Why should I set up my espresso machine?

The espresso machine is the beating heart of any coffee purveyor, so it must be running properly.

Good quality espresso machines (and even not so good quality machines) are expensive. If you’ve spent the best part of £2000+ on a machine, and another £500+ on a grinder, there’s no point bunging in some coffee beans and hoping for the best.

These machines are highly capable and deserve the time spent making sure it’s working to its full potential. Investing in a good quality grinder is a must. This will give you fresh coffee, ground consistently every time at the push of a button; essential for the perfect cup of coffee.

Keep it clean for consistency

An espresso machine also needs to be well looked after. If they’re not kept clean, then over time they will become damaged and break down. The worst part is, the damage happens on the inside where you cannot see it happening. This also applies to your grinder. Grinding coffee beans releases oils which over time can build up and leave residue on the burrs of the grinder; therefore, it’s important to keep these clean too. You can read how to do this in our ‘How to choose a grinder for my coffee shop’ blog.

You will more than likely have done lots of research into what coffee you would like to serve to your customers. Not that we are biased or anything, but here at Two Chimps, we source and roast the best coffee! Get in touch with Vic for a sample today.

Set up

The coffee chosen needs you to treat it with respect and serve it to its full, delicious potential.

How you set up your machine will completely change the overall taste of the coffee. For instance, if the water runs through the coffee too fast, it has not had enough extraction time, which will make the taste sour. If it runs too slowly on the other hand, then your ground coffee is too fine, and you’ll end up with a bitter-tasting coffee. You may then decide that it is the coffee that tastes bad and you won’t want to use it, which is, unfortunately, a common misunderstanding.

Other factors that will affect your coffee taste will be the grind size, the amount of coffee you use and also the age of the coffee. Finding a good balance between all these variables takes time, but it is worth the effort to ensure your coffee tastes perfect. At Two Chimps Coffee, we want you to get the best out of your coffee, and we know exactly how to help you set up your machine for this to happen.

Our Coffee

All of our coffee is roasted to order. This means we can guarantee that one of your variables will always be consistent! Once the coffee is roasted, it will only deteriorate in taste when it comes into contact with oxygen, which is why we roast little and often. We also recommend for you to have small orders delivered frequently to ensure you are receiving the freshest coffee possible. This is also why we would recommend an on-demand grinder rather than a chamber grinder. Once you’ve ground your coffee beans, the oxygen will start to make your coffee stale, and in turn, will give you ‘dusty’ tasting coffee. Fresh is best!

Another reason to have your machine set up correctly is that all coffee is different. Coffee is grown all over the world, in different countries, at different altitudes, using different methods of processing, different varietals of beans, differences in roasting, for instance. Therefore, there are 100,000’s of different flavours available, and by having a poorly set up machine means that these flavours are not shining through. By making some simple adjustments to your equipment means the difference between a bad cup of coffee and a great cup of coffee from the same bean! It’s incredible really!

Our Service

Part of the service we offer is free training, so you know how to get the best from your machine. We will come and spend some time with you, set your grinder and espresso machine up. Then show you how great our coffee really is. Once your machine is set up; which doesn’t take long, you won’t need to do anything – apart from the odd tweak here and there.

Once training is complete, we will happily continue to support you. We will give you as much or little retraining as you feel you need. Plus training for any new members of staff.

Setting up your espresso machine

Setting up your espresso machine can feel like a daunting task. Once you know the basics, it’s all about trial and error and a little bit of practice. It can actually be enjoyable! We will show you how much coffee is needed for each cup of coffee. This is dependant on the size of your espresso machine baskets. Then, using the general rule of 1:2 ratio of coffee in vs coffee in out, in 20-25 seconds for espresso. We’ll play with the grind size to find the correct grind for your machine. However, the final profile for your machine is done by taste to find the sweet spot.

You shouldn’t need to change the settings on your espresso machine often, if at all. However, if you ever have a different variety of our Two Chimps coffee family, then we recommend putting the time in the reset the machine for your new coffee. Each coffee is so different in taste, it’s crucial just to double-check everything is set up again to ensure the best taste. And guess what? We’ll happily come and do this for free!

Once you have sussed out all the different variables and adapted these perfectly for your machine. You can rest assured that every time someone orders a coffee, you are serving them with the freshest, tastiest coffee available!

This is why it is important to make sure your espresso machine is set up correctly.

So, you now know why it is important to set up your espresso machine, let us look at How to set up my espresso machine here.

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