Espresso (Espresso) and espresso machine

I like the experience box column of the website very much, and I have always wanted to share the content of coffee.

But the more I know about coffee, the more I find that my level is not enough, so I don't dare to post it casually.

Because it is found that the introduction of formal coffee information on the website is relatively few, some of the content comes from Baidu, so let's popularize the basic content.

The main purpose of this article is to introduce espresso (Espresso). It comes from nothing. The key is to know what it does.

Just drink?

Apart from those coffee gluttons, it is estimated that few people in China will do so.

It is most commonly used to make fancy coffee, such as latte, cappuccino, cappuccino and so on.

Standard cup latte

Standard cup cappuccino

Q: do you have to use espresso to do fancy style? French pressure, Vietnamese kettle, love music pressure, hand flushing, siphon and so on?

A: a small number of fancy coffees can be used, such as "French Ole Coffee", but almost none of the popular styles cited above are allowed.

Q: why?

A: because espresso has a strong taste, no other production method can reach that level.

Next, let's introduce how to make espresso (espresso).

How to make espresso (espresso)

To achieve a cup of espresso (espresso), the most important factor is stable pressure and stable temperature.

Sometimes those who encounter half a bottle of water will say that this term is out of date, and now the best semi-automatic coffee machine is variable pressure.

Indeed, since 2004, the real variable pressure coffee machine has been born, gradually spread all over the world, and began to enter China in recent years.

But the pressure swing coffee machine is not random, its pressure control requirements are far greater than the traditional semi-automatic Italian coffee machine, coupled with the price of more than a hundred thousand is not affordable to the average family.

To quote the explanation of Brother Bird, the Great Coffee God, "how to understand the variable pressure technology: to reach the specified pressure value at any time, and to be stable, and to remain unchanged after changing to the specified pressure value again, is the real variable pressure."

Since we can't afford the Tuhao coffee machine, we should return to the traditional espresso machine and return to espresso's golden rule of "extracting 1 ounce (30ml) of espresso (espresso) in 25-30 seconds at 90-92 degrees Celsius under 9bar pressure."

Although this golden rule is still controversial in professional coffee forums in recent years, 9bar pressure is basically not controversial, so a bunch of coffee machines boasting 15bar or higher actually refers to the most high pressure of the coffee machine, which is of little significance, and is generally used to fool newcomers. Stable pressure and stable temperature are the criteria for measuring Italian coffee machines.

Now that you know the two most important factors of espresso (espresso), you can choose the espresso machine, all traditional espresso machines are designed around these two factors.

In the Italian coffee machine, the influence pressure value is mainly the pump, the pump is divided into the vibration pump and the rotary pump, the pressure curve of the vibration pump fluctuates, and the pressure curve of the rotary pump tends to be a straight line, but the machine of the rotary pump is not less than 8000 at present.

In the Italian coffee machine, the temperature value is mainly affected by the size of the boiler or heating block, as well as good heat conduction materials, there is an obvious difference between the toy machine and the professional Italian coffee machine. In general, many standard toy machines are equipped with small boilers (below 200ml) or small heating blocks, so it is difficult to achieve a stable temperature, and the temperature fluctuates greatly in the process of coffee extraction. The machines of many small household appliance brands are like this (such as Cankun, Delong, Electrolux, etc.). After all, these brands are not professional coffee makers. Another thing to consider is a good heat conduction material, a good machine has a better circuit and pipeline design, using copper or stainless steel as the main material of the coffee machine, they have good thermal conductivity (to ensure uniform and stable temperature). Otherwise, it is still more than 90 degrees from the boiler to 70 or 80 degrees out of the coffee machine, which will be more obvious in the low temperature environment.

Having said so much, I would like to introduce several household semi-automatic coffee machines that are popular in coffee forums.

Elegant em-18 (imitation s) costs about 1600 yuan.

Vibrating pump

Boilers: 300ml

Professional handle 58mm powder bowl

Because the appearance and design imitate the foreign very successful home semi-automatic machine Lanchio silvia, it is generally called imitation s, which can be won on Taobao for about 1600 yuan. Because of its high performance-to-price ratio, it is very popular among novices in coffee forums.

Its boiler is not big, 300ml, but under the troubles of many friends in the forum, the current version design is still relatively reasonable, with some points for attention, it is possible to produce a cup of espresso (espresso) with more than 80%. Because the boiler is small, it is better to wait for a continuous cup. In fact, the introduction of this machine is quite perturbed, basically coffee birds feel that it is not to the extent of the entry machine, considering its popularity in the coffee forum, or introduce it.

Huijia 210s, the price is about 3500 yuan

Vibrating pump

Professional handle 58 mm powder bowl

Use "pump" and "add"

The machine is also controversial in coffee forums, mainly because it uses a heating block, which opponents say is not stable enough to support household use. Supporters say it uses large double heating blocks. I played with my friends for a while, although I felt there was a slight gap between the machine and the big boiler, but I didn't have to spend half an hour waiting for the big boiler to boil, which is very suitable for household use. The design of the machine is also very mature. Its predecessor is 210. in Australia, the version is Sunbeam em6910, at least not a knockoff. At present, Taobao is about 3000, and now there is a 210s2, about 4000. I wish the price was cheaper.

Nova Oscar (NUOVA SIMONELLI OSCAR)

Italian original NUOVA Nova SIMONELLI OSCAR Oscar Italian steam semi-automatic coffee machine.

RMB 7516 JD.com Mall

Here comes the big boiler machine.

Professional handle 58 mm powder bowl

Vibrating pump

Sub-mother boiler: 1.9 liter of mother boiler and 0.75 liter of sub-boiler (how can the machine of small boiler stand?)

Italian origin, very heavy, 34 jin.

NUOVA SIMONELLI is an established coffee maker. The entry machine recommended by many old birds is about 5000 yuan. When I first learned about this, I sighed that "5000 dollars is the only entry machine." It claims to be cost-effective because its domestic price is cheaper than that of Meiya.

The water temperature of the big boiler is relatively stable and has been evaluated well in coffee websites and forums at home and abroad.

The disadvantage is that the boiler is so big that it will take about half an hour to turn it on.

Aibao E61 twin boiler rotary pump version (Expobar E61)

Commercial Expobar E61 Aibao double boiler rotary pump PID single head semi-automatic coffee machine free delivery.

RMB 8560 JD.com Mall

Gao Fu Shuai is here.

Double boilers: 2 1.5 liter

Rotary pump, the pressure is more stable than vibrating pump

Its brand is Spanish brand: Aibao, uses the very famous cooking head E61, so it is basically called Aibao E61 in China, in fact, its exact model is Office Leva 1GR 2Boilers Rota.

Using PID temperature control technology, the temperature is more stable, household fever model.

E61 actually represents its professional cooking head, automatic prepreg, stable heat capacity, fully mechanical, very powerful.

With barometer and water pressure gauge, there is a liquid crystal panel on the left to display and adjust the required temperature.

The price of Taobao is about 9000.

It also has a single-boiler vibration pump version, which I think is more cost-effective than its own double-boiler rotary pump.

Well, with the coffee machine, will it be possible to produce a successful espresso (espresso)?

Not yet.

Why?

Back to the two factors that affected the quality of coffee in the first place: stable pressure and stable temperature.

Apart from the machine factors, the influence of external factors is also great.

First of all, the powder from the bean grinder.

Ideally, the powder from the bean grinder should be micro-particles of fixed size, and to reach a certain fineness, it should be evenly placed in the powder bowl on the handle of the coffee machine, because the density is the same, when the water pressure of the boiling head is evenly distributed on the whole pressed powder, the pressure obtained in this way is stable.

But in fact, it is very difficult to do this, thousands of pieces of bean grinder out of the powder will still be different in particles, and there will be some very small coffee powder (residual powder), it is very difficult to make the density of coffee powder in the powder bowl to be exactly the same.

The more uniform the powder produced by a good bean grinder, the less residual powder will be.

Not to mention the poor bean grinder, even a certain fineness can not reach, the density is completely uneven, resulting in the pressure on pressed powder is very uneven, not to mention whether it can be stabilized on the pressure of 9bar.

The bean grinder will not be introduced. If you want to introduce it, it will be a big one. Open another post in the future.

Bean grinder is basically a penny of goods, I think the price of bean grinder from 1800 yuan, basically can be used.

An one or two hundred yuan bean grinder doesn't work on an Italian coffee machine at all, so you'd better save it and buy a bag of beans.

And then there's the technique of making coffee.

With a good coffee machine, a good mill, and good technology.

The most basic techniques are cloth powder and pressing powder.

Cloth powder: distribute the coffee powder evenly in the powder bowl of the coffee handle for the same reason as mentioned above, if the powder in the powder bowl is more on one side and less on the other, the pressure is uneven in the end.

Pressing powder: flatten the coffee powder in the powder bowl with a powder hammer to make its density relatively uniform. If you press hard, the powder in the powder bowl will be high on one side and low on the other, which will also lead to uneven pressure.

The influence of technology varies greatly between good and bad machines. The better the machine is, the less it is affected by technology, and the worse the machine is, the more affected by technology.

Because I was fooled by Taobao when I started playing coffee, I bought a toy machine known as 15bar, and later I found that I couldn't play. I measured it casually with a thermometer, and the temperature deviation was more than 10 degrees.

Later, because I wanted to pursue the ratio of performance to price, I thought that technology could make up for the defects in the equipment. I bought Delong's small boiler machine and mistakenly matched a 600 yuan bean grinder, and the coffee came out with thick fat, which seemed to be the same thing. All the way to a friend's coffee shop, he used his home's commercial mill and tens of thousands of commercial coffee machines. Cloth powder pressing powder is not very careful to use their 30 yuan one-pound beans to make a random cup of coffee, exploding their own toy machine to take more than 100 yuan one-pound beans to make coffee. Only to find out that I was wrong.

Honestly bought an Oscar and more than 4000 bean grinders.

It's only now that I can really get in the door.

In fact, there are many technical requirements, in terms of temperature impact, the coffee cup must be warm, otherwise the temperature of the coffee to the cup drops rapidly, which can easily lead to sour coffee. After the coffee machine is turned on, although the good coffee machine pipe will automatically heat up the head, it is still necessary to put hot water to let them temperature up, so that the temperature will be more stable when making coffee, which will be more obvious in winter. Many veterans put water twice when they play with those small boiler machines.

There are also some other technical requirements, such as a fixed amount of powder (make a double, 14 or 15g, a single is to use 9-10g), and so on.

Some people may ask that the technology is too troublesome. Can you ignore this problem if you buy a better coffee machine and bean grinder?

Unfortunately, no, otherwise Starbucks would not have replaced its advanced semi-automatic coffee machine with a fully automatic coffee machine. Starbucks is considering that their baristas are of different standards, and have opened so many stores, some baristas do well, some stores do not do well, which affects their reputation, so now apart from their black apron stores have semi-automatic coffee machines, everything else is fully automatic.

Fully automatic Italian coffee machine

Explain a little bit what a fully automatic coffee machine is. To put it simply, the beans are poured in and the coffee comes out as soon as you press the switch. It integrates the Italian coffee machine and the Italian bean grinder, and its grinding can be adjusted when it is generally better.

Is it all right to buy a fully automatic machine?

Yes, although it is not as good as the coffee made by professional players with semi-automatic machines, it is still possible to produce a qualified cup of coffee.

And a good fully automatic machine is not cheap, you can calculate the entry-level big boiler machine 5000, the entry-level Italian bean grinder 2000, the coffee machine and the bean grinder in one machine plus 3000 is not too much, plus the name of full-automatic plus 3000 should have it

It is estimated that more than 13000 of the fully automatic coffee machine should be OK (because very few people play fully automatic in the coffee forum, just take a look at this section)

If you want to drink a cup of espresso, you have to spend so much. Can't you play with a cost-effective small boiler?

In fact, it can also be equipped with a good Italian bean grinder, coupled with stable technology, to minimize external factors affecting pressure and temperature, it is still possible to produce a qualified espresso.

Hehe, some people may ask, "when it comes to technology, is it so difficult for me to have a cup of coffee safely?"

There is another plan, which is highly recommended to friends who just want to drink fancy coffee.

Italian capsule coffee machine

The configuration of the Italian capsule coffee machine is actually similar to that of a small boiler, but it grinds the beans into powder with a top grinder and presses them in a capsule, basically removing the machine factors and excluding other external interference factors. Then its own Italian capsule coffee machine is optimized for its own brand of capsule so that it can maintain stable pressure and water temperature in dozens of seconds.

At present, the more influential Italian capsule coffee machines are: Nestl é nespresso, Illy, lavazza

The nespresso of Nestl é costs about 2000 yuan.

ILLY 7.1capsule machine, the price is 2200 yuan

LAVAZZA Italian capsule machine, the price is nearly 1000 yuan

Because I have played with the capsule machines of nespresso and illy, I simply commented on these two types of machines. Nespresso's capsules cost about 4.7-4.9 yuan each, and its powder is too small, so officials also recommend it as a standard capsule to produce 25ml coffee instead of traditional 30ml.

Illy capsule costs about 5.6yuan each, it is the most traditional 7g powder, so it is recommended to use 30ml. Nespresso's capsule has many flavors, while illy's Italian capsule has two kinds. Because there are few kinds of capsules, the optimization of illy's capsule machine is a little better. And it uses two-stage extraction. The first stage is through low-pressure water through coffee powder, which basically simulates the pre-embedded function of a professional coffee machine. Then the standard extraction was carried out at 9 atmospheric pressure.

Nespresso Coffee capsule

Illy Coffee capsule

For friends who like to drink lattes and cappuccinos, I highly recommend illy's x7 or x8 series. It can also make coffee and milk. If you want to play with flowers that day, you can DIY a steam nozzle. The copied graphics cannot be pulled out. A simple tulip is still OK.

The most economical solution: mocha pot + manual milk foam pot

Does it have to cost so much to have a latte or cappuccino? If the quality of coffee is not very high, like to drink fancy coffee with more milk and sugar, there is also the most economical solution, that is mocha pot + manual milk bubble pot. Generally speaking, a mocha pot of two or three hundred yuan is basically enough.

The more famous brands are: BIALETTI, TIAMO

Advantages: economical, close to espresso (espresso), suitable for coffee with sugar and milk.

Disadvantages: because the temperature is too high is basically excessive extraction, coffee is bitter; the pressure is not enough, the concentration is low.

A manual milk bubble pot for 30 yuan

Also attached is a video of coffee god Lim Dong-Won pulling flowers by hand, but to be honest, using this flower pull will scrape off a lot of thick milk bubbles, and it is difficult for beginners to control. Finally, a photo of the coffee table at home is attached.

Add some omissions:

Forget to mention coffee beans (thanks to cateran netizens for reminding me), to produce a good cup of coffee, you must have fresh beans, knowing that more than half of the flavor of coffee beans will be lost in a month, and more than half of the flavor of coffee powder will be lost in a week. The deeper the beans are baked, the faster they lose their flavor.

What kind of coffee beans would you like?

The more famous commercial beans are illy and lavazza, although the two brands also use certain means in the preservation of coffee, but because of a series of customs procedures to the domestic, basically some time, but generally speaking, the quality of beans is still there. Although some people have been opposed to my argument, I would like to say that there are fake lavazza on some treasure.

Personally suggested to buy beans.

Now on Taobao, some good stores bake beans only when they place orders, and some stores specify a certain day in a week to bake beans. These stores largely ensure the freshness of beans, plus the general beans have a 3-7-day breeding period, which happens to be used for express delivery these days.

Bean cultivation period: after roasting, it is generally recommended that coffee beans be preserved in a proper environment for three or four days before tasting, so that they can enjoy the complete flavor of the coffee.

Criteria for evaluating a good espresso:

Although du Niang said that the espresso should have thick grease, and even said that there should be tiger markings, these are only references, not standards, and there is only one real standard.

It's just delicious.

It is recommended that you finish the espresso and take a few sips before making a latte or cappuccino. How does it taste?

And in recent years, many high-scoring Italian beans at home and abroad are shallow baked, its oil is very little, but the flavor is unique and delicious.