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So you
just got your new espresso
machine, plugged it in,
added water and coffee, and
got… yuk! Don’t panic.
Getting to know your new
machine can involve a few
tweaks and some good old
fashioned trial and error.
This article will examine
some simple modifications
that can make serious flavor
enhancements in your brew.
COFFEE
BEANS
You’ve
got to start with beans that
have crema power packed
inside! Of course, JL
Hufford Espresso Blend and
Superautomatika Blend® are
our favorites, but we’ll let
you use other roasts, like
Illy or Lavazza. As is
true with all coffee,
espresso beans can be made
using Arabica beans,
superior, well-shaped large
beans, or Robusta beans,
which constitute around 97%
of all coffee beans on the
market. Robusta beans are
generally inferior to
Arabica beans; they are
often misshapen, small, cracked,
discolored, and generally
produce less flavor than
their elite cousins.
So,
espresso made of 100% Arabica is the way to
go? Not quite. There is
a great debate about whether beans
used for brewing
high-pressure drinks like
espresso should be purely
Arabica, or should have some
Robusta as well. The reason
for this difference of
opinion is that many
connoisseurs rightly believe
that Robusta beans, though
less flavorful, actually
produce a better crema than
Arabica beans. Unlike drip
coffee, which should always
be made with 100% Arabica
coffee beans,
pressure-brewed coffee
should have a tall, dense
crema on top. This coveted
foamy layer, the prize of
espresso lovers, is also
best achieved using
Robusta. But then there is
the problem of flavor loss
when using low-grade Robusta
beans. Some companies, like
Illy, use all Arabica beans
in their espresso blend,
whereas other brands, like
Lavazza, add Robusta beans
to some varieties in order
to enhance the crema. JL
Hufford has found that the
solution probably resides in
Arabica/Robusta blends which
use the right kind of Robusta
beans. That is why both of Hufford Espresso Blend and
Superautomatika Blend have a
healthy balance of fully
washed high grade Robusta
and 100% Arabica.
If you
find that you are not
getting a tall enough crema,
try adding more Robusta
beans to your blend. If you
find that you want to
shorten your crema and add
more flavorful oils, then
cut your favorite blend with
100% Arabica beans.
A word
about oily/watery beans.
Super-automatic coffee
machine owners are
repeatedly told to stay away
from oily/watery (not necessarily
all oily beans have oils on
them, in fact much of what
we call oil is actually
mostly water) beans, because
such beans can bind up the
cutting burrs in the
grinder. If you must use
oily beans, the warning
goes, let them sit on a
paper towel for an hour or
so in order to let the oils
dissipate. There is merit
to this concern, but some
mistakenly believe that non
oily beans, or dry beans,
are necessarily not as fresh
as oily beans. Is that so?
Often
times this is true. That
is, freshly-roasted oily
beans will lose their oily-ness
over time. However,
although it may be true that
if beans are oily, then they
tend to be fresher, it does
not follow that if beans are
fresher, then they tend to
be oily. In fact, we prefer
beans that are not as oily
not just because they are
better for grinders, but
because the less oils on the
outside of the bean, the
more flavorful oils that are
left on the inside. This is
why dark beans are often the
oiliest. They have been
roasted for longer, so more
of the oils have dissipated
from the inside of the bean,
and pool on the outside.
All
things being equal, we
recommend using medium to
medium dark beans for
starters. That’s not
to say that black beans are
no good, it’s just that
often times such roasts lack
the flavor you can pull from
beans that were not roasted
as long. Over-roasted
beans often retain more
bitter oils, yielding a
poorer flavor balance.
If you
want more flavor in your
pressure-brewed coffee, try
cutting your blend with some
lighter roasted beans. If
you find that your brew is
too overpowering, try adding
some darker beans.
WATER
We recommend using the
built-in water filter if
your machine came with one.
All Jura-Capresso machines
make use of Clearyl or
Claris water filters, which
remove most of the
impurities that can alter
the flavor of your drink.
Some Saeco-based machines,
like Saeco and Spidem, can use a
carbon-based Aqua-Prima
filter. All types of
filters also do much to keep
the inside of your machine
squeaky clean by preventing
scale build up.
GRIND
SIZE
This is
a big one, perhaps the most
important. Grind Size has
two effects on the finished
coffee product. First, grind
size directly affects how
much of the flavorful oils
are extracted during a
brew. Second, grind size
will affect the amount of
back pressure applied to
the water rushing through a
brewing chamber to the
ground coffee. That is,
when you press the brew
button water enters the
ground coffee and exits the
spout into your cup. If you
have a finer grind, the
water that hits the coffee
grounds will get more
resistance than water that
hits more coarsely ground
coffee.
Traditional espresso
machines, like the Rancilio
Silvia, or Nuova Simonelli
Oscar, should use a fine
grind, just finer than
granulated sugar. However,
some of the newer
semi-automatic espresso
machines require a coarser
grind. These machines use a
“pressurized porta-filter
basket”. This contraption
adds pressure to your coffee
after it has already brewed
through the coffee grounds.
It does this by restricting
the flow of the espresso
before it leaves the
porta-filter. With machines
that use this type of
porta-filter, too fine of a
grind will actually restrict
the flow and produce an
over-extracted brew. Too,
if you are using a
super-automatic coffee
center to brew a crema
coffee, you will usually
want a slightly coarser
grind than you would use for
making espresso.
If your
coffee is just trickling
out, drip by drip, and
producing a very dark and
thin crema, then try a
slightly coarser grind. If
your coffee is bursting out
in a light brown color and
is producing no or "loose" crema, then
try a finer grind.
Check
out the puck (the spent
portion of coffee).
If it
comes out dry on the bottom
and wet on the top, you may
have too fine of a grind.
If it comes out soupy, the
grind may be too coarse.
If your
coffee is too weak, then try
a slightly finer grind. If
your coffee is too strong,
then try a slightly coarser
grind.
COFFEE AMOUNT
This one is another
biggie, and pretty
intuitive. If you put too
much ground coffee into a porta-filter, you may not
even be able to turn the
porta-filter enough to get a
tight fit against the group head
gasket. In addition,
using too
much coffee can restrict
the flow of the water
through the espresso, even
if you have ground the
coffee correctly. On the
other hand, packing a porta-filter with too little
coffee can make for a watery
weak brew.
You are
shooting for 7-9 grams of
powder, though the weight
can differ depending on the
density of the bean used.
Additionally, it can be
difficult to gauge how much
ground coffee is getting
dispensed into a
super-automatic, because the
amount of coffee you select
is usually tied into a
timing mechanism. However,
if you grind for the same
amount of time on fine and
on coarse, you will wind up
with two different amounts of
ground coffee. That's
because it takes less time
to grind coarsely than it
does to grind finely. Therefore,
whatever ground coffee
amount settings you have on
your super-automatic may
need to be adjusted if you
change the fineness setting.
All
things being equal
(including the amount of
water used to brew), the more ground
coffee you use, the stronger
the brew; the less ground
coffee, the weaker.
If your
(non-super-automatic) coffee
is just dribbling out drop
by drop, you may be using
too much ground coffee. If your
(non-super-automatic) coffee
is pouring out in a thick
rush, you may not be using
enough ground coffee.
WATER AMOUNT
Like
the amount of ground coffee
you use, the amount of water
used to brew will affect the
flavor of your brew. It
works the same way as coffee
amount (above), only in
reverse.
If your
brew seems too weak, try
using less water; too
strong, try a bit more
water. TAMPING PRESSURE
This
issue is pretty contentious: how hard do you
tamp? Although
super-automatic coffee
center owners don’t have
this worry (because they
lack the control), it is one of
the most effective and one
of the simplest measures a
semi-automatic espresso
brewer can take to perfect
his or her coffee. We
hesitate to offer up the
age-old wisdom of so many
pounds of pressure. That’s
because this means very
little to folks who are
applying pressure to their
ground coffee. Do you
really know what 10 pounds
of pressure feels like when
you are applying it?
If you do, congratulations,
you are in the minority.
Most folks want a more
measurable method.
The JL
Hufford Rule of Thumb: use
just as much pressure, but
no more, that it takes to
tamp the grounds such
that if you turn the porta-filter upside down
(with the ground coffee
facing the floor), the
grounds don’t fall out.
A caveat is in order
here. This rule should be ignored
for users of
pressurized-porta-filter
machines. That’s because
too much tamping into these
porta-filters can
lead to overextraction due
to the extra pressurizing
that occurs during brewing.
We actually advise only
leveling off the top of the
coffee in these
porta-filters, and applying
no or little pressure with a
tamper.
If you are not sure
whether you have a
pressurized or
non-pressurized porta-filter,
then remove the filter
basket. If you can't
remove the filter basket,
then you have a pressurized
porta-filter. If you
can remove it, hold the
empty portafilter basket up
to the light, with the
inside of the filter basket
(the surface that contacts
the ground coffee) facing
you and the outside facing a
light source. Can you
see the light through many
different holes, or through
just one hole? If just
one, then you have a
pressurized porta-filter.
If you see through all the
holes, then your porta-filter
is probably non-pressurized.
Finally, can you run a pipe
cleaner down through the
inside of the porta-filter
out the spout? If not,
then your porta-filter is
probably pressurized.
If so, then it is
non-pressurized.
Remember that pressurized
porta-filters are a rather
new invention, having come
about in the last decade.
Of
course, coffee grind size
and amount of coffee used
will affect how hard you
want to tamp. In general,
the finer the grind, the
less pressure you should use
to tamp the ground coffee. The coarser
the grind, the more pressure
required to tamp the
grounds.
If your
coffee is just dribbling out
drop by drop, try a lighter
tamp or none at all (just
level the top
off). If your coffee
is rushing out, try a firmer
tamp.
If your
coffee is too strong, or the
crema is too dark, try a
lighter tamp. If your
coffee isn’t strong enough,
or lacks a good crema, try a
firmer tamp.
TEMPERATURE
Some
like it hot, some like it...well...scalding hot! Whatever
temperature you prefer for
the finished cup, the actual
temperature during brewing
shouldn’t be too hot (that’s
why many machines make you wait for the
unit to cool down after you
steam before you can brew
again) and
shouldn’t be too cool, a
problem that afflicts many
of the earliest
super-automatic espresso
centers.
Unfortunately, you
usually can’t control the
actual brewing temperature. There is
a thermostat which tells the
heating element when to quit
heating by measuring the
temperature of the water in
the heating system. This thermostat
has a preset temperature,
usually the ideal brewing
temp, somewhere around 200
degrees F. So it is not
hard for the water to reach
the appropriate
temperature and stay there. What can be
difficult is ensuring that
the water used to brew
maintains its heat during a
brew cycle.
That
having been said, there are
some things you can do to
maintain the appropriate
brewing temperature
throughout the brewing
process.
First,
be sure to let your machine
heat up for a sufficient
amount of time. Although
most semi-automatics take
less than 5 minutes to heat
up before the brew light
comes on, your machine may
be at optimal temperature
after 10 minutes or even
longer. Experiment with
warm-up times to find out
what is the optimal amount
of time for your machine.
Brewing
dry shots (brewing a shot
without packing the
porta-filter with coffee)
after your machine has
warmed up is a good way to
heat all of the water lines
that will be involved in a
brew. Additionally, by
brewing shots with a blind
porta-filter basket (shots that are brewed
with a hole-less porta-filter
basket allowing the hot
water to recirculation in
the machine—usually
available only on
semi-commercial units), you
bring the porta-filter and
group head up to sufficient
temperature. Since these
are the places where the
water actually hits the
coffee, it is essential to
have a sufficient
surrounding temperature.
Preheat
your cups! You might think
that after the coffee comes
out the spout, it is too
late to change anything.
Not so. By pre-heating your
cups, you can ensure that
the crema lasts longer and
the flavors stay balanced.
In addition, you get a
hotter cup of joe!
Don’t
use ground coffee that you
just pulled out of the
fridge. It’s colder. And
what are you doing
pre-grinding your coffee
anyway? Enough said.
Finally, if you have a
super-automatic, always use
the highest temperature
setting. With the exception
of the Jura-Capresso
Impressa S7 and
Impressa S9, most super-automatic coffee
centers will all brew at the
same temp (the maximum
temperature setting). If
your machine does have
different settings, remember
that the max temperature
setting actually equals the
minimum temperature you can
use to brew. Anything
else is just cooler.
An
optimal brewing temperature
will make the most
flavorful, and most crema-packed cup. If
you notice a short crema or
weak cup, try getting your
machine and all the
components involved in
brewing hotter. It is rare
that a unit brews too hot,
because most machines tell
you when it is time to
brew.
And
that concludes our overview
of the simplest
modifications you can do
to fix your high-pressure crema coffee or espresso
brew. It is important to
keep in mind that each rule
is stated “all things being
equal.” That is, more
ground coffee will make a
stronger cup, so long as you
don’t change the other
factors, like temperature,
tamping pressure, grind
size, etc. For this reason,
you will likely have to do
some experimenting, upping
this, lowering that, more if
this, less of that, until
you get your perfect cup.
But thankfully, trial and error never tasted
so good!
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