How to Brew Espresso Coffee Beans: Common Problems and Solutions

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Espresso concentrate is key, many coffee enthusiasts believe; making a shot of espresso seems simple, but making a perfect espresso is quite difficult. Today we will mainly address common quality issues with espresso. You can learn about them here. (Welcome to leave comments for discussion and exchange)

Common Espresso Quality Issues

1. Large, non-persistent crema bubbles

2. Coffee without crema

3. Split extraction flow

4. Rapid color change in extraction flow

1. Large, non-persistent crema bubbles

If this situation occurs, the first thing you should do is check the roast date of your espresso beans. After roasting, coffee beans produce a certain amount of nitrogen dioxide. If the coffee beans have just been roasted, the resulting crema will have large bubbles with poor persistence. You need to let the coffee beans rest (commonly known as "bean aging"), allowing the gases to fully release (approximately 4 days of aging), so that the crema will be more persistent. However, if the resting time exceeds 21 days, the crema's flavor will become stale. Additionally, you should note that as coffee beans continue to release gases, the flavor profile of espresso beans will also change.

2. Coffee without crema

This could be because the crema disappears too quickly. If this matches your situation, please refer to the content in "Issue 1." But if there is no crema at all, it may be because your coffee has already spoiled. Therefore, you must ensure you use your coffee beans within 21 days of roasting. (Pay attention to the production date)

At the same time, you should consider the storage conditions of your coffee. Coffee must be stored in a cool, dry place, away from heat sources or in the refrigerator, which would accelerate spoilage.

3. Split extraction flow

During standard coffee preparation, water must flow evenly through the coffee grounds under pressure, ensuring thorough fusion between water and coffee grounds. If the flow splits, it indicates insufficient contact between water and coffee grounds, with water flowing through the areas with least coffee grounds. To check if extraction is even, you can use a Naked Portafilter (a bottomless portafilter that allows observation of flow conditions).

To ensure sufficient and even contact between water and coffee grounds, we can understand the following points:

First, ensure the coffee dose is precise with minimal variation, and the puck is full but not hard-packed.

Second, the portafilter must be kept dry before making coffee, as a damp portafilter will cause water to pass through the coffee grounds too easily.

Third, the tamping pressure must be even and accurate. If the pressure is too low or uneven, it will lead to incomplete extraction.

Finally, after tamping, we do not recommend tapping the edge of the portafilter. Tapping the edge only makes the puck look better and offers no significant benefits to extraction. If you tap too hard, the puck will crack, allowing water to flow through the gaps.

4. Rapid color change in extraction flow

If the flow changes color too quickly, the coffee will have a thinner mouthfeel, lighter sweetness, and an overall bitter taste with earthy flavors. Spoiled coffee beans can also lead to rapid color change in the flow. The common reasons are threefold: coffee bean freshness, coffee grind size, and coffee dose.

Most problems encountered when making espresso can be avoided by ensuring coffee freshness, proper storage conditions, and precise operations.

Of course, the temperature stability of the espresso machine is also very important. If conditions permit, you can choose a machine with stable temperature and multiple boiler systems. Multi-boiler machines offer greater stability and can ensure constant water temperature. Single-boiler machines typically experience temperature fluctuations, resulting in inconsistent flavor.

Recommended Espresso Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee, a coffee roasting brand located at Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, offers freshly roasted espresso beans with full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer excellent value for money. Taking their commercial recommendation - Commercial Blend Coffee Beans - as an example, a 1-pound (454g) package costs only about 60 yuan. Calculating based on 10g of coffee powder per single shot of espresso, one package can make 45 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 1.5 yuan. Even if using double shots with 20g per cup, a double espresso costs no more than 3 yuan. Compared to certain well-known brands that sell packages for hundreds of yuan, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse varieties of beans, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473