By David Buehrer a.k.a. Greenway Barista

Source: http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/06/home-brewing-coffee-tools-barista-equipment.html

As a professional barista, I’ve thought about how non-baristas can get the most out of that simple, beautiful bag of beans. Personally, I achieve sensory overload every time I see those fateful commercials of espresso-making at home.

The truth is, making espresso at home to replicate a commercial environment is near impossible, even for the serious home baristas. The water filtration is incredibly different, the home brewing machines are not designed similarly (for the most part) to commercial espresso machines, professional coffee grinders are a breed of their own, and—let’s face it—the home barista just plain doesn’t have eight hours a day to perfect that great technique, let alone get paid to do it.

So what’s the big idea? How do we get that great shot of espresso, or that award-winning cappuccino, at home? Well folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it takes some serious cash. Don’t worry however—there’s light at the end of this tunnel.

Why Skip Professional Equipment?

A serious espresso machine can cost upwards of $5,000 to recreate similar brewing parameters and temperature stability as those big hunks of precious metal sitting on your favorite cafe’s counter. Settle for less? Sure, you could, but if we’re talking about brewing perfect espresso at home, what’s the point of spending a few hundred on a machine that won’t make the same product you receive at your favorite coffeehouse?

As for a grinder, that big hunk of blades, plastic, and iron looks sexy with all those barstools and open ceiling around it, but wait until that monster gets home—it can reduce your livable space significantly, especially next to a 70-pound espresso machine. All this insanity and electricity for the perfect espresso and cappuccino at home?

Let’s say that you do get to the point where you can finally sit back and experience the ultimate in quality and detail from the comfort of your favorite couch. But wait—the electricity bill just jumped up, and the house is getting warmer! Realistically, high volume environments are the only feasible espresso-making locations. So what’s the passionate home barista to do?

5 Ways to Hand-Craft Your Coffee At Home

Handmade coffee. Some would say that making a delicious cup at home can be therapeutic, almost a daily ritual. Variables are easily controlled and equipment is incredibly affordable, even for professional quality. Here’s a list of five great home-brewing methods and equipment for making that perfect cup every morning:

1. Thermometer: Needed for double checking water temperature precision. You can get a waterproof pocket digital thermometer from LatteMaestro for $15.
2. Water Kettle: Thompson Owens from Sweet Maria’s suggest the $69.95 PINO Temperature Stable Water Kettle. Hot water is important—this guy won’t you down.
3. Coffee Grinder: LelitPLO43
4. Food Grade Gram Scale: Much needed for measuring exact amounts of coffee per cup made. This saves you money in the long run and you can guarantee repeatable results when measuring all aspects of your cup: coffee beans, water, and brewed coffee. Get a Electronic Scale from LatteMaestro for $35.
5. Brewer: This is where the fun comes in. I suggest starting with a Chemex brewer and checking out different brewing styles for later entertainment. A 6-cup maker is available from Espresso Parts for $33.90.

There’s a wealth of information out there on each brew method and I imagine once hooked, you’ll be excited to try them all. It may seem like a large investment, but once you have all the tools to hand-craft coffee at home, the amazing coffee makes it all worth it.

Product Description
Cleancaf® Brand Cleaner and Descaler is an essential component to maintaining great tasting coffee at home. Cleancaf® is designed to remove flavor-tainting stale coffee oil residue from home machines. Its dual action formula also prevents the accumulation of scale deposits which are responsible for slow brew times and machine malfunctions. Portion packaged for easy use, Cleancaf® also contains a blue-dye which helps to ensure proper rinsing.

Directions:

1. Dissolve contents of Cleancaf® package in 1L of warm water. Pour into water reservoir. Put empty pot and filter basket in place. For espresso machines attach handle and place an empty container below.
2. Turn machine on and begin the brew cycle. For espresso machines, also allow several ounces of Cleancaf® solution to flow through steam pipe (into a container to avoid spray.) Discard entire solution once it has passed through your machine.
3. Rinse all components and repeat steps 1 and 2 twice with clean water only. Espresso machines remove handle. You may soak handle and filters in Cleancaf® solution then rinse all components with clean water
Urnex Cleancaf Coffee Maker & Espresso Machine Cleaner and Descaler

Source:http://cutslist.com/urnex-cleancaf-coffee-maker-espresso-machine-cleaner-and-descaler-3-pack-3/

Source: http://healthyfoods.fivestarwayofliving.com/espresso-bars-for-home-enjoyment/

Are you getting ready to treat yourself to a home espresso machine? Here is a list of common accessories that will improve your home espresso brewing experience.

Priority number one is to get a good coffee grinder. There are two basic types: the blade grinder and the burr grinder. The burr grinder does a better job of grinding the beams to a fine grind. The blade grinders are less expensive and can do a find job when all you need is a course grind for drip coffee. You get what you pay for and a bur grinder is a good upgrade.

The second add-on is an espresso tamper. An espresso tamper isn’t a requirement but the ones that come with espresso machines are almost universally poor. Espresso tampers come in a wide variety and costs. The main features to evaluate are fit, ergonomics (does it feel good in your hand?) and materials.

A steaming and frothing pitcher rounds out your arsenal of espresso making tools. Many espresso drinks call for steamed milk or frothed milk or both. For example a Cappuccino is made with roughly equal portions of espresso, steamed milk and frothed milk. A 12 oz. pitcher is appropriate for home use but you can also get them twice as large if needed.

Espresso Cups and Espresso Cup Sets – This is one of the best places to insert some personality into your espresso bar. There are many types of espresso cups that range from simple porcelain cups to ones with name brand designer patterns. Espresso cups also come in glass and stainless steel. Once you find an espresso cup set that you enjoy for a while, you may just find yourself looking for another set because collecting them is a ton of fun. Your first set of espresso cups don’t have to be expensive and you will enjoy using them. If you enjoy larger drinks like lattes and cappuccinos then you will also want to get a set of cappuccinos cups for those drinks.

To go along with your espresso cups you will want a set of espresso spoons. Espresso spoons are also known as demitasse spoons and they add a nice touch of class to your espresso cups. Latte spoons are larger and match your latte cups for your larger espresso drinks.

An espresso recipe book will keep you brewing for a long time. Some of the more popular recipe books have over 200 coffee recipes! Here are a couple of recipes to get you started. A latte is espresso with steamed milk. A mocha is a latte with chocolate syrup and a cappuccino is 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk and 1/3 frothed milk.

Flavors come next and there are LOTs to choose from. Although there are flavored powders (ex: chocolate, mocha, etc) most flavors are added as syrup. There are dozens of flavors of syrup and they range from the perennial favorite of chocolate to seasonal flavors such as pumpkin.

With some many options it is sometimes hard to know where to start. The best place to begin is with the basics (coffee grinder, espresso cups) and move on to the next options when you need them. Espresso brewing is a surprisingly deep hobby and with a few of the right add-ons you will have fun learning new recipes and improving your skill for a long time to come.

Espresso coffee cups are made of a few different types of materials. From stainless steel to espresso glass, there are some unique differences between each kind.

Both filters and the holders for filters should be as hot as possible when you’re preparing coffee. For this reason they should always be interested into the group; this way the stable temperature required for preparing espresso can be reached. When the barista loads up another portion of coffee, the filter should be clean and dry.

Other things to keep in mind include:

*Before inserting the holder into the group, it’s necessary to carefully remove ground coffee from the filter edges.

*After the holder is inserted into the group, it needs to be turned with the appropriate force (it’s necessary for achieving the ideal tightness in the group)

*The best time to prepare espresso is immediately after inserting the holder. In the filters and holders, coffee oils accumulate, so they require regular cleaning.

Regardless of how the coffee has been processed, blended, and ground, the quality of a serving depends on one major factor - it should be fresh.

So how do you properly store coffee in your house?

There is no simple answer to this question. Coffee beans easily absorb any outside smell, therefore it’s often suggested to store them in a refrigerator. However, some say that if you store coffee that way it’ll lose its initial properties. Others say that it should be placed in an air-tight area with no access to oxygen, but no matter how densely you fill something with the beans, there’s bound to be oxygen anyway.

The best solution is to buy coffee in small quantities, and very often. This is the most obvious way to ensure that the coffee you drink is always fresh.

Some more good advice includes:

1. Store the coffee in a cool, dry place.
2. An opened pack of ground coffee should be drank in a week, an open pack of coffee beans within two-three weeks. Opened coffee loses its aroma and taste every day.
3. Grind coffee beans right before using them; don’t grind them for future servings.
4. Try not to pour coffee from one container to another, as gases in it get liberated. If you store coffee in glass or metal container, make sure the space between the surface of the coffee and the top cover as small as possible.
5. If you store coffee in a soft package, try to squeeze out as much air as possible so the packing will be more dense.
6. If you store your coffee in your refridgerator, densely fasten the opened package, and fix it with a clip or tape.

Normally, cups for espresso are small, porcelain cups of 60 ml.

The cup should be made from thick porcelain, and shouldn’t be too wide, so the coffee will stay hot longer. As a rule, the average espresso cup has a diameter and height of about 5 centimeters. However, there can be various other forms.

These days it’s not surprising to see espresso served in disposable plastic cups, a simple glass, a regular mug, or even in a wine glass. In general, though, good coffee houses serve their espresso in the thick porcelain cups mentioned above, usually with their logo on them.

The tamping is a very important part of creating a great espresso. After your portafilter is filled with coffee you have to press it down firmly. This process is called tamping. By tamping the coffee hard you are assuming that water will pass through the coffee longer, and this will extract more aroma.

If you skip the tamping, water would pass through much faster causing weak, watery and acidic coffee.
One of the most important things in preparing the coffee is that the taste is consistent from one cup to another. Tamping is an important ingredient in the taste stability, which always has to be done with the similar pressure. Tamper is supposed to help you to get most consistent quality.

Flat or oval base?

There are many opinions abo

ut the shape of the tamper’s base. Europeans are leaning more toward the flat base, Americans to the oval. This practice shows that the flat base is more appropriate for the double portafilter and the oval one for the single. Our main goal is to get even pressure along the coffee platitude in portafilter. Professional baristas usually use tampers with the oval base.

What material?

Many companies are selling tampers that are either plastic or aluminum. From the manufacturer standpoint they are ideal-but the consumer should be aware of some serious disadvantages when considering buying the tamper. Plastic is very light and doesn’t meet the goal to get the maximum pressure and also it is very soft. Aluminum is very light, gets easily scratched, and can become corroded when the humidity is high. This can create small aluminum particles that can get into the human bodies and accruing’ can cause some illnesses. Therefore aluminum is not recommended in the food industry.

A Combination of the stainless steel for the base and hard wood for the handle is the best material for making stainless steel

Diameter portafilter baskets by the different brands:

The tamper diameter has to be 1 mm smaller than the portafilter basket-but not much smaller. Because of the much smaller diameter, pressure is not evenly distributed, thus causing poor quality of espresso.

Diameters:

Astoria - 58mm

Astra - 56mm

Aurora - 56mm

Azykoyen - 58mm

Bezzera - 58mm

Brasilia - 58mm

Bunn - 58mm

Caramali - 58mm

Cimbali - 58mm

Conti - 58mm

Elektra - 58mm

Expobar - 58mm

Faema - 58mm

Futurmat - 58mm

Gaggia - 58mm

Isomac - 58mm

Lelit- 58 mm

La Marzocco - 57mm

La Pavoni - 56mm

Nuova Simonelli - 58mm

Pasquini - 57mm

Rancilio - 58mm

Reneka - 56mm

San Marco - 55mm

Spaziale - 53mm

Unic - 56mm

VFA - 58mm

Wega -58mm

While buying tamper you should remember that the diameters above could be changed. Sometimes when the manufacturer launches the new model, they can change the diameter. Therefore, you should always measure your portafilter diameter before you place your order.