Starting from the home coffee machine Part 1: Update the concept of drinking a cup of good coffee at home

I started as an artistic pseudo-bourgeoisie who used hand-grinding to make coffee at home, and then helped my friend open a coffee shop. The coffee equipment I have come into contact with basically covers all aspects of home and commercial use. I have tried both home American drip machines and commercial Italian coffee machines. I also have a Moka pot, French press, syphon pot, Belgian pot, hand pour-over, Aeropress, ice drip, etc. at home. I don’t want to discuss the selection of coffee beans and the scale of the grinder from a professional perspective. Let’s simply list how to drink a good cup of coffee at home more conveniently and quickly. This is a popular version, and professional players are another matter. The first principle is to find a balance between flavor and ease of operation!

According to this principle, a good cup of coffee has to be made at home. First of all, we exclude espresso machines. The biggest benefit of the rapid expansion of large chain coffee shops such as Starbucks and Kosita is that it has promoted the popularization of coffee culture in China. Many people know what espresso is, can distinguish between latte and cappuccino, and can pinch their noses to drink espresso.

. But a cup of espresso, "enough pressure to force hot water through very fine and squeezed coffee powder", double espresso is made from 47 to 62.5 ml (1.5-2 ounces) of coffee extract, 88 to 95 degrees Celsius of pure water and 9-10 atmospheres of pressure in 22 to 28 seconds. The coffee extract is extracted from 14 to 16 grams of coffee powder. Espresso drips from the coffee handle like hot honey. The color is reddish brown. It is covered with a layer of coffee oil, which accounts for 10-30% of the drink. From Baidu

First, you need an excellent Italian coffee machine with stable and strong enough pressure. Second, you need an excellent grinder to ensure that fine and uniform coffee powder is ground. Third, you need fresh beans, correct blending, and sufficient oil extraction. After the coffee beans are roasted, the aromatic spirit begins to wake up. Oxygen, moisture, strong light, and high temperature are all its enemies. Stale coffee beans will not taste good no matter what you use to brew them. Among all the brewing methods, the Italian coffee machine is the most sensitive to the freshness of coffee beans. The contact area with oxygen is greatly increased during the process of grinding coffee beans into powder, and it is basically difficult to preserve freshness. If you grind the coffee powder and make a cup of espresso immediately, you will find that the coffee that flows out is sticky and the oil is very thick. If the coffee powder is left for fifteen minutes, the espresso brewed will be as thin as water, losing its stickiness and the oil is thin. The sophisticated barista will pour it out directly and call it black sour water. Fourth, you need to be able to operate the semi-automatic coffee machine perfectly. We are not like Starbucks who use fully automatic machines. Fully automatic machines can guarantee that each cup can reach 70 or 80 points, but it will never reach 90 points. However, an unqualified barista can definitely make the semi-automatic machine fail. If we assume that you love drinking coffee, three cups a day, is it a bit too much? The amount of beans used in a standard cup of espresso (single espresso) is about 50 coffee beans, about 7-8 grams. If you drink three cups of 20g a day, it is about half a pound (227g) of coffee beans for more than ten days, and one cup a day, it will take more than a month. Those home espresso machines recommended by Aunt Zhang, such as Delong, which cost hundreds or thousands of yuan, I think you should not buy them. Generally, at the price of four or five thousand, it can guarantee sufficient stable pressure and stable steam, and can guarantee the production of espresso and milk foam. A good grinder suitable for espresso machines costs about several thousand. OK, let's not consider the budget. Let's spend 10,000 yuan to put the whole machine at home. We can't turn it on all day, right? The power consumption is also enough. When you want to drink coffee, turn on the machine first and heat it up for more than half an hour. That is to say, after turning on the power and turning on the machine, you have to wait for an hour before making coffee. Are you sure you still have this interest? At first, I put a small S at home. It should be the earliest player's favorite equipment. Rancilio Silvia coffee machine, jokingly called small S in the industry, is not too big, and the metal shell feels very professional. Its weakness is that the steam is not strong, but it is an advantage for entry-level players. It gives you enough time to slowly adjust the milk foam, that is, to tolerate your trial and error. Later, I was not used to this after using professional machines. The strong steam immediately raised the temperature of the milk. If the milk foam cannot be whipped well within this time, it will be useless. Miss S is a single boiler. If it is used commercially, it can't keep up with the large output. It is more than enough for home use, and it can basically be completed in half an hour after turning it on. The original machine was priced at around 6,000 yuan on Taobao four years ago, and it can be bought with a grinder for around 10,000 yuan. Now it is probably discontinued. I pulled a picture from the Internet. By the way, I want to advertise. I sold my second-hand machine for 1,000 yuan. Is there anyone who wants it?

Believe me, unless you are a professional player, you are very interested in making espresso, frothing milk, and latte art every day to practice your skills, just to drink a sip of hot latte every day. You are definitely not interested in fiddling with this machine every day. Anyway, I have been idle for a long time. It takes more than half an hour to start the machine and warm it up. The beans are not easy to preserve. It takes another half an hour to wash the machine and put away the whole set of tools. I am sweating. By the way, I will show you how I practiced latte art and walked on the path of Jiming Temple in Nanjing with my beloved small take-out coffee cup (don’t tell me that keepcup is sold on Taobao. I got it from the domestic agent at the end of 2012. I bought it from Australia in May 2012. This color is not available in China, 8oz, robot version

), original work, flowers classmates

Little S

Lahua butt heart, la la

keepcup So, this is one of the reasons why coffee is so common in the West, everyone can drink coffee at home, and street cafes are so widespread. In addition to the concept of the third space, you can drink the freshest and most reliable coffee in a cafe. For commercial use, you have money to buy a good machine, but there is no need to use it at home. The beans can be used quickly, and the freshness of the beans and the stability of the machine are easy to guarantee, except for JS

If you must make espresso at home, I recommend a capsule machine, a moka pot or an AeroPress. Capsule coffee machines are a type of espresso machine that have appeared in recent years, making the operation of extracting coffee simpler and more convenient. When operating the machine, first open the handle on the top of the machine, then put the coffee capsule into the capsule compartment on the top, and then close the handle to extract coffee with one click. Compared with semi-automatic coffee machines that use coffee powder, the operation is very simple. It also takes up little space, making it convenient to put at home. According to my personal use, because of its convenience, the capsule machine is the machine I use the most, especially in the morning before going to work. The disadvantage is that you have to buy capsules, and the cost per cup is higher than that of coffee beans. Moreover, because the capsules are pre-installed, they always feel not as fresh as freshly ground coffee beans. Of course, the advertisement of the capsule machine claims that each capsule is individually packaged, nitrogen-filled, and aluminum-sealed. Every cup is fresh every time it is opened. It is called a time capsule because it can travel through 2 years and can reach the distance of the International Space Station.

At the same time, you can buy tea capsules and extract the tea to drink. How convenient is that?

I saw a capsule coffee machine for sale in a supermarket yesterday. I took a picture to share with you. It cost more than 1,000 yuan. I think it was made by Delonghi. I am so dedicated.

For those who are willing to shop overseas, it is recommended to shop in Japan or the United States. If you are in a good mood, you can get it done with just a few hundred yuan.

Supermarket capsule machine counter

The Moka pot is a more traditional model, widely used in European countries. Still Baidu, the Moka pot has a two-layer structure. After the water in the lower part is boiled, it will be sprayed into the upper part of the pot through a mesh filter filled with coffee powder. Although hot water can be injected into the medium-fine ground coffee powder without using air pressure, strictly speaking this cannot be considered as concentrated extraction, but is closer to drip extraction, but the coffee made by the Moka pot still has the concentration and flavor of Italian Espresso.

Moka pot structure

Although it is closer to drip, the pressure change between the upper and lower pots causes the water to flow through the coffee powder from the bottom. I personally feel that it still has a certain pressure compared to American drip. In fact, the coffee liquid extracted from the upper pot also contains oil. I usually drink it directly as American coffee or add milk to make latte. I am too lazy to make milk foam, so it is more convenient to drink. The brand recommendation is Biletti. The octagonal shape is deeply rooted in people's hearts. You can choose the style you like on Taobao. There are now double-valve styles, and the pressure feels even better. Search "Biletti + double valve" on Taobao

Aunt Zhang has promoted the AeroPress, which is quite popular now, several times.

Aeropress Coffee Make Ⅱ Portable Hand-Press Coffee Filter Press (with 350 Pieces of Filter Paper)

When the price is right, it is more than 100 yuan. It can be easily seen from the picture that the structure of this product is similar to a syringe. Compared with the traditional filter cup, it has an additional pressure cylinder, so pressure is generated. Compared with the French press, it can apply external force to quickly extract, bringing a bit of Italian flavor. It is a good balance between convenience and taste. In some boutique coffee shops, it is a good choice to see the store use it to produce single-origin coffee. But compared with modern espresso, it is definitely not the same concept. Constant more than 90 degrees, 9 atmospheres of pressure for 30 seconds to extract, such a "strict" commercial espresso machine environment can ensure that those substances that are unlikely to dissolve in water are emulsified, that is, we see the thick layer of grease on the surface of espresso. The pressure of the Aeropress ensures that the water quickly passes through the coffee powder and then passes through the filter paper to filter the residue. The taste is clean, and you can adjust the richness and lightness of your own by various variables such as water-powder ratio, grinding coarseness, powder amount, water temperature, pushing time, and soaking time. The AeroPress has been very popular in the industry since its launch. The technology content of this product is not high, but it wins in design, so the price is not too expensive. It is very suitable for those who have DIY needs to buy one to play with. The taste changes are also rich with various adjustments. But as far as my own operation is concerned, this kind of pressure extraction, for my wooden taste, is limited compared to drip filter. Anyway, I find it annoying. My favorite is Swiss Gold KF300, which is convenient to carry when going out. The second is hand pouring. At home, I can slowly coordinate the technique and cultivate sentiment.

Let me write a series of articles to explain them one by one. See you below.

The conclusion of this article is that if you want to drink Italian coffee, turn right when you go out, la la la.

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