Quote:
Originally Posted by Christien
We just use a cheapo braun or whatever brand, probably from sears. The kind with the plastic lid, put the beans on, replace the lid, hold the button down until it's ground how you want. The trick is to know when to stop grinding. It took a few tries to get it right, but that was it. I've been using it now for probably 10 years and everyone I make lattes for agrees they're the best. And we don't have a fancy espresso machine either, just a $250 unit, again probably from sears. I think it's much more about the ingredients and technique than the equipment. We do buy very good beans - $16/pound.
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that sounds like a blade grinder - it is illegal to use those to make espresso in Orygun (but at least the Guv. says he will not enforce the death penalty)
I am told that... the grinder really DOES matter - you need a fine and very uniform grind for espresso - I guess it affects the contact time of the hot water (which extracts the flavor compounds from the coffee)
Today, I ran little experiment -
Methods: I had the coffee shop use their multi-thousand dollar grinder to make me an espresso grind. I did not use it within the required 26 seconds, but an hour or so later I did run it thru my cheap espresso machine.
Results: The water definitely took longer to run thru the cuppie-thing*. The coffee powder definitely seemed different visually and when I stroked it with my long, hard digit.... There was more crema too!
* as compared with the coffee I have been grinding up with a blade grinder