Coffee recipe?
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Take 50g of real Arabica beans recently roasted (no more than 10 days). I'd recomend the Brazilian Minas Terras Altas or a good Kenyan. Each bean must be uniformly roasted to the point it begins to become slightly oily but not more. This is the dark roast also known as the espresso roast. Grind the beans in a central burr grinder into the finest possible powder. Blade grinders don't get it thin enough. Put the powder in a espresso machine container (I'd recomend an Italian: Rancilio, Faema, Trucilio, Saeco, Capresso, Illy, etc.). Press lightly the coffee powder to compress it. This helps the machine achieve the correct pressure. Put the container in the machine. Put natural spring water in the machine (that is non-chlorinated water with Ph as close to 7 as possible). Put a small espresso cup in the machine tray. Turn the machine on and enrich your life.:cool: P.S.: the light colored foam that forms in the cup is called "crema". It comes from the oils that the beans began to liberate in the dark roast above. Only the pressure of a espresso machine on a finelly ground powder can fully extract the oils. They are what gives aroma to espresso. [modified]For the whole biochemistry and complex science behind an espresso take a look at the classic paper[^]. Yes, I am that snobish and pedantic. :cool:[/modified].
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modified on Sunday, June 15, 2008 11:38 PM
Without contradicting Mr Moita in any way, I would like to add some often overlooked points. One, CLEANLINESS: Your coffee equipment must be as clean as possible. This is true for proper espresso and for decent drip/press coffee I would opinion that it's more important for drip, though the typical espresso drinker has a finer palate, balancing out the lesser sensitivity the espresso process has. When approaching an unknown device, I tend to treat the cleaning as if I was cleaning laboratory gear for use. That is, I clean any loose material, followed by a chemical solution designed to react with the expected contaminants, followed by repeated rinsing. In the case of Coffee gear, a solution of very dilute detergent and lye (yes KOH), which is what most 'coffeepot cleaners' are, except they cost 10x as much, and usually have some scent added (yuck). While that strong a chemical seems a bit much, it is exactly what is needed to remove the baked in coffee oils, which will destroy your finest beans. That said, you must rinse it out until there is no trace of the cleaner, or anything it has loosened. A minimum of three times is a start. You may consider distilled water for the last rinse if your tap water has a strong flavor. Once the gear is properly cleaned, a simple rinse between every pot, with a detergent and rinse about once a day, and a full cleaning about 1 to 2 weeks will maintain the quality. Two, WATER: Until your gear is clean, you won't notice the water, but once it is, this is a major point. Except for distilled water, most drinking water has a flavor. This is from trace minerals in all natural water supplies. Coffee will amplify these flavors, especially the metallic ones. Distilled water is better than bad water, but the best coffee is made from water that you like the flavor of, for example a good (but not too mineral) spring water. Once the above is taken care of, Mr Moita's directions will get you a cup of the finest brew you have tasted, but with dirty gear, or poor water, you will have wasted good beans. Minor point, as I don't have a strong personal opinion, but the defined 'proper' pressure on the coffee powder is 30 lbs (for the standard espresso fixture) or approximately 10 psi. That seems a bit high to me, but it's the number usually quoted.