Taste espresso

History of espresso machines

The history of commercial espresso machines in coffee books is unified into the piston pump invented by Gaggia in 1948. In the past 60 years, the large appearance and principle of espresso machines have basically not changed much. It's a bit of a pity, but the original exposed E61 brewing port is no longer popular. I personally like very classical copper machines, but scaling and copper rust are unavoidable problems. Modern medium-and high-grade machines, such as conti and starbucks's special machine La Marzocco, often use aluminum alloy boilers. The conti is a French machine, and it has been used as a special machine by coffee beanery. If you want to buy E61 machines, it seems that some brands such as faema are still for sale, and even manual piston machines can be found, but there is no guarantee of pressure. Speaking of manual motors, it always reminds me that the earliest movie cameras were also hand-shaked. at that time, many photographers shook very fast as soon as they took tense shots, and as a result, everyone on the screen moved madly, and sometimes they would shake very slowly when they encountered calm and beautiful lenses, so rocking film was a technical job at that time. It is the same now, if the pressure is not enough, crema will not come out.

Gaggia is still producing espresso machines today, but all aspects of technology have lagged behind, and the quality has also declined, which really makes people feel that time flies.

Beans commonly used in espresso

We know that coffee beans are generally divided into Arabica and Robusta, the former is usually more advanced, the latter is promoted because the latter is easy to feed, like weeds with strong vitality. The former is not only usually raised at high elevations, but also vulnerable to insect pests.

Robusta is usually the main ingredient of instant coffee, but some robusta is sometimes added to espresso beans because robusta is easier to make crema, such as Lavazza's grand espresso, which is a mixture of 60% Arabica and 40% Robusta.

Espresso coffee beans are usually blended beans because they are a more balanced way of brewing coffee. Due to the toxicity of starbucks, acidic espresso has been considered to be a problematic taste in the mouth of Shanghainese. Of course, slightly acidic espresso is not a popular taste because there are too many uncontrolled factors and the demand for brista can be very high.

For every brand, espresso's bean blend is a trade secret, not as scary as the formula to protect Coca-Cola, but it is also an important part. In the case of illy or lavazza, which we are familiar with, the former is 100% Arabica in memory, while the latter has several different recipes. As mentioned earlier, Robusta is mainly used for cost control and makes it easier to make Crema, but it increases the caffeine content of espresso to a considerable extent, and such a formula is not recommended unless you have a special hobby.

Many domestic bakers produce individual varieties of beans, generally speaking, Brazilian beans and Yemeni mocha beans are more suitable for the use of single espresso, but due to the purchase channels, baking level, especially for the selection of bad beans, it limits the level of domestic manufacturers in providing espresso beans.

Espresso commonly used temperature: 90.5C

Forgetting who measured this temperature may be the result of a long trial, just like traditional Chinese medicine, rituals and experience all play a role. If the temperature is lower than this, espresso will become sour, while higher will be bitter. This is not fooling people casually. For a while, the temperature of my coffee machine dropped to more than 80 degrees, and the aftertaste of the espresso became very astringent. I thought it was the bean problem. Later, I used the temperature to measure the water temperature to find out the problem.

But 90.5 degrees is not a standard value, a senior brista will understand that air pressure and other factors can also affect coffee, high altitude areas will increase a small temperature to match coffee beans, and French filter pot coffee making, the temperature will often be as high as 95 degrees. So don't trust coffee drinkers who spread the temperature as if it were a Bible.