We recommend buying whole bean coffee and grinding just a few minutes before brewing.
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How to make espresso
How to make espresso coffee
Leaning how to make espresso to a high standard can seem incredibly daunting and scary when you first start to delve into the wealth of information available. There are many variables to consider and many different ways of making the same coffee taste delicious, plus a never ending list of equipment and gadgets that you're told will improve your drink.
Whilst it's great to read as much as you can and try as many different gadgets as possible, without applying some basic ground rules to your dialling in routine it can all be a little pointless. With that in mind, here are some great starting points when trying to build an espresso recipe.
We'll be keeping it fairly simple here, and just using the grind setting to adjust what we're tasting. It's all about finding the sweet spot for your coffee.
Remember -
A finer grind will slow your shot down and give you more extraction, which means you'll get more sweetness and increase the amount flavours unique to your coffees origin. However, go to far or "over-extract", and you'll have a bitter and dry tasting espresso.
A coarser grind will speed your shot up and give you less extraction. If you're over extracting and the espresso is tasting bitter, you need to extract less to gain some pleasant acidity and bring your espresso shot back to the sweet spot
*recipes based on a machine set to 9bar pressure, no pre-infusion, spouted portafilter and 93' water*
Investing in a good set of scales is very important and remember to always weigh your coffee dose as well as the weight of the espresso. The scales in the image below are the excellent Acaia scales.
How to make espresso using two brew ration recipes
1:2 Brew Ratio
This is a brilliant place to start, as a lot of coffees taste ok somewhere close to this recipe. From this you'll be able to tell which way to adjust your grind or what brew ratio to use.
18g dry coffee in > 36g espresso out = 28 seconds - 32 seconds (works well with darker roasts and is a good starting point for our Nova Blend.)
1:2.25 Brew Ratio
This is a brew ratio you may consider if you're using a coffee higher in natural acidity, by increasing the yield we dilute the shot more and spread some of that acidity over a larger surface area. This lessens extraction, so adjust grind to taste.
18g dry coffee in in > 40.5g espresso out = 28seconds - 32 seconds (works well with most of our single origin coffees and our Workhorse Blend.)
from
£13.25 Tasting Notes: Fig | Dried fruits | Grape
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Amazing coffee and so convenient
The coffee of the month subscription is perfect if, like me, you love discovering new favourites but are worried about ending up with something which disappoints. All the coffee is high quality and tastes great. I have found 3-4 which I absolutely love and then buy again. It’s also extremely easy to adjust the frequency, pause, and skip orders as needed. The packages fit through mail slot so you don’t have to worry about delivery. Highly recommended to all coffee lovers (or even likers) as a way to ensure at least one part of your day will always we enjoyable.
I shop around with loads of different roasters and rarely order from the same place repeatedly but I keep finding myself coming back to Horsham. Excellent coffee and their service is absolutely spot on. Dispatched and delivered more reliably than any other roaster I've used. Recommended to many friends
Great introduction to the company, lovely way of sampling some new coffee. I’ll definitely be subscribing once I’ve used these up.
Postage was super quick too so I won’t need to worry about getting my next caffeine fix!
Very forgiving beans! Managed to pull a decent shot first time. Slightly darker roast than the workhorse and I prefer the richer flavour of this one. Would def purchase again and I'm glad I purchased 1kg right away.
As someone who doesn't drink dairy I need a decent coffee to pair with almond milk. Many coffees can be either lacking in flavour, or too fruity. This coffee is just right! Plus they roast it to perfection. So many coffees from other roasters just taste burnt! Great job HCR!
I just keep reordering a 1kg bag. Good value. Not to dark, not too light - I drink it black and it's just right for me. I filter, pour over, and use a clever dripper.
We’ve really enjoyed the selection, each coffee was great. In our batch the Costa Rican was amazing, and quite possibly the best coffee two coffee lovers have ever had.
Not a coffee expert, but this ticks the boxes for me. Espresso seems nicest, just a nice level of acidity, very happy with this. Hmmm, I think I might need to get a cup now.
Overall a lovely blend of coffee and on of my favourites. it took me a while to dial in on my espresso machine but I think that was down to my inexperience in producing a solid cup of Espresso. I love the tasting notes of caramel and the subtle tone of orange also. I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a different Bean to give this a go as I find it great value and very flavoursome.
Great with or without milk.
