Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

good call, been enjoying my latest La Illusion more than the last jailbreak or current breakfast bomb for some reason.

I tend to find the mark up to be a little steep on the local bars so just buy for everyone in the office and charge them the postage ;)
 
Ahleckz said:
Discovered a coffee shop in Edinburgh (http://www.list.co.uk/place/103309-wellington-coffee/) that uses Square Mile coffee. It was really good - much better than the chains/generic indies I've bought from in the past. Quite bitter and sharp, which was great for a lunchtime pick me up. Thinking of buying some of their stuff for home use.

Though £1.90 for a single espresso (take away) doesn't please me.
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weirdly i've been there - stumbled across it while in Edinburgh for a long weekend and dragged the misses half way across town every morning for breakfast there :D I do love how mixed up the review is... "and a guest grinder often featuring Has Bean’s Red Brick, of World Barista Championship fame"
£1.90 isn't too bad for a very small indy - how much does a double espresso go for in starbucks these days? Purfrock is only £1.40 for a single but they get enough trade that they can offer such good prices :)


Oh and always go for the Gaggia at that sort of price point, unless you want to splash out for a silvia or the like...
 
manveruppd said:
Nah man, £1.90 for a single is pretty bad. There's an indie place near me charging £1 for a single! And yeah, they use mostly SqrMile and some Hasbean coffees, and they're near the train station so their rent must be pretty high.
They do more than make up for it by overcharging for pastry items and sandwiches to hungry commuters though. :p
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arr - miss read it as £1.90 for a double - for a single thats pretty shocking (and i'm used to london prices!)
 
the tamping will help but it won't make near as much a difference as a grinder
(£30 for a hand Porlex hand grinder, £115 for a happy donkey IBERITAL MC2 if you only do espresso - there are other suggestions in the thread....)

to get the best out of the shockingly poor plastic tamper try tamping the four 'corners' of the basket to get a more even distribution & yes, get rid of the crema maker thing if you have it
 
apparently running white rice through it is a pretty decent way of cleaning the left over gunk out - there are official grinder cleaners (ie Urnex Grindz) that do a similar thing if you want to go down the products route :)
 
FeFiDoh said:
Just came here to see about this. Is it any good? The Gaggia Classic RI8161
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Yes, its a great starter machine and if you can get it for £150 go for it :) It'd be worth spending the saving on a decent tamper and replacement filter basket though as the plastic tamper they supply with it is all but useless and they have started supplying the machines with a weird 'crema generating' filter basket that apparently sucks ass

in other news these look novel, but wastefull - much rather carry a grinder and a brewer but can see the benafit of an all in one solution:


http://www.growerscup.com/eng/

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Seems very expensive mind - £2.50 a pack
 
you should be aiming for about 60ml total for a double shot of espresso.

If those are shot glasses they are probably closer to 120ml - most shot glasses are set to hold around a double spirit shot, ie 50ml... Coffee hit do some nice lined coffee glasses, ideally you want a single glass thats big enough to hold a double and fit under the two spouts.

If you want to just drink straight espresso the best thing to do is get some nice glasses and work out by eye where the 'line' should be, the Bodum Pavina is the go-to shiney espresso cup:
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Ginder wise the Rocky is very good if you want to switch between grinds, the Baratza Encore is a cheaper option that seems to be sufficient for espresso and is adjustable :)
 
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I think its pretty common to get uneven pour from the basket, just one of those things. In fact as the coffee flows down through one hole and onto a 'diverter' the machine being on an uneven surface is most likely to cause any imbalance in distribution.

Basket wise i'm not sure, i didn't get one on mine, but if you can just take out the funky creama basket and replace it with one of the numerious 'gaggia double filter baskets' you can find around. Should be less than £5 - and while your at it treat yourself to a nice tamper :D
 
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as long as its the right size and not made of the crappy plastic from an 80s Renault you'll be fine. Curved or flat is much of a muchness, I quite like the slight curved one I got my Dad, feels a bit more forgiving, but I have a flat and it does the job well.
There are all sorts of arguments over it online (as with anything) but it probably won't make any noticeable difference. Just get what ever :D
 
Dave, the best approach to start with is to grind to a point where it stalls (ie nothing comes out) and work your way up from there. So if it stalls on 10 and your tamping at the right kind of pressure back off the grind to 11, check the pour and taste and repeat if needed.

The biggest thing to remember is ultimately taste is the real measure. If it tastes good to you that's all that matters.
Taste is controlled by two things, the beans and the pour - if your pour right and your beans aren't to your liking (or are old, ****, not to your tastes) your never going to get a decent drink... but some beans (generally the espresso blends) will be more forgiving :)
 
you can try 'tamping' on scales to get used to the sort of pressure you need to be putting in (30-40 pounds)

The freshness of the beans makes all the difference, supermarket beans will have been roasted weeks to months ago and as such will give a much worse result (the short pour, sour tasting shots your seeing)

All beans will need slightly different settings on the grind, and this will vary through the life of the bean, as it grows older generally it'll need a finer grind to get better results (although on a grinder like the rocky the stops are such that you shouldn't need to adjust more than weekly)

For supermarket stuff you may never get a decent pour at any setting, switching between supermarket stuff and fresh hasbean will need a pretty decent adjustment in the grind :)

basket wise I wouldn't recommend getting a larger basket, the consensus tends towards 14 grams of coffee although some cafes have apparently upped this.

Blind basket wise it shouldn't make a difference where you get it from, just buy the cheapest you can find in the right size :) (personally i quite like http://www.coffeehit.co.uk/)
 
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Good luck Flibster, will be very interested to hear how you get on :) Not sure how much were allowed to talk about business ventures but would be great to know what its like setting up :)
 
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