Category — Tips

(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 Fourth “M”: Method

So you’ve found an espresso machine with the right features, you’ve got a grinder that can smash rocks, and you’ve perfected your own signature blend. But you’ve got to put it together, right?

Many chain coffeeshops and home coffee connoisseurs will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on the best equipment and beans but forget that it’s all meaningless if you can’t put it together successfully. I mentioned this in the espresso machine post and it bears repeating: at the time of this writing there is no machine that can successfully make an great espresso drink without human intervention. Despite all the brochure copy out there trying to convince you otherwise, you cannot press a button and get a better drink than you can make yourself in about the same amount of time with the right training.

Being properly trained as a barista takes a lot of time and practice, and this post won’t replace that. But assuming that you already have a basic idea of how your machine works and the general principles of how espresso is made, these tips will help you improve both your speed and the quality of the final drink.

Pulling Your Shot

The three important things to get right here are grind, tamp, and shot time.

You’ll have to experiment to find the right grind for your machine, but some indicators will give you hints. If the spent grounds in your portafilter are soupy sludge, you need a finer grind; if it’s a mostly dry puck that yielded very little actual espresso, you need a coarser grind. Likewise, during the pour, if the pour is too thick you’ll need a finer grind; if it just drips or doesn’t come out at all, you need a coarser grind.

The tamp is also important. You want a true metal tamp, not plastic. An ideal tamp will be about 50 psi, so the extra weight of the metal helps. After putting coffee into your portafilter, take your tamp and push evenly and firmly into the filter basket–and twist at the end. The twist will even out the grounds and further compact the “puck”.

Your shot time should be between 15 and 18 seconds for a single shot, and between 18 and 22 seconds for a double. You can “bar count” your shots as well–I often bar count to fifteen for a ristretto double shot. If your grind and tamp are right, the pour should be caramel-colored and about the width of a spaghetti noodle. This will result in good crema, which is the most important part of the shot. The finished shot should have no white streaks in it, as this represents bitter, overextracted espresso. A crema that’s all white means you’re in trouble!

Steaming Milk

I steam milk by pitch (i.e., listening until the sound of the milk hits a certain “tone” that means it’s been aerated to a certain degree), but you’ll probably want to get a thermometer for your pitcher. Many people like their drinks just as hot as they can get them, but one thing many people don’t realize is that beyond 165 degrees, milk sugars start to caramelize and proteins start to break down, resulting in an unpleasing, popcorn-like flavor.

When you steam, start with the wand about halfway submerged in the pitcher, and as you steam, gradually bring the wand up to where the head is just below the surface of the milk. Note that the milk expands as you steam, and that you’ll have to move the pitcher down to accommodate and keep the wand head at the right level (see why we were looking for clearance in the Machine post?).

Some people consider it iconic to hear that loud, harshly sibilant tone of milk being steamed, but unfortunately it’s the sound of milk being steamed improperly and unevenly, with the wand touching the bottom of the pitcher. Properly steamed milk should be quiet, almost silent at first, and work its way to a low-key hiss.

As you steam, be sure to account for “thermometer lag”–when trying to reach a certain temperature, remember that your thermometer will lag behind your actual temperature by a few seconds. So, for example, if you’re trying to reach 165 degrees, turn the steam wand off when your thermometer reads 145 or so.

Got Any Recommendations?

As I mentioned, nothing replaces actual training and practice with your specific machine. Many coffeeshops occasionally offer workshops on how to use an espresso machine, so if you’ve got a few extra bucks and the time, consider joining one. They can be a lot of fun and you can ask questions and get answers from professionals.

(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.