How to Make the Best Espresso

How do you make barista-quality espresso? How do you make espresso shots taste better? You don’t want to keep on visiting your favorite coffee shop to get such a quality shot.

There is nothing better than getting the hang of the best practices so you can always make the best espresso at home. All you need is an espresso machine, grinder, delicious coffee beans, and an excellent brewing recipe – which I’d be sharing with you right away.

Prepare Your Ingredients

Making the best espresso starts with the quality of the coffee beans, followed by having great gear. I’d recommend fresh and recently roasted, dark brown specialty coffee with slightly less acidity. One more thing, store the beans away from sunlight, oxygen, and excessive heat to keep them fresh.

Gear Up

Now to the gear: the grinder and the espresso machine. The grinder needs to be consistent in grinding particles so you can tweak it to your preferred texture to get the best out of the coffee. Be sure that the espresso machine has stable pressure, temperature, and water volume so you don’t get different results.

Start Grinding

Before grinding, be sure to determine the grind size as it impacts the extraction rate. The finer an espresso is, the quicker the extraction process. For the results that suit your taste, you may consider tweaking the grind settings.

Best Ratio for Espresso?

Now to the question: What is the best ratio for espresso? Remember you’re the one deciding on your coffee. Well, the water brew ratio depends on your preference for strong coffee. I’d recommend starting with 1:3 ratios. Each gram of dry coffee gives you 3 ml of espresso. However, you can use 1:2 if you would like it stronger.

Beyond the quantity of water, the taste of your coffee could also be influenced by its quality and temperature. Therefore, stick to the following quality:

• use water with a neutral pH
• maintain 90-93 C/194-199 F temperature

Note that the hotter the water, the faster the extraction process.

Start Brewing the Best Espresso

To start brewing that “best quality” espresso, add the coffee grounds to the portafilter (the espresso machine) and make sure the grains are evenly distributed for full permeation. Tamp hard and for long until the puck gets compressed.

Then insert the portafilter and start brewing immediately! You don’t want to delay so the surface of your coffee doesn’t get burnt by the heat emanating from the group head. Keep a tab on the brew time so you can always adjust to get the quality you want.

Now, we’re done!

Hold on a bit: how do you make espresso sweeter? Well, you may consider adding frothing milk, especially full-fat cow’s milk. I tell you: You won’t be able to resist its delicious taste.

Finally, there is no ‘best’ espresso. Rather, the best espresso is the recipe that best suits your tastes.

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