Crema motto in the Espresso World

A near-perfect cup of Espresso is not easy to come by. To make such a cup of Espresso, you must carefully control these variables in combination with brewing technology and brewing time. In addition, you must have some innate appreciation ability (Note 1) to test whether your brewed Espresso is cooked well. If you're good at all of this, Espresso will be an unspeakable premium drink; if you're bad, it'll be a bitter, dark, muddy water. Unfortunately, in most coffee shops in the United States, it is also difficult to drink a really good cup of Espresso, and there are usually some small details in the brewing, and if you don't do it, the effect of brewing will be very different. So here are some small details to note before brewing, for your reference, and hope that you coffee shop owners to make "Holy Grail" as the goal, not just "not cooked bad" as the goal.

Note 1: The translator explains that the term "innate appreciation ability" does not depend absolutely on "talent", but also on acquired taste training to enhance appreciation ability. See "Taste Development Method" in the "Taste" section.

1. Use the best quality coffee beans on the market in the recipe: To brew a good cup of Espresso, the first prerequisite is that the beans cannot be bad, otherwise no matter how good your brewing technology has reached, the brew will not be good. To do this, you simply have to buy the best quality green coffee beans and roast them properly. If you don't know how to roast, you can find a reputable bean vendor and roaster to cooperate, and don't hesitate to buy high-quality coffee beans, because these coffee beans can bring you a unique feeling of formula. Although there are many other factors to consider in making a good cup of Espresso, the root cause is ultimately based on the quality of raw beans and the freshness of cooked beans. (Note 2)

"Green bean quality,""ripe bean freshness," and "roasting technique" determine whether this cup of coffee will lead you to heaven or hell.

2. Always pay attention to cleaning the bean grinder bean trough: no matter how good the coffee beans are, they will be ruined by the smell of smelly oil when they are put into the unclean and smelly bean trough. Cleaning the bean trough is a must not be lazy thing, at least once a week to clean completely. Use mild detergent without fragrances and wipe clean with dry tissue. Also, I've seen a lot of bar staff use the lid on the bean tray to scrape powder, which is not a good idea, it's recommended to use the smaller lid on the side of the dispenser. If you use the bean trough cover, it is easy to get coffee powder. After a long time, fresh beans will be more or less stained with some of this old powder, which will not only affect the flavor, but also shorten the life of the millstone. Note 3

Note 3: The translator thinks it is better to find another plastic ruler to do this action, so that there is no doubt that it will affect the grinder and coffee powder.

3. Always buckle the filter on the brewing head: customer first rule 1, when someone orders a cup of Espresso, in addition to giving him a bottle of water, the bar staff should not rush to find the filter, so in the case of no use, must also buckle the filter on the brewing head, one can also preheat, reduce the impact of temperature difference. Note 4

Note 4: The concept of filter preheating needs to be discussed. Taiwanese players have more detailed research in this regard. Since the aromatic components in coffee powder are mostly volatile, if the filter is preheated in advance, it will cause a large loss of aromatic substances when filling, which is very harmful to Espresso. Please try this argument for yourself.

4. Use the right cup size: Imagine putting a 1-ounce amount of Espresso into a 12-ounce paper cup. It is recommended to use a 4-ounce paper cup or a 2-3-ounce glass for Espresso.

5. Preheat cups: Use hot water from a hot shower to preheat your cups, but remember to pour it out before using. If you are afraid of spilling Espresso over your cup, measure the amount of coffee in ounce cups first. Espresso should flow gently and smoothly into the cup. If there is a splash, there is something wrong with your brewing process. Note 5

Note 5: There are many reasons to avoid splashing during brewing, such as improper grinding scale, uneven filling force, freshness of cooked beans, baking days of cooked beans, etc. For further discussion, please search for relevant topics in the discussion area or start another discussion.

6. Pay attention to the grinding scale: grinding this part is probably the most difficult step in the brewing Espresso process, fine or coarse, will seriously affect the extraction of coffee powder, so the bar staff must be very clear about the timing and significance of adjusting the grinding scale. The most basic time to brew a Single Espresso should be controlled between 20-30 seconds (my own attempt is to make about 1 ounce in 25 seconds is the best performance) When brewing a Single Espresso, add a moderate amount of flour (about 7-9 grams) and apply about 30-50 pounds of pressure. Note 6

Note 6: Regarding the brewing seconds and powder quantity, Espresso dosage, the author described the appropriate brewing conditions using local or home-baked recipes. In fact, the optimal brewing seconds and Espresso dosage vary with the recipe and baking degree. It is also a big subject that must be carefully and independently experimented with.

7. Use enough powder to brew: Do not put too little powder, which will not only make the texture of Espresso thin, but also cause a small amount of powder will cause insufficient resistance problems, easy to be broken by pump water pressure. Excessive coffee powder will cause excessive expansion and also form a waste.

8. Stabilize your packing force: unstable packing will lead to insufficient extraction or excessive extraction problems (Note 7), frequently practice packing force, so that you can control it at about 30-50 pounds, if you are not sure how much force is, it is recommended to buy a scale to measure, when packing on the scale, after determining the force, you must often practice packing. Whatever the factor, don't use the packing device that comes with the grinder, because no matter what, it won't get about 30 pounds of force to pack.

Note 7:"Over-extraction" experiments Please search for related topics. Yuing has done such experiments before, which is a controversial topic, but it is worth studying this phenomenon.

9. Choose a good quality filler: Many bar staff are used to knocking a filter with a filler, but if the filler material is not good, it is easy to produce gaps or dents for a long time, which has a great impact on the compactness and flatness of the filler. A good packing should be durable, comfortable to hold, and sized to fit the filter specifications.

10. Clean the filter: Usually after a glass of Espresso, the last impression guests have of that Espresso is the bottom of the glass. If there is residue at the end of the glass, the guest impression is always not good. So remember to clean the sides and bottom of the filter after each cup of espresso. If this is done, but there is still powder, replace the filter with a new one. Because the filter is pushed by the pressure of brewing every day, the small holes on the filter will be more or less enlarged over time, and even if your grinding scale is accurate, the coffee grounds will still penetrate these holes and enter the guest's cup. An easy way to test this is to hold a new filter and an old filter together and examine the difference in aperture size between the two filters under the light of a lamp.

11. Rinse the filter: Worried about old coffee residue affecting Espresso flavor? Then add a step to the filter cleaning process. Use a hot shower to rinse your filter. This will remove most of the residue. This is also a great service for guests. I am proud to say that with our daily traffic of 1800-2000, we really do it every time we brew!

12. The beauty of concentration: when it comes to Espresso, many people mistakenly think that more is better, but it's not. I've seen a lot of bartenders pick up Espresso in large 4-ounce cups (sometimes larger ones) and fill them until they're full. The correct amount of extract should be between 1 and 1.25 ounces. Also, unless you are doing a Double or Ristretto, use an ounce cup to measure the correct amount of extract. Keep in mind that with espresso, the less you extract, the more you taste.

13. Be sure to taste your espresso first: you must taste your espresso every day before opening, so that the adjustment of brewing variables can be more accurate. You have to know if the Espresso has the right taste, smell, appearance, Crema thickness and Crema color. If these conditions are met, then you can live up to the name Espresso and serve it to guests.