Making really good espresso can be tough. The starting point is top quality, fresh coffee (we know where you can get some), understanding the recipe (aka Brew Guide), plus a bit of practice and lots of patience.   

What you’ll need  

• Espresso Machine.
• Your favourite coffee beans (we recommend a blend if you’re into milky joes or an origin if an espresso or long black is more your style).
• Grinder (investing in a quality burr grinder is perhaps the most important step in producing great coffee. Check out our pick here).  
• Scales (some that’ll fit on your drip tray).  

A Quick Lil' Guide  

Short on time? We've got you. Check out the video below for a whistle stop tour to brewing the best espresso. 

Steps 

Take out group handle. It should be clean, warm and dry. 

Purge the shower screen by running water through it for a few seconds to ensure the water temp is spot on and clean for the shot. 

Place group handle on scales and tare off (aka zero out the scales). This let’s you control the dose to a tenth of a gram, making it easy to reproduce your results when you find that coffee nirvana.  

It’s grind time. Investing in a quality burr grinder is the perhaps most important step in producing great results, as you want to control particle size and dose. Grind the coffee into the centre of your handle to facilitate an even spread. 

Place group handle back on the scales to check and correct your dose. Depending on your basket size, you’re after between 19-21 grams (check the machine manufacturers recommend dose for your machine). 

Distribute to create an even bed of coffee. Our method? Horizontally, lightly tap your handle.  

Pick up your tamper. Have you named it yet? Make sure your tamper is a perfect match for your basket size and your basket is resting flat. Grasp the tamper and press down on the basket – evenly – using between 10-15kgs of pressure, or ‘light force’. The aim here is to remove any air pockets, not to crush the coffee.

Now put your scales up on the drip tray. Place your cup on the scales and tare off again, setting up to measure your shot length, or 'yield', in grams.

In a commercial setup, machines can be very precise, however, it is still worth checking the yield regularly.

Ok cup’s ready, coffee’s ready, time to insert the handle and press “go”.

You want to start the extraction as soon as you put the handle in, leaving the handle in contact with the hot shower screen is a guaranteed coffee flavour wrecker.

Watch your extraction, it should begin with a drip, not a gush or spurt. The drip should then build to a gentle stream.

The entire shot from when you press the button, to finish, should be between 25-30 seconds. Again, check your brew guide recipe for the recommended brew time for your specific coffee bean. 

Taste...

Chances are you may not get it right first shot of the day so run some trouble shooting. 

If the extraction was too fast it can make the coffee taste thin. Solution: adjust to a finer grind. 

If the extraction was too slow? Adjust to a coarser grind.

Once you have controlled your technique you can make slight recipe adjustments and really see the impact of those changes. Enjoy.