Beginners guide for great Espresso

1. Introduction: Hi guys. I'm Dario Pieber I'm from Switzerland and I've worked in coffee for the past four years. I've worked as a barista behind the bar. And currently I'm roasting coffee and giving classes. I'm super happy. I can share my knowledge about coffee and espresso with each and every one of you. In this class, we'll dive deep into the espresso topic. We will cover the basic steps for even making an espresso, but also about recipes, coffee freshness, origins, and a lot more This class is structured to start with the basic knowledge, you should have to create some taste espresso But as we move on, we go more into the details that should really help you to get the maximum out of your coffee beans and coffee machine. Feel free to take notes or rewatch the class if anything is unclear. I'm really happy to be part of your coffee journey. So let's get started! 2. Espresso the right way: Hi guys. In this class I want to show you how to use. the espresso machine in the right way. There are a couple of things you should be mindful of. So let's do it. First. You want to make sure that the portafilter is always in the coffee machine, because the metal has to be properly hot. Otherwise you have a cold Espresso for your first extraction. Then we have to measure the coffee. In my case, I'll be using 18 grams of coffee. This really has to be accurate. Plus minus 0.2 grams is fine. But if you're less accurate, you don't really know what made the difference when dialling in your espresso. Once you measure the coffee, we are ready to grind it. I'm using my grinder as a single dosing one. I'll explain more about that in a later class. But for now, if you just fill up your hopper with coffee beans and weight, the portafilter with the ground coffee. That's just fine too. But one way or another, you just have to know how much ground coffee you are using. Then we have to flush the brew group, 1 second should be enough for this. This will remove all the remaining coffee particles sticking to the bottom of the shower. Depending on what kind of coffee machine you have. This might also help to prevent any heat accumulation in the brew group. Then you have to clean the Portafilter with a cloth. You want it to be clean and dry. Once this is done, you can fill in your ground coffee. But please make sure that you don't spill anything. To distribute the coffee evenly on your filter basket. You can use your index finger to help you or you can tap the portafilter like I just did. It should look like this before you tamp the coffee. Please hold your tamper like an old-fashioned flashlight. And I personally use my index finger and thumb to feel if I just tamped straight. Because this is the most important thing. The pressure doesn't really matter here. It's more about being consistent. Move your hand over the rim of the filter basket to remove any coffee particles sticking to it. Then really important, start the extraction right away once you put in your Portafilter. You should have a couple of seconds before the coffee starts to drip out. If your coffee machine can't dose the water volumetric, you have to use a scale underneath your cup because you want to know how much coffee you do extract. For the best taste. The extraction time should be something between 20 to 30 seconds. As you can see here, I extracted my coffee for 25 seconds. Great. Now you know how to use this espresso machine in the right way. So let's move on. In the next class we will adjust the grinder to really get the best out of your coffee beans. 3. Adjusting the grinder: Hi guys. In this class, I want to show you how to adjust the grinder to get the maximum out of your coffee beans. Sometimes I hear people say, that extraction doesn't really matter. Especially when it's for a cappuccino with all the milk in it, you won't taste it anyway. But they couldn't be more wrong. If the Extraction was in an odd way. The coffee certainly tastes odd. And especially when you want to drink just a single Espresso, the taste has to be perfect anyway. So we'd rather just adjust the grinder. So let's get into it. Extraction time has a big impact on how the coffee will taste. If you extract your espresso between 20 to 30 seconds, you should get pleasant drinking experience. If the extraction was shorter than 20 seconds or longer than 30 seconds, then tastes might be off. To fix this problem is quite simple. I'll show you in a bit. Alright, let's start with tasting free different extractions from the same coffee. One time it will be an under extracted coffee is means the extraction time was below 20 seconds. One time will be an over extracted coffee. This means the extraction time was above 30 seconds. One time we will taste the right extraction. For each and every extraction, I will use the same dose of 18 grams. And to same yield of 40 grams, the only difference will be the grind size. As you can see, the coffee practically shoots out of the Portafilter. The coffee already looks watery to me. The extraction time is certainly below 20 seconds. This means to grind size for this coffee was way too coarse. As you can see, the extraction time was only 12 seconds. So we end up with a really watery and sour espresso. So we have to grind the coffee beans a bit finer. Usually a smaller number means a finer grind setting. When you make bigger changes to the grind setting, you should purge the grinder with a couple of coffee beans. This helps you to get quicker to your result. As you can see here, the coffee only slowly dribbles out. We can already take a guess that the grind setting was a bit too fine and the extraction time will be over 30 seconds. This way, we extract way too much of the coffee and end up with a really bitter, burned and in some cases, even metallic espresso. So not really pleasant. This was a proper 40 seconds extraction. Extraction time was well above 30 seconds and the coffee will certainly it tastes bitter and burned. For the next one, we change to grind setting back a bit courser to get the extraction time within 20 to 30 seconds. It's all about taste when finding the right grind size. When the coffee extracts in under 20 seconds and it tastes really sour and watery, we should change to grind setting a bit finer. If the coffee extract for longer than 30 seconds and you have a really bitter and burned espresso. We should change to grind setting a bit courser. But I think this time we got it just right. The extraction time was 25 seconds. And we got a really sweet and balanced espresso. If you try this at home with your coffee machine you get two really undrinkable espressos and one really pleasant one, We just got three completely different tasting experiences with three different grind sizes. Two really undrinkable ones, and one really pleasant one. Now it's your time to use your newly gained knowledge to adjust your grinder in the right way. Let's see you in the next class. 4. Choosing the right dose: Hi guys. In this class, I wanted to show you how to choose the right coffee dose for extracting an espresso. As with everything with coffee, I recommend to use a scale because it makes everything so much easier and quicker. So let's get started. I'm sure you asked yourself how much coffee beans you should use for brewing your espresso. There's not a single right answer. Rather than an optimal range. The amount of coffee dose you should use for brewing an espresso is given by the filter basket you're using. Most filter baskets used as a standard in espresso machines are 18 grams. Of course there are exceptions. So please make sure to check the filter basket you're using. Sometimes it's written on the side, but it might as well not be written on it. But there's another way we can find out the right coffee dose you should use for your filter basket For this, we have to extract some Espresso. This experiment, I use the same ratio for all the shots. A Basic one to 2.5. So we can compare the taste of the different extractions. The filter basket I'm using is perfect for 18 grams of coffee. The first shot, I use 16 grams of coffee to 40 grams of water. As you can see, there's a lot of room between the tamped coffee and the shower screen. After the extraction, the puck will be super soft and might even have some water on it, and it probably won't come out in one go. So we didn't use enough coffee for this try. For the next try, I use 17 grams of coffee. As you can see, the puck is not as soft as before, and it certainly has less water on top. It actually looks pretty okay to me. So this means 17 grams of coffee will be okay for this 18 gram basket. For the next one, I'm using 18 grams of ground coffee. So this time it's the perfect amount for this filter basket. As it can see, the puck doesn't look too firm or soft and it will come out easy when it try to knock it out. This time, I'm using 19 grams of ground coffee. As you can see, there is less room between the tamped coffee and the shower screen. And you might just see some stamp of the shower screen, but it still looks pretty okay to me. This time, 20 grams of coffee. As you can see, there is less room between the shower screen and the coffee. This time, 21 grams of coffee. It gets harder and harder to get all the ground coffee into the filter basket. This is one indicator that we just use too much ground coffee. 22 grams, really was the maximum I could get into this filter basket. As you can see, there is a negative of the screw where the shower screen is attached and the coffee puck is really firm. This is certainly too much coffee for this filter basket. Now you should know how to use the right dose for your filter basket. But it doesn't matter what size the basket basket is you can always use plus-minus one gram of coffee. That should always work. Lets you in the next class. 5. Brew recipe: Hi guys. In this class we'll try different recipes for Espresso. Depending on your preferences, you can choose the right recipe for you. That's the beauty of having an espresso machine at home, right? So let's get into it. I want to introduce you to the recipe for espresso. This is quite simply the coffee dose in relation to the water. You might find a ratio of one to two. This would mean we use one part of coffee dose to two parts of water. If we put the scale, underneath everything, this would mean we use, for example, 18 grams of coffee to 36 grams of water or yield. But what impact does the brew ratio have on the espresso? It probably has the biggest impact on the mouthfeel and the body of the coffee. To see the differences, I will extract three different espresso. One with a ratio of one-to-one. One with a ratio of one to two One with a ratio of one to three. I will explain everything as we go through it. Here, you can see the extraction of the espresso with the ratio of one to two. But let's compare it to taste and especially the mouthfeel of these three different recipes. The espresso with the ratio of one-to-one is really syrupy. And in my opinion, just too intense. Everything is just super compressed in this one. The espresso with the ratio of one to two is really pleasant to drink. The taste might still be a bit too intense, especially for light roast coffee. But the body feels just great. Espresso with a ratio of one to three is pretty light and you might even say watery, especially when you use a dark roast coffee. This works better for super light roast coffee, where you need to balance out the acidity. Otherwise, it still feels pleasant, but the body is pretty light. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong ratio for an espresso, only the one you like the most. And again, this is the beauty of having espresso machine at home. See you in the next class. 6. Coffee freshness: Hi guys. In this class we will talk about coffee freshness. Some people still think, the fresher the coffee the better the coffee. But what does fresh actually mean? We will dive deeper into what coffee freshness even means. So let's get started. Coffee freshness refers to the date when the coffee was roasted. And of course, there's a time span when the coffee tastes the best. Generally said, if you wait about five to ten days, you can get the best experience of tasting your coffee beans. But why should you wait this long before use your coffee beans? When roasting coffee, there are many chemical reactions happening. One of the first byproduct that gets created is CO2. Co2 tastes drivers sour and dry and has a big impact on how well the espresso can be extracted. When the coffee comes in contact with water, the degassing speeds up. If we're using coffee that was roasted only two days ago, the CO2 that's still in the coffee disrupts the whole extraction. So we have trouble to get an even and balanced espresso out of these coffee beans. This is the reason you end up having and really unbalanced espresso. And if you now take a look at the crema, you can start to see large bubbles appearing on the surface and the crema will be gone in a really short period of time. You can see this phenomenon, especially good in milk beverages. After the cappuccino was poured, it might look just perfectly fine. But after a couple of minutes, you get large bubbles appearing on the surface and it looks just honestly rather disgusting. This means you have to be a little patient once you've bought your favorite coffee beans. As I said before, there's an ideal range to consume new coffee. And as you now know, this is about five to ten days after the coffee was roasted. It's best to consume the coffee within two months after the roast date. The coffee won't turn bad if you wait longer, but the aromatics will certainly decrease. The oxidation process will continue, leading to a rancid taste. If you have coffee older than two months, the vibrant aromas will certainly be less intense and the coffee might tastes a bit hollow. In the extreme case, it can even be rancid. For this reason, I recommend always buying small coffee bags. And us it as long as the coffee tastes best. The coffee I used for this cappuccino was roasted two days ago. When you look at the crema, you can see large bubbles of CO2 appearing on the surface. There is one little trick you can use when you only have fresh roasted coffee at home. Prepare your coffee, grind it, and then wait five minutes before you extract the coffee. This way, the coffee will already degas a bit You should know know what coffee freshness means and when the coffee tastes the best. Lets you in the next class. 7. Coffee storage: Hi guys. In this class we'll talk about the best way to store your coffee beans. I mean, you want to preserve the great taste for as long as possible. So let's get started. We all want our coffee taste the best, for as long as possible. But what does even happen? And can we taste the difference? As coffee gets older, it gradually loses the flavours in has. Very fine ones, like the floral notes are lost the first and the heavier ones like stone fruit stay for a bit longer. Once you've waited for like six months, and coffee becomes really boring. What once was a cup full of vibrant flavours. Now it only some hot brown coffee that may be tastes a little bit like chocolate. But only this applies when the coffee will stored the right way. The coffee doesn't really get bad. Only less interesting with time. To ensure the best taste of the coffee, you should keep it in an airtight bag and store it out of direct sunlight. Some people put the coffee in a different container. Once they open the bag, but it actually it's best to leave the coffee beans in the bag you've bought them. If you leave the coffee beans exposed to the air, the aging process will increase rapidly. And the oils and the coffee beans will slowly react with the oxygen in the air and become rancid. Also recommend only to fill up your hopper with as much coffee beans as you might use for the day. This gives you the best tastes possible. I go as far and using the grinder as a single doseing one This means I measure 18 grams of coffee, grind it and extract the espresso. This way the beans never stay in the grinder and are not exposed to the air for a long time, to get me the best possible taste. But this really is the hardcore, nerdy version. I completely understand if you don't go this far. But again, the most important thing, keep your coffee in an airtight container and story out of direct sunlight. See you in the next one. 8. Processing: As we dive deeper into the world of coffee, we certainly have to talk about coffee processing methodes, because this has a huge impact on how the coffee will taste in the end. So let's get started. I'm sure you have already seen some coffee methods described on the coffee bags. Depending what process to coffee went under, we experienced different sensations in the cup. It is really interesting how the taste can be affected, by the process to coffee went under. Basically there are four different methods. The first one is the washed coffee, The second one is a semi-washed or also known as honey. The third one is a natural coffee. And the fourth is a coffee that underwent an extra fermentation. These days. you see this more and more of fermented coffee. let's start with the washed coffee. Coffee cherries usually contain two beans, each. Once they're fully ripe. The are picked and brought to a processing station, For the washed coffee, They removed the fruit from the seeds with a machine and wash them. They removed the remaining sugars on the seeds. This process also helps to remove any beans that were not fully ripe, because the unripe beans will float on top because they are less dense than the right beans. After the beans are washed They are slowly dried until they reach a water level of about 9 to 11%. Washed coffee, Usually is really clean in flavours, has lots of acidity and less body compared to other processing methods. Some of the best washed coffees I ever had, were from Ethiopia and tasted like Jasmine and orange blossom and had some really, really elegant acidity. compared to the washed coffee, natural coffee is dried within the cherry. Natural coffee is not immediately after the picking removed from the cherries. The cherry is dried as a whole. This way, the coffee beans can absorb more sugar from the cherries, resulting in a more dense and you could even say more complex coffee. So natural coffees always have a heavier body compared to washed coffee. A really tasty natural coffee I recently roasted was from El Salvador. It had a rich and creamy texture, heavy body and tasted like strawberry, red wine and milk chocolate. Semi washed coffee, also known as honey process, is something in between a washed and natural coffee. The coffee beans are removed from the cherries but not immediately washed. This leaves the coffee beans still some mucilage with some sugars in it. This way, the coffee beans can still absorb so much sugars, depending on how long they leave the coffee beans to dry with the mucilage on it, the color will change. The longer this process, the darker the color will become. This is the reason for names like white honey yellow, honey, red honey, and black honey. Well, this kind of coffee, there isn't a typical taste profile. In my experience. It is just is something between a washed and the natural coffee. Fermented coffees are currently really trendy in the specialty coffee scene. But there are countless methods how to fermented a coffee. For this reason, I explained the carbonic macuration process. This was originally used for wines. I recently had a coffee that was a natural carbonic maceration for 72 hours. But what does it mean? This means they picked the coffee cherries, put them as a whole in stainless steel tanks, close the lid and flushed it with CO2. This creates an environment without oxygen, also known as anaerobic. They let the coffee ferment this way for 72 hours. After the fermentation process, the coffee beans are removed from the cherries, washed and dried as all the other coffees. With this process, you can create possibly any flavour you could imagine. One coffee I recently had that was a carbonic maceration, tasted like passion fruit, white chocolate and had some really, really heavy and cremay body. I think it's really interesting how a coffee can be affected by the processing method. The same coffee for different methods will result in four different flavour profiles. It's super interesting to try coffees from various processing methods. as the tastes can be so different. I hope this helps you to understand. how the processing methods can affect the taste in the cup. Let's see you in the next class. 9. Brew temperature: The brew temperature really is the last thing I would change when dialling in the espresso. But when you have the possibility to do it, you can really get the most out of your coffee beans. let's get started. Depending on the coffee machine you are using. Adjusting the temperature can be more or less effort. But if you have the possibility all the better Usually, the temperature is set to 93 degrees by factory, If you use for example a rather, dark roasted coffee. The coffee is already pretty soluble. So I would use a lower temperature. So I would mean something between 89 to 92 degrees. The coffee already has more bitterness as it is roasted darker. I don't want to add more bitterness with a high brew temperature. With the lower group temperature, we don't expect too much of the coffee and end up having a balanced and sweet espresso. If the coffee is a light roasted espresso. I will set the temperature a bit higher, something between 90 to 95 degrees. This way, we can extract more of than coffee and get more bitterness in the cup to balance the acidity. If i would set a lower temperature for light roast Espresso, the acidity would become overwhelming, really pointy and sharp. And the espresso would be completely undrinkable. This is the approach I usually follow when dialling in an espresso. Let's say we have a light roast, washed Ethiopian coffee. So we expect a lot of acidity, clean flavours and a light body. First, I define the recipe. My go-to recipe is 18 grams in, Forty grams out. Then I tried to find the right grind size to get the extraction time within 20 to 30 seconds, until I found the best taste. If I'm not really happy with the taste I get from different extraction times. I would adjust the recipe. Let's say this coffee had too much acidity, was too sharp and pointy. So in the next step, I would adjust the recipe to 18 grams in to 45 grams out. And if that didn't help either, I would adjust the brew temperature. But this really the last parameter I would adjust. The machine I had before this beauty Needed some tools to adjust the temperature. So I really only set it once, and then adjusted all the other parameters to get the best taste out of it. So here again, what we learned in this class, a higher temperature let us extract more of the coffee. This works better for light roasted coffee, because we can extract more bitterness to balance the acidity. A lower brew temperature lets us extract less of the coffee. To get more acidity, this works better for darker roasts as we can extract less bitterness to get a really balanced and tasty coffee. I hope this helps you to find the right temperature for your espresso. 10. Cleaning: Hi guys. In this class, I wanted to talk about the cleaning part of the espresso machine is really isn't something you should forget because it has a huge impact on how the coffee tastes. So let's get into it. You must know, even the best coffee setup with the best machine, the best grinder, the fanciest tools, and even the best coffee doesn't get you tasty coffee. When the coffee machine is just dirty. Clean your espresso machine about once a week. But why do we have to clean the espresso machine this way. As you might know, in the coffee beans, there's a lot of f oils and the oil will build up in the coffee machine. And as the oil is exposed to the air and it's pretty warm in there. It becomes rancid pretty quickly. And I said it before, we really don't want to drink rancid coffee. So let me show you how to clean the espresso machine properly. If you take out your filter basket after one week of using it, it probably looks like this. As you can see, there is already a buildup of unwanted oils and coffee residues. So before we begin, you want to flush you brew group to remove ground stuck up on the shower screen. You can use an Espazzola like I do here. Or if the brush you got delivered with your coffee machine for this purpose. So just flushed the brew group again, this time with the brush, or in my case, this Espazzola in it. And move a little bit to remove really all the residues that are stuck up on the shower screen. As you can see, it already looks pretty clean from the outside. So to remove all the buildup hidden from view in the coffee machine, we have to use some cleaning detergent. So first put in your blind filter and then add a quarter of a spoon of cleaning detergent. Then it can put your Portafilter in place and start to build up pressure for five seconds, stop it and do it again and this for five times. Luckily, my machine has a programm for that. The coffee machine now builds up pressure in the group heat with nowhere to go. This water will then be forced out through valve in your drip tray. Once this is done for five times, you can remove the portafilter and flushed the brew group again. The next step, you want to remove the shower screen to remove any hidden residues underneath it. So we have done all the necessary steps to have a clean coffee machine. Now it's time to clean the Portafilter and the shower screen. Put everything in a bucket like I did and add a quarter of a spoon of cleaning detergents and fill up the water up to where the handle goes. We will soak it in boiling water like that for about 15 minutes. During the time the Portafilter soaks in the water, we can start to clean the grinder. For that prepare some cleaning detergent for your grinder. Fill up a cup with it, and grind it through your Grinder. as simple as that. For the next time you prepare a coffee, just grind a couple of coffee beans through it until it looks brown again. after about 15 minutes of soaking the Portafilter in hot water, we can start to rinse it with some warm water to remove all the residues from the cleaning detergent. You can actually do the same thing with the hopper of your grinder. The coffee beans might be a bit oily and the oil will build up in the hopper. And with everything, you want it to be as clean as possible. So just rinse it with some warm water. And if it's really dirty, take some soap to help you. Once this is all done, you just have to put it back into place. Now. You should know how to clean the espresso machine properly. And I hope you do this once a week. 11. Final thoughts: We have come a long way in this class. I really hope all my shared knowledge helps you to get the most out of your espresso machine as well as your coffee beans. There's one last thing I'd like to give you on your coffee journey. So many variables can be change when dialling in coffee. It is better only to change one at a time. This way we know what made the difference. This enhances your understanding. of coffee even more, you can find the best recipe for new coffee beans even quicker. I was really glad I could accompany you down this rabbit hole. And I hope I made your espresso a little better. Thank you for watching and goodbye.