The unique taste of coffee is always the talk of the town but did you ever experience a rich espresso with a layer of foamy cream? Or do you ever try espresso in any cafe and love the taste but want to make it at home? The wait is over as we will share quick and easy steps for how to make espresso at home.
Espresso is an Italian coffee-making method that always remains at the top of any coffee-making method. Once you master espresso, you can easily make a whole variety of espresso drinks, just like your favorite coffee shop. You can make espresso drinks: cappuccino, latte, macchiato, flat white, and much more.
We will also answer the following questions in this article: what is the best way to make espresso? And how can you make espresso without an expensive gadget?
How to Make Espresso
Making amazing espresso shots is an art; you need to be an artist to do this task. It is easier than it looks. Once you practice it and properly follow all the steps that we will share with you, it will be much easier and simpler. Now without any further delay, we are going to share steps to create espresso.
Ways to Make Espresso at Home
Espresso is the popular Italian way of making high concentrated coffee. One shot of espresso contains one ounce of coffee while a double shot is about Two ounces of coffee. Espresso usually intake in a smaller quantity or it is used as a base for some other espresso drinks like cappuccino etc.
While making espresso, you need to mix finely ground coffee beans with water with a high pressure. An espresso shot usually has a foamy ceramic top which adds an additional taste to it. There are too many ways to make espresso, but we will share a few top methods of doing it and explain each one.
- Espresso Machine
- Portable Espresso Machine
- Aeropress
- Moka Pot
- French Press
1- With An Espresso Machine
Using a machine adds more perfection to your espresso, which tastes even more like a coffee shop with a massive layer of crema on the top. Many coffee shops use espresso machines and place it on the top of their counters and grind the coffee using them. Most espresso uses a steaming rod which makes well-steamed milk for cappuccinos and related coffees.
Steps to make espresso with an Espresso Machine
Grind Coffee: Use 8-9 grams of espresso coffee for one espresso shot and 16-18 grams for a double espresso shot. Grind your coffee until it is finely grounded. Roast and beans from different brands may require more time than usual to ground them properly.
Tamp and Pack Coffee Grounds:
- Add coffee grounds in the basket of espresso, which is also known as a portafilter, until it starts coming on the top.
- Use any tamper like thing to press grounds evenly into the portafilter and press it gently and ensure that it is compressed.
- Before you do tamping, place portafilter on a clean towel and clean it properly
To get most out of your first espresso shot, try to make coffee grounds straight as much as possible.
Place the portafilter in the espresso machine and press the button to pull the shot. Most home espresso machines have an automatic option for this. A well-pulled espresso shot will last around 25 to 30 seconds and have deep espresso flavor with a nice foamy crema.
Pull the Shot: After adding beans to the portafilter, now add it into your espresso machine and press the start button to begin with your first shot. Most espresso machines are fully automatic and they do this task itself. If an espresso shot is well pulled, it will surely last around 30-35 seconds and have a deep flavor crema topping.
Adjustments, if any: A lot of practice is required to exactly manage the ratio of coffee grind and amount of coffee to add up to make a tasty espresso. If you feel there is much water in your shot then expected, then add a little more coffee ground or finer grinds. On the contrary, reduce the amount of coffee ground if your shot takes longer than 45 seconds.
2- Use Any Portable Espresso Machine
Portable espresso machines are much cheaper than espresso machines, but the results are almost the same. It is also known as a manual portable espresso maker. You can manually push the water through coffee into a cup using any small portable machine. The feature we liked about this device is—it is much smaller and easy to carry.
Aeropress
You can also make espresso with an Aeropress, but it is not recommended, and only use it once you are running out of choices.It is more like a plastic cylinder which is used to make a cup of coffee.
The best thing about Aeropress is that it is portable, easy to clean, and cheap, making it much easier to make coffee. If you are ready to sacrifice flavor, then you can use it, but if not, ignore it.
Moka Pot
Moka pot is our premium pick if you are interested in rich and dark flavored coffee. Unfortunately, the taste of moka is not much like espresso, but somehow similar to it. You can use moka as an alternative to espresso drinks and it tastes more like an americano than espresso.
The other name of the Moka pot is Bialetti. Processing moka pot is quite easy and you can use the stovetop method to make a strong coffee by forcing an immense stream through the fine coffee grounds. Using this method you can easily make a rich pot of coffee which is very famous in the US and Europe.
French Press
Alternative method of making espresso at home is by using a french press. French press is always a top pick for anyone as it is best for making espresso with a specific tool. Guess what? The flavor is much similar to espresso.. Moreover, a french press is a device used for brewing coffee in a tiny pitcher. Primarily it is used for brewed coffee, but it works fine for espresso too.
We have listed the five best ways to make espresso at home. Try these, and you will get the best flavor of espresso. Practice makes perfect — so keep trying until you get the desired flavor. We hope you are now much more familiar with making espresso. Now give it a try and share the results with us.