Coffee brewing guide | how do you make high quality espresso?

I dare say that at least 99% of the world's espresso is substandard. Otherwise, why else would so many people add sugar and milk to their coffee?

According to Dr Ernesto Illy, there are more than 18 million factors affecting the quality of espresso, even the maturity of the coffee fruit. Many of these factors are beyond the control of baristas, while some factors depend entirely on the operation and judgment of baristas.

The difficulty in making espresso is that you need to control every factor perfectly every time. As long as there is one mistake, you will lose the whole game. These factors include the quality of water and coffee, the cleanliness of the equipment, the parameter setting of the bean grinder, water temperature, pressure and so on.

So how do we judge the quality of espresso? It is very simple, as long as you taste it, if you are satisfied with the taste, then the coffee is probably of good quality; if you think you need to add sugar, it means that you have made a mistake.

About operating technology

I hope the following video can help you.

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The difference between baristas and ordinary people lies in experience.

Baristas need to fully understand the methods of growing, processing, roasting and brewing coffee in order to ensure the highest quality of espresso. They must also understand the skills of coffee tasting to judge whether the quality of coffee is up to standard from the taste and aroma of coffee.

It is important to note that this video was shot a few years ago, and some of the theories and methods may have evolved for reference only.

The following video was filmed on May 20, 2015, in which I explained in detail the brewing technology we used.

About the choice of filter bowl

I personally highly recommend using the VST filter bowl. VST filter bowl can make the extraction process easier, the sweetness of coffee will be higher, and the specifications of VST filter bowl are uniform, which helps to maintain the stability of coffee quality.

The following is the formula we use when using VST20 gram filter bowl

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-Water temperature | 93-94 ℃

-pressure | 8-9 ba

-freshly ground coffee powder | 19-20g (using electronic scales)

-Total weight of coffee | 36-40 grams (using electronic scales)

-brewing time | 25-35 seconds (using timer)

If you are using a 22g filter bowl, please use 22g freshly ground coffee powder. The total weight of coffee should be 44g.

Please pay attention to whether the size of the filter bowl matches the coffee machine. Common coffee machines, such as La Marzocco, can use 58mm caliber filter bowl. In addition, please note that the 22g filter bowl may be too deep for the handle of some coffee machines.

About Baking Curv

Espresso should be roasted as much as possible to reflect the characteristics of the coffee itself, so the roasting should be just right, neither too deep to mask the taste of the coffee itself, nor too light, too sour and grassy.

About storage.

The bag must be equipped with a single vent so that the coffee can fully release carbon dioxide after roasting, thus ensuring the best quality of the coffee.

My personal advice is that coffee should be drunk at least 6-9 days after the baking date, and should be kept at room temperature at 14-20 ℃ before use to avoid light, heat and humidity. Therefore, when buying coffee, you should pay special attention to the baking date indicated on the bag.

This article comes from the official account coffee culture of Wechat.

Original address in English: www.timwendelboe.no/brewing-guides/espresso

Author: Tim Wendelboe

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