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How to make espresso?



A good espresso coffee is a daily pleasure that transcends time and fashion. A typically Italian tradition and loved around the world.

Achille Gaggia's brainwave, which he patented in 1938, was to apply steam pressure to ground coffee so that water expressed through the coffee extracted all its flavours and aromas, creating the rich foam, or crema, that has made Italian espresso coffee famous throughou the world.
This is why no one better than Gaggia can help and guide you, to make coffee drinking a true pleasure.

Four steps to a perfect espresso
Four fundamental elements converge to make the perfect espresso:
- Blend
- Grind
- Machine
- Technique

 

Blend
A coffee bean travels a long way before it reaches our cup. Everything starts when the ripe, dark red coffee fruits, called cherries, are harvested. They are immediately processed by either the dry or wet method, then the coffee beans are ready for roasting.

There are many kinds of coffee beans, from various countries, which give different aromas to the coffee in our cup. However, there are two main varieties which account for about 99% of word production:

Robusta's higher caffeine content (2-4,5%) gives more body to the flavour of your espresso. This variety was discovered in Congo in 1898 and now accounts for about 25% of world production. Its cherries are generally smaller than those of the Arabica plant, it has orund seeds with an almost straight central groove. Robusta beans produce a coffee of poor quality, without much aroma, very strong (bitter and woody), but with more body and a higher caffeine content than Arabica. Robusta grows mainly in Indonesia, West Africa and Asia.


Arabica has a richer aroma and less caffeine (1.1%-1.7%). Arabica beans produce subtle aromas, their elegance and prestige derive from the their fine body with a vigorous, aroma-rich flavour and pleasant acidity. These sensory characteristics may vary according to the region where the plant was grown and how the coffee was made (the falvour may display varying degrees of spiciness, acidity of a chocolate taste).

A blend may include other varieties or be a mixture of varying percentages of Arabica and Robusta which gives prominence to the special characteristics of one or the other.
Lastly, there is increasing demand for decaffeinated coffee, whish undegoues a special decaffeination process to remove most of the caffeine in the beans. A content of 0.1% caffeine is the legal limit for decaffeinated coffee.

 



Grind
Grinding is decisive in achieving a good cup of coffee.
Gagia believes that you should grind the coffee you need just before you make coffee to presercve tha beans' aromas and flavours. It is also important to avoid grinding the beans to coarsley or to finely. If the grind is too coarse the coffee will lack body, if it is too fine the coffee will be too strong.

Today you can buy ready-ground coffee, coffee beans or coffee capsules. If you choose coffee beans, because you do not want to lose the unique aroma of freshly-ground coffee, then you must have a good grinder.

Gaggia also offers a renge of grinders mad of top-quality material which guarantee long-lasting, consistently hight performance and enable you to choose the type of grind you prefer. Follow the grinder's instruction manual very carefully, adjusting the grind to the fineness that best reflects your taste (only possible with adjustable grinders).

 


Machine
A good coffee machine is essential to make your espresso a true coffee pleasure, every time.
Our coffee machines are the best on the market, their quality derives from 75 years of experience which guarantees the coffee you make is like the one served in an Italian café. The brewheads and filter holders of our household coffee machines are the same used for our professional coffee makers. So the coffee you enjoy at home really will be the same as the one prepared by a barista.

Furthermore, our espresso makers have a special 1-cup filter which enables yout to use either ground cofee or single-brew capsules, according to need. 




Technique
Lastly, the manual technique of the person who makes the coffee. As a non-professional, you will have to learn the "secrets" of the coffee-making ritual: the right amount of tamping down, the right quantity of coffee. It is not hard to learn, all you have to do is follow the steps indicated below:

Let the machine heat up for about 6 minutes; leave the filter holder inserted to make sure your coffee will be piping hot.
Use the measuring spoon supplied to measure the coffee needed for 1 or 2 cups (one spoonful or two spoonfuls, repectively). Spoon the coffee into the filter and pack it down. The right quantity of coffee and the right pressure are essential for a good espresso:

- too much coffee pressed down too hard makes a very bitter sepresso. The coffee will drip very slowly into the cup
- not enough coffee, and not packed down enough, produces a weak coffee that streasm to quickly into the cup
 

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