A reference for home espresso beginners

The pressurized powder bowl is a patch-like thing made for toy machines, which will make crema with many bubbles and poor taste. As the pressurizing device will affect a series of parameters, such as brewing time, flow rate, taste, etc., it is generally very easy for newcomers to make coffee with insufficient extraction.

Crema has no taste, but the problem of insufficient extraction is even bigger-"if a cup of coffee has no content, it can only be bitter or sour, but generally speaking, it is not good. For example, Delong EC-155 and Cankun are pressure-free powder bowls that can be bought online. Their original bowls seem to be pressurized bowls, while professional machines are all pressure-free bowls.)

First, clarify the relationship between water temperature, powder thickness, brewing time, roasting degree of beans and coffee taste.

When other conditions (such as the above conditions and pressure) are the same:

1. The water temperature is higher-> bitterness increases, sour taste decreases, and vice versa.

2. Finer powder-> bitterness increases, sour taste decreases, and vice versa. (in the production of espresso, other conditions are the same, fine powder will slow down the flow of water, the brewing time of the same volume of coffee will be longer, and the bitterness will still increase.)

3. The cooking time is longer-> bitterness increases, sour taste decreases, and vice versa.

4. Bake the beans deeper, and you can get more information from the reply below.

Semi-automatic boiler divider and heating block machine, normally the temperature of the boiler machine is stable, and the temperature of the heating block is not very reliable, but some friends support 210s and provide evidence of 210s temperature stability.

The simplest toy machines, such as the EC155, have no other structure, just a vibrating pump and a small boiler. The maximum pressure of the pump is 15 or 16 atmospheric pressure. The pressure is unstable. If the outlet is blocked directly, the maximum pressure should be reached quickly.

Further up, there is a pressure relief valve, a larger boiler with better material, and a larger and flatter cooking head. A larger boiler brings a more stable temperature, and the relief valve protects the machine and stabilizes the cooking pressure.

On the other hand, the mother boiler or double boiler can milk both coffee and milk (the single boiler needs to milk first and then make coffee).

In addition, the rotary pump comes on stage, stable pressure, stable water flow, stable coffee quality, and no longer have to listen to the noise of the vibrating pump.

Simple irresponsible advice:

1) money is not afraid of waste: feel free to buy it, more pilot machines will certainly have a little more understanding.

2) A choice that is rich and doesn't want to be wasted by upgrading the equipment: E61 (double boilers + rotary pump version) + mignon or mini or sj or the mill beyond them (it seems that there can be a consensus on this point in the jar).

3) I hope to spend the least, but I don't want to upgrade in the future: I personally recommend EC155+900n (ec155 is the most convenient machine for opening the bottom) (however, the ec155 used to be more than 700. if it is still priced at more than 1000 on TB, it is more appropriate to imitate S, which is really improving all the time (it does have a pressure relief valve). It's just that the history of the collapse of cooking heads makes people a little worried (although it is a very distant history) (mignon (TB purchasing agents will be a little more expensive, but reasonable) if you can go to Hong Kong, which is not much more expensive than 900n, but the quality gap is not small).

4) if EC155+900N still thinks it's expensive, if you don't want to regret it, you'd better not make espresso first. It's as delicious as a single product.

There is a huge gap between 61 and toy machine, hand mill and electric mill, and there is still a huge gap between 2B electric mill, general electric mill and literary electric mill. However, for players who are underfunded, the suggestion is: when your bean grinder is less than 900n, put the focus of capital investment and upgrading on the mill, you will get higher marginal benefits.)

Before you buy a machine, please understand the performance of the machine and the difference with other machines. If you don't do your homework, you are more likely to regret it.

2. The choice of beans

There are probably baked beans and brand beans.

It is generally made with mixed beans, and a good combination of beans is enough to bring a sticky taste while allowing espresso to meet the needs of layers, rich aroma and taste.

Using a single variety of baked beans to make esp requires a high level of equipment, operation and beans, and the mixed beans are easier to interpret the taste and consistency in harmony. Yejia Xuefei is a favorite single bean, which has great aroma and taste, but it is difficult to deal with the taste if it is directly used to make esp (it is only recently known that Yejia can also be used to make esp). Generally speaking, you need to match other varieties and baked beans to balance the taste; in addition, the juice made of some beans is sticky enough, but the taste is not colorful, the most representative is Robusta. The formula is the baker's understanding and interpretation of the taste, doing more experiments and tasting, espresso will be more wonderful ~)

It is best to leave the newly baked beans for 5 days before using them: the extraction will be more stable and the taste will not float. Freshly baked beans protected from light at room temperature are sealed with one-way breathable valve and can be kept for 3 or 4 weeks. Reason for the need for beans: coffee powder made from fresh beans will produce more gas when it comes into contact with hot water, and bubbles attached to the surface of coffee powder will affect the extraction. Coffee powder expands more easily and is easy to cause uneven extraction. Bottomless observation will find the shift of the liquid column: the concentrated liquid column formed by the coffee liquid flowing from the powder bowl will continue to move) and the beans will take several days or even ten or dozens of days to mature after baking, and the aroma and flavor will gradually appear.

3. Cups

There are many glasses and metal cups that taste so strong that it tastes strange to drink coffee-no matter what material you like, find a tasteless cup to drink coffee.

Heat preservation problem, sometimes do not need to give espresso too good insulation, lower temperature may taste better, but there is controversy, try to find what is suitable for you.

4. Heat engine

Let your semi-automatic state:

1. Put the switch down the heating gear, and then put it for 15-30 minutes (too slow method)

2. By heating-- releasing water: turning on the heating switch-- "heating finished--" putting water into the machine to start reheating-- "wait until the heating is finished, you can start making--" if you want to make the temperature more stable. "you can choose to put more water on the boiler. many households semi-automatically measure the temperature of the boiler (rather than measuring the water temperature).

From the beginning of heating the water to the time it reaches the set temperature, the light indicating that it is ready for completion will come on; however, the temperature of the water is not the highest at this time, and it will continue to climb until it is the same as the temperature of the heating tube in the boiler (during this period, the temperature of the heating tube of the boiler drops).

When the temperature of the outer wall of the boiler drops below the set temperature, the machine will continue to heat.

During this period, the temperature range can be as wide as 10 degrees (which also means that the temperature difference can be 10 degrees in all cases when the heating light is lit). Please note: the taste of coffee is very sensitive to the production temperature (if you have traditional drip coffee experience, you should be very clear about the difference between 85 degrees and 91 degrees). Having a grasp of the above temperature change process will be beneficial to the production.

Some people will choose to start making coffee when the light is on, while others will choose to put on the water for a few seconds before making it.

Think about it, what are the reasons for the choice of these two? For temperature adjustment, please refer to the description of temperature and taste at the beginning of the article.

In addition, releasing water before cooking can make the temperature of the water left between the cooking head and the boiler more consistent with that of the water in the boiler.

It is said that the temperature at which silvia stops heating is on the high side. If your machine has the same characteristics, you can release a little more water after heating to lower the water temperature.

5. Try more and debug the smell you need most

Fixing other conditions and changing one condition is a good way to do experiments ~ try more, and you will get the optimal taste in the end.

In addition, the use of different equipment will bring different experiences and more understanding, so don't let it go if you have a good opportunity.

(be sure to smooth out the channel effect before the experiment, otherwise the experiment is really meaningless-> No matter how bad it is.)

Please do not forget: the starting point for espresso is the taste, the end point or the taste, the problem of stagnant water in pressed powder, please do not consider too much (use EC155 to do espresso, in the case of good scale adjustment, there is always stagnant water, in fact, it is easy to understand, if pressed powder has no resistance to water, how can HOLD live in N atmospheres? Therefore, it is not normal without stagnant water) (the high-end computer has its own means to deal with stagnant water)

At the beginning of espresso, there will always be all kinds of failures waiting for you, don't worry, even if the theory is right, it still takes a period of time to try to combine with practice.

6. Where to solve the problem?

Don't rush to post questions in the forum: many people have answered fatigue syndrome and entered the diving period. First use the forum search function to search, basically can find very good introduction posts, read more posts, the following comments do not miss, you will understand: even if the new questions are answered, it is difficult to be more comprehensive than the previous posts.

When you read everything you should see, if you still have doubts, the time has really come to post and ask. At this time, the question is the problem of detail, the new problem, and the problem worthy of everyone's attention.

Anyway, so easygoing 7. Forget one important thing: it's best to find a really good cup of coffee before you learn how to make it. There is always a goal and a reference for learning, isn't it?

Good coffee doesn't make you feel a little resistant. please don't hypnotize yourself or hypnotize others like this: "this is a cup of espresso, although it is bitter, but this is good taste-> not bitter, bitter to the extreme is sweet, drink some water, wow, the water has become sweet"-tragedy.