Coffee as a source of inspiration

One day, I wanted to make an espresso at home myself. Coffee plays an important role in maintaining my health. It is more about the taste of the drink and the habit of drinking coffee while thinking, than about the magically invigorating action of caffeine. For a long time I brewed coffee in the Turk and did not know grief. Well, I did not know. I did not know until the turn of a truly complex and intense project. It immediately turned out that one cup was not enough to maintain a sufficient level of performance. Soul required about three servings per day.

This is where the difficulties began. Nothing like “fuuu instant coffee” I have never been ill. The periods of this unloved by many surrogates and natural coffee alternated completely painlessly in my life earlier, but it could not continue forever. It turned out that if you drink instant coffee several cups a day, it really starts to feel sick. Things were no better with the brewer ...

First, he also pall, though not to such an extent. Worse was another. The head was really busy. This led not only to an increased need for doping, but also to real helplessness in the kitchen. I drank coffee three times a day, of which at least twice successfully forgot it on the stove. At first, I even steadfastly poured the overcooked drink and took up the matter again (with the same chance of success - it reached up to 4 attempts in a row), but in the end I finally “got down” and began to drink overcooked. Yes, I know, there are recipes where coffee is boiled, but I do not belong to those who like it.

This is where the coffee machine idea came. In the cafe I liked to miss a cup or two of espresso, but I was not sure that the tradition would take root at home. So the unlimited budget did not ask.
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At the same time, I decided not to take a fully automatic coffee machine (into which you fall asleep grains and get a finished drink at the exit) for two reasons.
1. Inexpensive automatic coffee machine caused me a lot of doubts in terms of quality and reliability, given the sufficient complexity of the process.
2. There was a premonition that manual cooking would bring additional pleasure (justified)
3. In coffee shops, I often saw “manual” carob coffee makers; there was a suspicion that this was not a purely marketing move.

The choice of coffee machines.

So, part of the task was known immediately: it will be a manual non-professional "manual" espresso coffee machine.

A few words about professionalism. As I understand it, the level of professionalism of the machine determines the maximum speed of making coffee for a large number of people rather than the quality of the drink itself. Maybe a big gourmet will not agree with me, or you should know the places, but personally I don’t feel the benefits of coffee from coffee shops before what I do at home. Much more important is where the hands grew from and the quality of the coffee itself. In addition, it hardly makes sense to keep several liters of water heated (advanced machines usually have large boilers) for a few cups of coffee a day.

The first thing that has a real meaning is the shape (diameter) of the horn (portafilter). It should be 58 millimeters. Coffee brewed in coffee machines with a narrower and longer (the portion of coffee does not usually change) horn I absolutely do not like. Moreover, improving the quality of coffee beans somehow does not particularly affect the taste of the drink. And the choice of tempera (about them later) of this size is not so wide.

Also, the portafilter should be massive (thick and metallic). Espresso is quite picky about the temperature of estraction, so the presence of a thick layer of heated metal around ground coffee is very important. Those. You can save on the coffee machine until the portafilter starts to become plastic.

It also required the possibility of using one machine to prepare three basic drinks: espresso, cappuccino and American. With espresso, of course, there are no problems by definition. Milk can also be whipped on any coffee machine, but the water supply is not everywhere. Those. for americano you will need a separate teapot ... from the word "tea" ... what's the point about tea in general? So the supply of hot water is needed for the integrity and internal consistency of the process.

About pre-wetting coffee. Personally, I do not feel the difference, so I decided not to chase this opportunity.

All functions of automatic dosage were also discarded. First, the more complex the mechanism, the lower the reliability (or the price is much higher). And secondly, in the process of making coffee too many nuances - from the quality of the grains and the grinding to the temperature and humidity of the environment. It’s still safer to personally control every brew. Yes, and nobody canceled the mood, I want a consistently repetitive result - dilute the soluble ...

So, the final set of requirements: a massive port filter with a diameter of 58 millimeters, the function of supplying hot water ... everything! Does not sound too expensive. The way it is. And it turns out that the choice among non-professional coffee machines is practically none. So everything becomes quite simple. Took Gaggia New Espresso. Issue price ~ $ 240

Looking from the heights of my current experience now I would still take a model with two boilers. The functions of parallel preparation of hot water and steam (for whipping milk) are now a bit lacking. Although nothing deadly. And if you are not a fan of cappuccino or latte, then there is nothing to overpay for.

Upd. While the article was being edited, I quite got the hand to make drinks with whipped milk on one boiler, so the problem was rather the lack of skill. It's funny that I read the tips initially, and did everything, it seems, right at once, but to get started in a month ...

Accessories

Here begins the not weak "divorce" of the future coffee lover. I will run through the main positions

Temp . Is needed. Water is "lazy", it will always look for the shortest path through the coffee. And if she finds him, then at the exit only water will work out. Our goal is to thoroughly and evenly tamp coffee in the portafilter in order to eliminate such a scenario. Make it a plastic tempera, which comes with a coffee machine, it is possible, but not so easy and, most importantly, not so nice. Understandably, the diameter of the tempera must correspond to the size of the horn. If it is “standard” 58 millimeters, there will be no problems with search and assortment. Price - $ 30-40.

Pitcher

. Divorce. In essence, they sell you a Turk at exorbitant prices. And in the Turk for a lower price, you usually get a more comfortable handle and high-quality (thick) metal. However, I did not know about it and the pitcher bought. They also talk about the shape of the nose and the latte art - I don’t know, I don’t get pictures yet, so I don’t compare the pitcher with the Turkish from this point of view. And milk, of course, doesn’t care what.

Knock-box

A trash can for used coffee with a special partition for making a horn ... Maybe a little more convenient than a trash can, but definitely not as much as more expensive. They cost from $ 50, while the coffee from hitting the crossbar does not always want to “pop up”. In general, I did not take.

Milk thermometer. Type when whipping milk can not be overheated, otherwise kaput, blah blah blah. It is even true. But it is easier to overheat the milk a couple of times, remembering the temperature “by touch”. It is impossible to miss the moment of overheating - there is a nasty (personally for me) smell of boiling milk. Fu The taste corresponds - overheated milk "wins" coffee. I only overheated once, after which there were no punctures, I don’t see the point of paying $ 10 for a thermometer. And the thermometer sticking out of the pitcher will prevent people from taking you for a professional confident barist.

Discoveries

1. Coffee turns out tastier than in all the known to me coffee houses.

2. Wide portafilter does not forgive mistakes. If for a narrow one the only problem noticed is the impossibility to brew coffee with too small grinding, then you will pay for it and for too large - half of the coffee will be in the cup, half - all around. A similar payment is waiting for you and for bad tamping - too strong, too weak and, especially, crooked. Only experience will save here. Have patience and napkins.

3. The quality of coffee matters. Freshly ground coffee is much tastier than packed ground coffee. The difference is not from the field of high matters - the improvement in taste is obvious, it is not some fleeting flavor, but quite an obvious taste. And normal coffee is not so expensive. About $ 20 per kilogram. But it is important to find a place. Just try all the nearest points of sale. In my case, in the next house they sell excellent coffee, the smell of which you feel even after two packages on the street in windy weather, and across the road for the same price under the same names (usually this is the name of the country + grade) - prepogany, the smell of which I did not feel even in a cup.

4. Grinding is very important. Therefore, mentally get ready to buy a coffee grinder. I plan to do this soon. And it will most likely cost more than a coffee machine. While it seems that for 400 dollars you can buy something suitable. Because every time asking girls selling coffee a little smaller or slightly larger than the last time, already tired. Yes, they already remember me and even remember how they did it last time. But still, I got into perfect grinding by the strength of two or more times. Partially, the flaws can be smoothed by tempering (more coarse grinding of the coarse grinding and weaker - fine), mixing different types of coffee, the amount of coffee. But all this is nothing more than crutches. And I'm not a crutch!

5. There is no special point in measuring time. On the Internet, it is customary to write about the ideal time of estraction for about 25 seconds. But, as I already wrote above, there are too many factors - coffee, grinding, mood, weather ... It is better to watch the color (initially the color is dark, brightens over time) and the texture (from “lush”, saturated with bubbles to simple watery) of flowing coffee and try-try-try. The selection of the taste of your dreams will take only a few days without the need to dance around the coffee machine with a stopwatch. And changing the coffee you have to look for the taste again - do not worry. It's worth it. In addition, stopping the estraction at different points in time, you will receive different variants of espresso ristretto, lungo. An example in the photo. There should not be a central stream, but here you have to choose - or you make good coffee or take a picture of it.

6. A good espresso is rather hard to drink. I even heard a story that, say, weak Americans could not stand the strength of an espresso and diluted it, so it was American. I used to despise weakness and drank mostly double espresso. Now came the realization. What I drank before is small portions of americano. This espresso is not just strong - it is oily, weeping ... Its taste, even with water, is not so easy to drink. After the same double may even come a state similar to a slight intoxication (approximately as half a liter of beer). So espresso with almost daily drink turned into a once or twice a week. But now it’s a buzz almost pure!

7. Heated. Warming up is incredibly important. So the coffee machine should work for about an hour before first use. You can warm for about 15 minutes, and then pour a cup of hot water to a friend through an empty portafilt. But still better longer. In general, the process is very reminiscent of the Chinese tea ceremony - it is better to pour all that you can with hot water before preparing the drink, except that the milk for beating (it should be just cold). Warm coffee pleases at times weaker than hot ... even more frustrating than happy! And the cup is better to heat separately. On budget coffee machines, passive heating from a boiler is used, which I personally lack. I found a way out by buying a single small glass-ceramic tile, on which I warm the cups before brewing. You can simply pour a full cup of hot water first, but this is inconvenient for me, since the coffee machine is in the office where there is no sink.

8. Coffee leaves a lot. One serving of espresso is about 8 grams. Even with my three cups a day, about a kilogram of coffee comes out a month. And you can not sleep enough, it will not be an estraction, but the flow of water through the coffee muck. So save on consumables will not work.

9. In my coffee machine, a plastic insert was attached to the portafilter to improve the result of brewing bad coffee. I initially did not read the instructions, as a result I spoiled a fairly large amount of good coffee. Better to throw it away. I want to save on coffee - buy instant, the coffee machine itself will not save the taste.

10. Clean. Under the coffee machine, I allocated a separate table. In the video, making coffee is usually rubbed with a towel, I went down a simpler path and prepared a bunch of disposable napkins. I dreamed how perfect and beautiful I will be here. Alas and ah. I, of course, keep the filter and cups clean, but the table is almost always sprinkled with coffee. Constantly something wakes up or drips by. At first I tried to clean everything at once, but this spoiled the coffee meditative attitude ... In the end, I came to the daily cleaning of the table in the evening. Carefully looking at the countertops of coffee shops, I realized that there, too, everything was far from being sterile. In general, scattered around the coffee (in moderation) creates some of its atmosphere, and the smell in the room is appropriate.

11. Dosage. Often in the video on the Internet you can see that there are various ways of dispensing ground coffee - from regulators and special devices on coffee grinders to scales. Scales in this regard are more reliable, but the point is ... It is clear that if you make several hundred cups of coffee a day, then speed and repeatability are very important. But for oneself it’s somehow warmer and lighter-like to do “by eye”. For a couple of days, the correct amount of coffee is found and stabilized by itself.

So, really make good coffee yourself. Besides, of course, there are a number of convenient signs of observation that will help you to be sure that everything is done correctly.

• A trickle of flowing coffee should be flat, stable and slightly viscous.
• In the cup on the coffee should form a dense, stable foam.
• Used coffee should be moderately dry (not to resemble dirty muck) and have a clear imprint of the “shower” block. It should be easily removed from the portafilter. Ideally, drop out as a single “pill”. To the last, however, either I have not grown up yet, or a more serious coffee machine is needed.

In general, it is worth it. And it is relatively inexpensive, at least in comparison with the result.