Coffee Rituals

We’re long overdule for an open-type thread around here, so let me provide the excuse by asking one of the world’s great questions: what’s the best way to make coffee?

I’m an eclectic coffee drinker; I like espresso but also enjoy a really good cup of American coffee, and I prefer coffee black but am willing to adulterate it with milk if I suspect the quality is not going to be that high. (Sugar under no circumstances.) For the past few years I’ve relied on the lowest-effort method I know of that is guaranteed to produce a good cup: freshly-ground dark roast beans, placed in a simple cone filter and hot water poured right in. Practically instant coffee, but a result that can be as good as the beans allow.

S1CO But I’d like to start mixing more espresso into my home coffee experience, so I’m in the market for a new espresso machine. If I were a physicist of means, I might go for a work of art like the Elektra Micro Casa Lever on right. Or would I? This is a spring-action lever machine, which is to be contrasted with the manual levers, not to mention the automatics and super-automatics, and then there’s the matter of boilers, switches, heat exchangers … a complete mess. The pumps are certainly elegant, but I’d also like something that is functional and doesn’t require constant pampering. So I am in the unusual position of being frozen with indecision about what kind of espresso machine to get. Any opinions out there?

The ground rules here are:

  1. There’s no such thing as right or wrong; different people have different tastes, for which different approaches are appropriate.
  2. Answers with specific comparisons of advantages and disadvantages are more useful than simple insistence on truth.

I do understand that this is the internet and rules are unlikely to be followed, but I feel I should try.

Obviously not all advice on such a topic is too be trusted. The Engineer’s Guide to Drinks thread featured a sobering (as it were) number of people who think a “martini” should just be chilled gin rather than a proper cocktail, and were proud to admit it in public! So caveat lector. And if you want to talk about something other than coffee, be our guest.

68 Comments

68 thoughts on “Coffee Rituals”

  1. “1. There’s no such thing as right or wrong; different people have different tastes, for which different approaches are appropriate.”

    Sean, such coffee relativism is disgraceful. I can only pray for your soul to discover the wonder of the One True Coffee Taste.

  2. My experience has been that what kind of coffee you use and how it’s roasted and ground are more important than the machine for most people’s purposes. I would choose a machine that would be easy to maintain and clean; if it’s too much work you will start to avoid using it.

    My own technique is very simple and machine-free: grind it as fine as possible with a burr grinder, use a lot of coffee — 2 heaping tablespoons per cup of water — heat it in the microwave until it just barely starts to foam up, and strain the grounds out with a sieve. There’s very little to clean and you don’t have to worry about buying filters.

    James

  3. Not technically an espresso machine – the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had (and have every morning) comes from my cheap AeroPress.

    I’m not an espresso connoisseur so can’t vouch for the quality of espresso it makes – but the coffee is outstanding. Playing with the water temp, grind (and amount), and steep time – you can dial in the perfect cup.

  4. Try the ‘la Pavoni’ ones, also (http://www.lapavoni.it/line_det.asp?idf=1): similar to that one – the ‘Romantica’, particularly – different brand. I have one of those, the Professional – more sober, I don’t like too much baroquement. Wonderful machines, but a bit demanding, at least at the beginning: you must know the machine, and the kind of grinding, the thickness of the bean blend, before obtaining a true espresso. But it’s worth the work, at the end.
    A bit demanding as i said, and a sure piece of art in any case. If you want less machinery, try the non-lever, less expensive ones. La Pavoni is one the best brands in Italy, so you can check the site for other models.

  5. I get beans from a small coffeehouse/roastery just down the street from my house (local == better IMHO), grind them in a cheapo $15 Mr. Coffee grinder, nuke my (filtered) water, and run it all through an AeroPress. Not quite real espresso, but good enough for me, especially considering my budget. As well, the AeroPress is a heckuva lot easier to clean, use, and store than a full-on espresso machine.

  6. I’ll vouch for the Aeropress as well. Great espresso-like coffee, and if judging by espresso standards, better than many espressos I’ve had in coffee shops. Faster than brewing drip coffee, as well.

  7. I have a Nespresso machine on my desk. The coffee comes in air-tight capsules (one per cup), and I have small disposable cups of long-life milk so I don’t have to mess about cleaning protein residues. The taste is great, but perhaps not so environmentally friendly. I do have to control myself, otherwise I would be drinking coffee throughout the day.

  8. I like the Bialetti Moka Pot – tasty coffee made quickly with very little cleanup necessary. And lots cheaper than an espresso machine…

  9. I too like to use a filter–espresso grind. Time the grounds are in contact with the water is important. Less time, fuller, richer flavor: more time, accentuates the sharper, more bitter taste. To have a strong coffee without being bitter, double the amount of grounds per cup. Since I only make one cup at a time, means 2 heaping TBLS. Then only half a cup of water into the filter so it passes through quickly–fill the rest of the cup with hot water after.

  10. The cleaning and maintenance of most machines is going to be pretty similar -for occasional use, wipe/rinse the portafilter after use, clean it and the grouphead out with some coffee cleaner weekly or so. Descale the boiler now and then, maybe change some gaskets or something once in a blue moon. Hopefully, that’ll be about it.

    Beyond that, it’s really going to depend on your budget and enthusiasm…

    There are good automatic machines for less than a quarter the price of the Elektra. I think levers are classier though, and can’t be beat for ritual. And there are some affordable ones. I have a Gaggia Achille. It’s great in principle, but Gaggia seems to have a few design and build issues with it. Mine is working well now, but it took a little more TLC than maybe you’re into. (I think they’re out of production now, but there might be really good deals on refurbished units if you’re prepared to do a little tinkering.)

    I’ll also put a plug in for orphanespresso.com, where they sell a lot of lovingly restored vintage machines–sometimes great bargains– as well vintage espresso hand grinders, which are cheaper than electric, and a great morning ritual. I got nice hand crank wall grinder for myself, and a great old lever machine for my dad there, but you have to watch, as the stock changes constantly.

    (Also: roast your own green beans. All it takes is a hot air popcorn popper and a little trial and error. Doesn’t even take long. And though the batch-to-batch consistency probably won’t ever be great, the freshness and I-made-this-myself flavor can’t be beat.)

  11. Moka pot or french press at home, espresso in coffee shops, normal American coffee with American breakfasts. Making coffee in a moka pot is a nice but not too involved ritual and as #8 says, requires little cleanup. And it also spreads the coffee smell around the house quite efficiently compared to other methods.

  12. Course grind and a french press for coffee but I do like a cone drip on occasion. The water should never be in contact with the grounds for more that a few minutes. I never cross the four minute mark for a three liter brew, go significantly less for smaller amounts.
    I see a lot of calls for a finer grind but you’re just begging for bitterness there. If you like a little bitterness, I’d still go with a courser grind but a darker roast. That will bring through the natural tones of the bean and still give you the bite.
    It is true that the grind and prep can be more important than the bean at times, but a good bean treated properly is heaven. Burr grinder should be at the top of your list. Avoid blades whenever possible.

  13. I will vouch for the Aeropress as well. It would be the cheapest option in any panel worthy of blind testing and would have a reasonable shot at winning.

    I notice you mention using freshly ground beans. While this is certainly good (ahem… necessary), you would probably be even happier further restricting yourself to freshly roasted beans.

  14. Hey, a post I can actually contribute to (am not a astro-phycist-rocket-super anything, and the only thing I know about time is how to waste it).

    Opened a shop a few years back and part of it included an espresso bar. I was not a coffee person so I did my research and found a local coffee supplier that everyone raved about. The owner came over and trained me and people raved about the coffee.

    Here are the cliff’s notes :

    1. Your beans, of course – the road to good coffee starts at good beans 🙂
    2. Your grind – get your grind right – get a taste you like from a local store and ask if you can bring some of the grounds home to see the texture so you can match it. Slightly coarser for faster brew, finer for longer. If you are in a very stable environment then set this once and you’re good, otherwise you can adjust the grind slightly for temp/humidity differences (this is what you do 3 times a day or more in a coffee shop – grind, make a test cup, adjust, etc – if you don’t have breezy cold air blowing in an open door than you don’t need to do this day to day).
    3. Your machine – know how to adjust it. Too short and you’re wasting beans, too long and you get bitterness. Fiddle with this once – get it right, then adjust the grind for temp differences. Rule of thumb, good cup of espresso takes about 22-28 seconds.
    4. Clean – keep everything very clean, always.

    (I don’t know how this advice translates from commercial to residential machines)

    Like I said, I knew nothing about espresso – but following these rules of thumb we had die-hard Oregon espresso lovers complementing our product. It’s one of the few things I got right in that business… *sigh*

  15. Rancilio Silvia. And get a rancilio rocky grinder. The grinder is as important as the machine. This is the cheapest best quality espresso machine you will find. You will have to learn how to pull shots on it, but once you do you will be rewarded. Intelligentsia sells this one, and you can find it online for less.

  16. Taking together cost, ease of use, size and taste I went with the Starbucks Sirena. It is really a re-branded italian espresso machine and the integrated thermometer is very useful for making kid-temperature or scalding Americanos.

    I do want to try a hand-pumped machine although I hear they can be quite temperamental.

  17. The Engineer’s Guide to Drinks thread featured a sobering (as it were) number of people who think a “martini” should just be chilled gin rather than a proper cocktail, and were proud to admit it in public!

    Just gin? We did say you need an olive, too, you know.

  18. Get a pump espresso machine with 13 bars of pressure.

    And for the record, if there’s no dry vermouth in there, it’s not a martini. Though one can almost forgive Churchill, who is said to have described the perfect dry martini as drinking a glass of gin while looking at a bottle of vermouth.

  19. I go for the cone – filter – hot water – however I have had a *good * cup of coffee twice in my life – its perhaps like smoking crack Cocaine after one time you will do anything and everything to recreate the experience and it never happens.

    I mostly drink tea.

  20. For those who don’t sweat signalling, one heaping spoonful of Nescafe’s Clasico instant (the kind they market to Mexicans–coupla bucks cheaper), a splash of milk and a pack of splenda.

  21. Bedouin coffee (as I’ve heard it described by several Iranian students, no idea if Bedouins actually follow the recipe):
    1. Take your roasted beans, grind them as normal.
    2. Put in a pan, fill with about twice the amount of water you’d normally use for american style coffee.
    3. Put over heat, bring water to a boil, and continue until the water is boiled off.
    4. Pick out any solid chunks (shell fragments, etc).
    5. Add same amount of water as in step 2, and repeat steps 3 and 4.
    6. Repeat step 5 again.
    7. Eat the resulting paste.

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