However, running a roasting facility gave me the chance to get daily feedback on different blends and roasts, so this approach has been road-tested.)

The first thing to decide is what you want your blend to do. Do you want a sugary, floral nose in your shots, or do you want rocket fuel with a bold body and mouthfeel? You don’t have to have a PhD in coffee vocabulary to know what you like, and building a blend is just a matter of translating what you’re looking for into the beans you select. A rule I stick by is to go for one particular quality, such as sweetness or smoothness or “caramel”, then blend to get that effect. You don’t want to make it too complex or try to make your blend do everything at once, so don’t overthink it. To keep it simple, I usually sum up the basics of a good blend as base, body, and acidity.

Once you know your general aim, find your base blending coffee. Your base will be the highest percentage of the blend, and should be an easy-to-find coffee that has good body and is not too “punchy”, like a Brazilian Cerrado or a Colombian Supremo. Essentially, your base coffee is the canvas you’ll build your effect on, so you don’t want a “crazy” coffee like Yemen Mocha or Ethiopian Harrar or its high percentage will cause it to dominate the other coffees in your blend.

Next pick your body coffee. Your body coffee is the coffee that will affect how robust your shot will be, whether it will be bold or smooth on the palette. Some people believe that your body coffee should be the base, i.e., the biggest percentage of the blend, but I disagree. Your base coffee lays the groundwork and your body coffee skews the overall effect towards boldness or smoothness. If you use a bold, citrusy coffee like Kenya AA for your base, for example, the result is often going to be an acrid or sour shot. Use a smooth coffee like Indian Monsooned Malabar as a base and the result can be flat and too nutty. But as a body coffee, Kenya gives just enough punch and Indian gives just enough smoothness.

Last, your smallest percentage in the blend should be your acidity coffee. A pleasing acidity is the hardest thing to get right in an espresso blend. A general rule is that the “wilder” your coffee, the smaller percentage of the blend it should be. A proper Ethiopian Harrar has a nose of blueberries, coffee blossom, and lemon–an especially good Harrar will be all over the place, so while it’s good for the acidity portion of a blend, you’d want to use less of it than you would of, say, an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe which is less complex. Put simply, the more complex an acidity your chosen coffee has, the more acidity will be in the shot, so the tangy-er your coffee the less of it you should use lest your shot get too acrid.

Got Any Recommendations?

I usually say to never use less than three coffees or more than five, in a ratio of 3:2:1 for base, blend, and acidity coffees in the mix. Again, this is purely subjective, and you’ll want to experiment with different coffees and percentages to find what’s right for you. But these are blends I like and have had considerable luck selling. The following coffees are listed as the base, blend, and acidity coffees respectively.

Brazil Cerrado, Colombian Supremo, Kenya AA–a solid workhorse blend that makes a great start to play around with. With the right roast and the right percentages, it’s a perfect balance of body and acidity. Smooth, but not lazy. Bright, but not too punchy.

Guatemalan Antigua, Colombian Supremo, Ethiopian Harrar–a blend that’s a little wild. It should yield a shot that’s smooth and tangy, with a heavy suggestion of blueberry and lemon in the nose. Pretty adventurous overall. Be warned that Harrar makes the blend so it’s crucial it be roasted to a city roast or lighter, and not many roasters know how to properly handle a Harrar.

Nicaraguan Segovia, French Roasted Nicaraguan Segovia, Sumatra Mandheling–smooth and spicy. It should have a caramel body with a lingering taste of cinnamon and cedar. Go lighter on the French Roast than you’d normally go with a body coffee or it might railroad the Sumatran into a flat shot.

Brazil Yellow Bourbon, Indian Monsooned Malabar, Sumatra Mandheling, French Roasted Nicaraguan Segovia–I feel a little guilty posting this, really. This is my own “signature” blend, mapped to be as smooth and sweet as possible while retaining a complex finish. It leads with peanut, sweet cream, and brown sugar on the palette, giving way only at the last second to cedar, clove, even a little bit of lemon. There’s a scrap of French Roast thrown in cement the sweetness, but I should note here that my French Roasts tend to be lighter than others. Most “French Roasts” these days are really Vienna or even Italian roasts, practically carbonized. If you can’t find a smooth, sweet French Roast then just use more Sumatran here.

(This is Part 2 of a 4-part series called “The Four ‘M’s of Perfect Coffee”, in which we’ll talk about the four elements of making great espresso-based drinks at home: Machine, Mill, Mix (blend), and Method.)

The Second “M”: Mill

Unlike shopping for an espresso machine, which can require quite a bit of research and forethought, it’s fortunately not difficult at all to shop for a proper mill or coffee grinder. There are a few key attributes to look for, but those questions are often answered right on the box. Here’s what you want in a good grinder:

1. Look for steel conical burrs. The “burr” is the piece of the mill that actually grinds the coffee beans. Sometimes this is done in cheaper mills via blades and not burrs which can be fine for infrequent grinding for automatic drip machines, but to get a proper espresso grind, blade mills are too inconsistent. Also, make sure the burrs are metal and not plastic, as plastic burrs warp and break easily with even light use.
2. Check the range of grind adjustments. The more settings, the better. Commercial espresso grinders can adjust the grind by 5 microns up or down. You don’t need a mill quite that granular, but grind has a very important effect on your espresso and you should get a mill that will allow you room to experiment to find the best grind for your particular machine. Three or four settings won’t cut it.
3. A reliable reputation is worth a lot. Even the best grinders can eventually break down, so look for a brand with a history of mechanical reliability and positive customer service. Bodum, Saeco, and Capresso are all good names to start with.

Got Any Recommendations?

To get you started, here are a few models to consider.

Bodum Antigua Electric Burr Grinder–This unit gets all the basics right at a reasonable price ($80-90), but has some minor durability issues, particularly in the nylon gear teeth. Customer service from Bodum is always good, but be prepared to baby this machine a little bit.

Capresso 560 Infinity Burr Grinder–Almost the complete opposite of the Antigua in the sense of being mechanically reliable, but with some minor flaws in form factor. Overall a solid unit at the same price point as the Antigua, with equally strong customer service, but a few people have found that some nonmechanical parts don’t always fit perfectly and may crack easily.

Baratza Maestro Plus Conical Burr Coffee Grinder–The stolid workhorse of the prosumer market, it’s hard to go wrong with the Baratza Maestro. It’s reliable on every level and won’t heat up your beans with repeated use. Expect to pay about $140-150.

(This is Part 1 of a 4-part series called “The Four ‘M’s of Perfect Coffee”, in which we’ll talk about the four elements of making great espresso-based drinks at home: Machine, Mill, Mix (blend), and Method.)

The First “M”: Machine

If you want to make great espresso at home, you should be aware that a good espresso machine will always start at at least a few hundred bucks. You don’t need to buy a commercial machine or drill holes through your kitchen counter to plumb a water line, but the quality of certain components is critical to get an adequate shot.

A good espresso/cappuccino machine has to do several things consistently: it needs to heat water quickly, maintain a certain pressure level in both the water lines and at the group head, and reliably push water through the group at about 130 psi for shot after shot. The actual mechanics of a machine can be very basic–a boiler/thermostat, water pump, solenoid, and group head/portafilter–but each component must be able to withstand constant starting and stopping and rapid temperature changes.

Wait, What About Fully Automatic Espresso/Cappuccino Machines?

Machines exist that allow you to push a single button and have the grinding, tamping, pulling, and steaming all done for you, and there’s more of them on the market now than ever. Why not get one of those? Simple: the machine that can produce good espresso and good steamed milk without human intervention simply doesn’t exist yet. It may one day, but for now no automatic machine can produce a coffee drink nearly as well as you can with your own hands in the same amount of time. The best coffee drinks are always made by hand, and let’s face it–if you’re not out to get the best coffee drink possible, why spend the money in the first place?

What to Look for in an Espresso Machine

So we’re abandoning the idea of an automatic machine, which is an advantage because a good manual machine will actually cost less than a so-so automatic one. With that in mind, what constitutes a good manual espresso machine?

1. The less plastic, the better. Ideally you want all-metal construction; not only does it look snazzy, but it retains heat better for a more consistent group head temperature. At the very least, the entire group head (the housing where you fit the portafilter to pull the shot) should be metal. It should not use a plastic “locking collar”; these tend to crack and fail easily. Make sure the locking mechanism is metal with rubber gaskets.
2. Skip the built-in tamper. Your tamper should always be separate from the machine. To pack espresso properly for extraction you need a tamp at about 50 psi, which you’ll never achieve with a plastic dongle hanging off your machine.
3. Semi-automatic shot pulling is ideal. Depending on the type, espresso machines can pull shots manually using a lever (aka the “old-school” way), fully automatically where the shot time is predetermined via set buttons, or semi-automatically where you can push a button to pull the shot but run it for as long or as short as you wish. The latter is ideal in my opinion for a balance of ease and control. There’s nothing wrong with going all-manual if you like the romance of lever-pulling, but all else being equal it won’t pull you a better shot.
4. Metal boilers with reliable pump pressure are best. There’s a theme here, and that theme says that your shot is only going to be as good as the weakest link in your chain. That weak link is almost always going to be either uneven temperatures or an underpowered pump. Metal boilers heat quickly and maintain even temps; it’s not 100% crucial that your reservoir be metal, but if you plan to use your machine more than once a day you’ll definitely notice the difference. As for pumps, make sure you’re getting a machine with a 15-bar pressure capability. More isn’t really necessary, but less means your machine isn’t strong enough to consistently achieve the 130 psi required for proper espresso extraction.
5. Boiler or plumb a line? If you’re serious about your espresso addiction and plan to use your machine several times a day, consider getting a pump-driven machine and plumbing a water line so you don’t have to wait for the boiler to warm up each time. If you’re a casual espresso/cappuccino drinker or only plan to make yourself Americanos on your way out the door to work each morning, a reservoir-based machine will be fine.
6. Get a flexible steam wand with a lot of clearance. This is one aspect too many manufacturers neglect. The wand should be long enough to reach deep into your frothing pitcher, and flexible enough/have enough clearance that you can put the steam head near the top of your pitcher without hitting the pitcher on your kitchen counter. You can’t get proper cappuccino froth without that full clearance, so make sure the wand is one you can actually use. Steaming milk isn’t a static exercise and involves a lot of hand movement, but we’ll go more into that when we discuss the fourth “M”, method.

With these basics in mind, anything on top of that is up to you. Cup warming trays, multiple group heads, hot water dispensers–these are nice additions if you have the budget, but shouldn’t be deciding factors in your purchase.

Got Any Recommendations?

Espresso machine prices go up and down, and availability changes each year, so I hesitate to make canonical recommendations. But here are two machines I can recommend right now–the first for an entry-level machine, the second for the hardcore professional.

Saeco 30013 Aroma Traditional Espresso Machine–A basic, reliable workhorse that will get the job done well with a minimum of fuss. Saeco is a strong brand in the mid-level market, so parts and service are easily obtainable. You can pick one up at the time of this writing for about $250.

Salvatore Semi-Automatic Custom Espresso Machine–I don’t mind telling you that this is my dream machine for home use. Based on the commercial standard E61 group head, this baby comes with a three-way solenoid valve, an electronic autofill water system, and a copper boiler with an industrial Sirai pressure stat and a 2″ diameter heat exchange (lets you steam and brew at the same time). A lot of the beauty of this machine is “behind the scenes” and have to be appreciated via daily use–there’s not a lot of added features on the Salvatore, but that’s like complaining that your Ferrari doesn’t have cupholders. A custom Salvatore starts at around $1800, however, so this is for the hardcore only.