Americano Coffee

We at Consilience are privy to some day to day luxuries during our time in the office; my personal favourite are our 10:20 caffe lattes courtesy of Ruth. I find that a good cup of coffee kickstarts the day and helps me out from, what is usually, a very zombie-like state.

A morning coffee has become part of my daily routine, whether I am at home, at work, or on the train to university. Recently, I’ve started building up my own coffee making set, and learnt some of the tricks of the trade to making a decent cup of joe.

Coffee Preparation

There are three common ways of preparing coffee:

• Espessso – steam is pumped through the coffee under pressure.
• Brewing – coffee is brewed in hot water
• Instant – coffee is dry prepared and dissolves into hot water.

Instant coffee, no matter what the Kenco man says, is not as good as fresh coffee. Granted it is cheap, convient and great for everyday use if you’re a regular drinker; but it lacks the flavour, aroma, and drug effect you get from brewing or espresso coffee.

I know only one thing about brewing coffee, and that is that I don’t like it as much as espresso! In my view, brewing coffee is like the proper method to make instant coffee. For sure it’s nice, and you can make a lot of it at once so it’s great for dinner parties; it just doesn’t have that specialness that espresso seems to have.

Espresso is a very strong and condensed flavour. If it’s done properly, you get the full richness of the coffee. Espresso is the sort of coffee I drink daily, and the one I’ll be talking about in this post.

Equipment

Grinder

It suprised me when I was first told that the most important element in coffee making is the grinding of the coffee bean. Buying a decent grinder is something that so many people don’t do, including me! It’s the one thing you have control over when you’re making an espresso.

Having a grinder allows you to grind your coffee closer to when you drink it. Once coffee is ground, it starts to deteriorate fast. I’ve heard a golden rule that you don’t want your coffee exposed to oxygen for longer than:

• 12 months – green beans,
• 12 days – roast beans,
• 12 minutes – ground beans

A coarse grind makes a more dilluted coffee. This makes it ideal for cafetieres and drip brews, where the coffee is exposed to the hot water for longer.

A finer grind is best used in espresso machines. More of the bean is exposed to the water/steam giving a fuller flavour. If you put finely ground coffee into a cafetiere, you’ll end up with a bitter taste.

£100 – Iberital MC2
£50 – Dualit burr grinder
£50 – Zassenhaus hand grinders

I have an old blade grinder that I swiped from my Gran. She’s got a Zassenhaus now which I’ve used a couple of times. It takes a while to hand grind coffee, usually 10 minutes, but the results are just as good as the more pricy eletric ones. Don’t waste your money on a  blade grinder; you’re better off buying small amounts of pre-ground coffee.

Espresso machine

I don’t know much about the technicalities of espresso machines. Water pressure, ease of use, and being able to clean the thing easily are all important. Based upon reviews from the internet, these four seem like a good bet depending on your budget:

£200 – Gaggia Classic
£125 – Gaggia Cubika
£100 – Krups XP4020
£65 – De’Longhi Bar 14 – I have one of these.

Other bits and bobs

• An airtight jar to keep your coffee in.
• A coffee tamper if you haven’t already got one, to push the coffee firmly into the portafilter

Choosing your coffee

All down to preference, but don’t buy the beans pre-ground. As already mentioned, pre-ground coffee will have been exposed to the elements, and will already be going stale before you open it.

Try some different flavours from the HasBean store. My personal favourite so far (only tried 4 types) is the Columbian Agua Azol – because it tastes nice!

Best to keep your coffee in the fridge in an airtight container.

Making the espresso

1. Take the portafilter off the espresso machine
2. Preheat the espresso machine.
3. Grind your coffee while you’re waiting for the machine to heat up
4. Put the ground coffee into the portafilter and scrape any excess off so you have a nice flat top
5. Force or “tamp” the coffee down as hard as you can using your tamper
6. Start up your machine. You want the coffee to pour in about 25 secs/30ml. If it takes longer than that to come through then your grind is too fine; if it takes less your grind is too coarse.
7. You now have an espresso which is ready to drink!

In part 2 I’ll talk about some of espresso based types of coffee you can make including; caffe latte, flat white, cappuccino, mocha and americano.

Credits

Thanks to Ruth Lunn and Steve at Brown Sugar cafe, Monkseaton Metro station, for sharing their coffee know-how with me!

Please comment on this post and share some of your tips and ideas, they’re all very welcome!