Beginner's guide to making great espresso at home

How to make espresso at home

With its rich, complex flavors, espresso is one of the most delicious types of coffee and one of the most challenging kinds to make well at home. If you're new to brewing espresso, the prospect can seem daunting, but it's perfectly achievable. Sure, expert baristas can take years to perfect their craft, but you can learn the basics and make an excellent espresso in an hour or two.

You can make great espresso at home with the right equipment and a little know-how as a beginner. The best thing to do is learn the basics, buy what you need and dive straight in.

Choosing an espresso machine

You can't make espresso without an espresso machine, so if you buy nothing else, get yourself an espresso machine and some coffee. Though you can find cheap espresso machines, these often don't produce enough pressure or maintain the pressure levels and temperatures required to make a great espresso. Though you can spend thousands of dollars on an espresso machine, you don’t have to. However, you should expect to pay at least $300-$500 for an entry-level espresso machine good enough to make quality espresso.

The best coffee beans for espresso

There's no point buying an expensive espresso machine only to use inexpensive, subpar coffee. Everyone's coffee preferences are different, so there's no single best coffee to use for espresso. Still, you should always use whole beans that you grind yourself over ground coffee because coffee quickly goes stale once ground so that pre-ground beans won't make great espresso. If you're serious about making the best espresso, choose artisan beans that have been recently roasted, for instance, from a local coffee roastery.

How to grind coffee for espresso

When aiming to make quality espresso, use a decent burr grinder to grind your coffee beans as a blade grinder just won't do the trick. Your beans must be finely ground to make espresso, so it can take some adjustment if you're used to grinding beans for filter coffee. Aim for a grind that's just slightly finer than table salt. It's possible to grind coffee too finely, so don't overdo it.

Always measure the amount of coffee you're using. You'll also need to weigh out the amount of ground coffee to use. The ideal ratio of coffee to water for espresso is 1:2, so for an average double shot of espresso, you'll need roughly 1 ounce of coffee. Invest in a kitchen scale to weigh coffee if you don't already own one.

Tamping coffee for espresso

Once you've measured the correct amount of coffee into the portafilter, you need to tamp it by pressing it down. You've probably seen baristas do this, but some beginners underestimate the importance of this. Smooth the beans out to distribute them evenly, then press down with a tamper, using firm, even pressure to compress the ground coffee in the portafilter.

Pulling espresso shots

It should take somewhere between 20-35 seconds to pull a shot of espresso, so measure this to make sure you're getting it right. Some espresso machines let you have total control over the shot time, whereas others pull shots automatically.

If your machine does the latter and the shot time is off, you might have the grind size wrong or not tamped the coffee correctly, so experiment with these variables until the shot time is just right.

Best espresso machines

Gaggia Classic Pro Espresso Machine

An excellent entry-level choice that's simple to use but gives superb results. It's exceptionally solidly made and will keep going strong for many years.

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