Coffee shop Espresso at home

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A staple in the coffee making world, the Espresso machine has been around since the late 19th Century. Are you ready to make café quality coffee with your own hands? Dive in baby!

To get a little techy, we would recommend a starting ratio of 1 part coffee to 2 parts water for an Espresso. If this is too strong or too weak for you, change the ratio as needed. As long as you enjoy it, make it however you wish!

If you are looking for a Ristretto, we would recommend a 1:1 ratio.

For a Lungo, a 1:4 ratio is a good starter.

Portafilter and three bags of coffee

 

You will need:

  • An espresso machine
  • An espresso tamper
  • Your favourite mug
  • 15g of scrummy coffee for a double espresso
  • Filtered water if possible. From the tap if not.

 

Climb aboard the espresso train – we are off!

Turn the machine on and purge your espresso machine. This involves making an espresso as normal, but without the portafilter attached! This process removes any old coffee residue.

Cleaning the group head of an espresso machine

 

If needed, grind your coffee. This needs to have a soft sugar consistency.

Add your coffee to the portafilter.

Adding coffee to a portafilter

 

Tamp with medium pressure. The actual pressure used isn’t as important as getting the coffee level in the basket. The water will find the path of least resistance through the coffee, so a little practice will be key here.

Tamping coffee in a portafilter

 

Add the portafilter to the group head. Your coffee should start to extract evenly from both spouts (if your machine has two that is) the extraction time should be around 25s.

Keep an eye on the flow of coffee for ‘blonding’. Blonding is when the stream turns to a blonde colour and gets thinner. If the coffee starts to blonde before the 25s are up, try a higher dose next time.

Experimentation may be required here, but it will be well worth it to get your perfect espresso coffee.

Espresso pouring into a mug

 

While doing a little happy dance, discard the used coffee and give the portafilter a wipe to remove any leftover coffee. Replace the portafilter ready for next time.

Loved this? We thought you’d like these too:

 

How to brew the best espresso

Espresso Iced Coffee

How to make an Espresso Martini

 

So now you know how to make espresso at home, get some coffee from our online shop , call up some friends and get practising.

Close up of espresso in red coffee mug

 

Ready to become an Espresso hero?

Join us for one of our Barista courses at Two Chimps HQ – let’s all make and drink coffee together 🙂

 

Book now

 

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