Five Golden Rules for Perfect Espresso Coffee

espresso, espresso coffee, specialty coffee, ground coffee, nespresso pods, green coffee beans, coffee roaster

For some people, espresso coffee is less a beverage and more a religion. Those being exactly the types of people this article is aimed at!

Espresso lovers worldwide often wonder why they struggle to recreate the creations of their favourite coffee shops at home. They firmly believe they’re doing things by the book, but the results are nonetheless substandard.

Technically speaking, there’s nothing stopping you from making espresso coffee at home that’s every bit as good as the best coffee shop in your vicinity. It’s simply a case of ensuring you follow the same five golden rules every professional barista abides by.

…which are as follows:

1) Use Fresh, Whole Bean Coffee

There’s a reason why the professionals grind the beans for every cup, just before the cup is brewed. That reason being the importance of freshness. Quite simply, the further in advance your beans are both roasted and ground, the less impressive the final result will be. Buy fresh beans for your espresso coffee and you’ll notice an immediate difference.

2) Store Your Coffee Beans Like a Pro

The key to preserving the freshness of coffee beans lies in keeping as much air out of the equation as possible. Vacuum-sealed bags are the best way to go, followed by sealed containers with as little air inside as possible. After which, it’s a case of keeping them in a cool, dark and dry place, ensuring no moisture comes into contact with your coffee beans whatsoever. Freezing beans is fine, just as long as the rest of the rules are followed.

3) Coarseness Counts

There’s an extremely fine art to grinding beans to make the perfect espresso coffee. Espresso by nature demands comparatively fine coffee grounds, though there is such a thing as too fine. There will typically be some trial and error involved, but once you’ve nailed it, you’ll have a good idea what you should be aiming for every time. This is another small step in the process that can add up to a quite enormous difference.

4) Avoid Burning Your Espresso Coffee

In the vast majority of instances, the best espresso is produced when the water temperature is between 195° F and 205° F. Outside these temperatures, things begin to suffer. So it’s a choice of either using a coffee machine with a very precise temperature control, or investing in a reliable thermometer and keeping a close eye on things yourself.

5) Water Quality Counts

Last but not least, you cannot expect to enjoy espresso coffee at its absolute finest if you brew it using poor-quality water. It just isn’t going to happen. The quality of the water you use in terms of both hardness and purity can and will make a big difference to the resulting coffee. As such, it’s a good idea to use the purest water you can lay your hands on, or invest in a quality water filter to at least improve the quality of the water to the highest plausible extent.

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 ship worldwide!

 

* 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®.