5 More Reasons Why Your Espresso Coffee Could Taste Bad
If you’ve been keeping up with our blog, you’ll know we recently published a piece on common problems with substandard espresso coffee. Specifically, some of the most common causes of consistently disappointing espresso coffee, when brewed at home.
Thinking back, we realised there’s another bunch of common espresso issues we felt we needed to add to the list. So once again, if your DIY espresso coffee is currently causing you nothing but disappointment, it’s most likely for one of the following reasons:
1) You’re Timing it Wrong
First up, the amount of time required to pull the perfect espresso, which is called extraction time, is 20-25 seconds. In any case, the lesson to be learned is that you cannot simply expect to get away by making things up as you go along. Depending on the coffee preparation method used (i.e. espresso, French press, filter coffee, Aeropress, etc.), brewing times can be anything from a few seconds in the case of the espresso up to several days (in the case of cold brew coffee). Respect the specifics of the espresso brewing method as mentioned above and try to get into the habit of being as meticulous as possible.
2) You’re Using Dodgy Tap Water With Your Espresso Coffee
Perhaps not ‘dodgy’ as such, but certainly not the best tap water for brewing espresso coffee. If your tap water has even the slightest trace of any kind of taste to it, this is guaranteed to impact the quality of the final result. The thing to remember here being that brewing the perfect espresso is all about chemistry. If you don’t have the ideal chemicals to play with in the first place, you can’t expect to pull off the perfect experiment!
3) You’re Making Too Much Coffee
The busier (or lazier) you are, the more likely you are to brew sizeable quantities of coffee to save time later. The problem being that just as is the case with the coffee beans themselves, brewed coffee loses its quality and freshness at a pretty alarming pace. Particularly when it comes to espresso, it’s important to enjoy it when it’s at its freshest.
4) Your Espresso Coffee Measurements Are Off
Once again, it’s worth considering the fact that creating killer espresso coffee at home really does amount to an extremely precise scientific experiment. A scientific experiment in which you are going to need to ensure that all your measurements are as precise as it gets. From water quantities (30 ml is ideal) to the perfect weight of coffee (7 grams is recommended) to temperatures (90-96 degrees Celsius is optimal) to timings (target 20-25 seconds extraction time) and so on, there’s a reason they call pulling the perfect espresso an art-form in its own right!
5) You’re Not Keen on the Coffee
Last but not least, don’t make the mistake of drinking coffees you don’t particularly like, simply because they’re the flavour of the month. If you personally don’t like the kind of espresso coffee that delights connoisseurs worldwide, don’t try to persuade yourself that you do. We’ve got many different types of amazing coffee beans that are perfect for brewing espresso – find something you like and indulge your personal preferences!
At Hayman’s online coffee store you will find the best and freshest specialty coffee for espresso. Our world-famous coffees are available as whole bean coffee, ground coffee, Nespresso compatible pods *, coffee pods compatible with Keurig K Cup coffee makers (incl. Keurig 2.0 models)**, and green coffee beans (for home roasting with your own coffee roaster). All our specialty coffee is roasted and ground on the same day it is shipped to you for incredible freshness - click here to order now, we offer free worldwide shipping!
* Nespresso® is a registered trademark of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., unrelated to Hayman®. Our espresso pods are not created or sold by Nespresso®.
** Keurig and K-Cup are registered trademarks of Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. unrelated to Hayman®. Our pods are not created or sold by Keurig®.
