Making The Perfect Espresso at Home

For a coffee lover, nothing sounds more delightful than a shot of espresso. Making an espresso basically involves extracting concentrated flavours out of the ground coffee beans with the help of pressurized steam. Although a number of espresso machines are available in the market, most of them are used to make espresso on a commercial scale. However, you can even make the perfect espresso at home without spending big bucks on fancy machines.

To start of this process of making the perfect espresso, you need to get yourself the right espresso stovetop. Opting for a steel body stovetop produces better tasting espressos as aluminium involves the concern of being toxic and somewhat corrosive. Stainless steel also cuts out the possibility of staining. Traditionally, these stovetops are called known as ‘Moka’ in Italy. The next and the most important thing to get in order is, perfect ground coffee beans. For beginners, it is advisable to start making espressos with Arabica beans than Robusta as the latter has more caffeine content and tastes bitter. Arabica beans ensure the espresso stays sweet. You can try experimenting with the ratios once you are familiar with the whole espresso making method. Another preparatory step you mustn’t miss is using pure water to steam through the beans. Tap water generally has an odour along with it and the minerals present in it may not assist the process of concentrating the flavours well, hence it is essential to use filtered water to make the prefect espresso at home.

• Fill the stovetop’s base with water up till the valve. The water needs to be heated right from the room temperature to around 90 degree Celsius.
• Place the strainer on the base and eliminate the water perforating through it. Missing this step could lead to a foul stench and taste.
• The next step is to properly place the ground coffee into the strainer. Make sure you do not waste much coffee by packing the strainer to its full capacity. Little ventilation would ensure the steam to move through the beans and extract the best out of it.
• Then screw the upper half of the stovetop to its base.
• Next in line is brewing the coffee on a low flame stove and low flame helps the extraction process. Hasting through this step would make your espresso taste bitter.
• The final step is to open the lid as soon as brewing initiates. This prevents the condensed moisture on the lids to mix with the freshly prepared espresso. Wait till the brewing stops and serve the espresso right away!

This freshly prepared espresso can be further mixed with certain other ingredients to make lattes and cappuccinos.