How to Prepare the Best Espresso

Every coffee has a unique personality, especially when it comes to specialty coffee. This is prepared with a lighter roast that allows us to appreciate all its qualities, as well as any flaws or extraction errors.

To get the most out of your coffee, we'll explain the best way to prepare it.

The quest for exceptional espresso

At On y Va Roaster we roast every Tuesday and Thursday at our Barcelona headquarters at Cornet i Mas 9 (in case you want to visit us one day and have a coffee).

Once roasted, we let the coffee rest for approximately 10 days. During this rest period, the coffee fully develops its qualities. This way, we prepare the coffee when it's at its optimal state.

The milling

First thing in the morning, we turn on the machine and wait for it to heat up. Once it's heated up, we make our first cup of coffee. This first shot of the day helps us begin calibrating the grinder .

If the coffee comes out too fast or slow, you'll need to adjust the grind . Use a finer grind (think sand) if it comes out too fast, or a coarser grind (think stones) if it comes out too slow.

The recipe

For each coffee we look for that perfect espresso recipe , the one that gives us a balanced espresso: neither bitter (over-extracted) nor salty (under-extracted), but sweet.

If you don't know where to start, the ratio of coffee : water It's usually a 1:2 ratio. It's recommended to use 18-21 grams of ground coffee in 18-gram baskets. For example, if we use 18 grams of ground coffee, we can get a 36 ml espresso.

We look for an espresso that comes out between 25 - 35 seconds .

Tools for exceptional coffee:

• 2 scales, one for weighing ground coffee and another for weighing espresso in the cup.
• A flat tamper that fits perfectly into the filter holder basket.
• A "naked" portafilter: Not only is it nice to extract with these baskets, but they also allow you to check if you have tamped evenly.
• Timer.

An exceptional espresso step by step:

1. We grind the coffee just before preparing it.
2. We weigh the ground coffee.
3. We tare the cup and make an espresso.
4. While the espresso is coming out, we weigh it and stop the machine when we reach the desired amount.
5. We check the time to determine if it's brewing too fast or too slow. We also taste the espresso to check the aroma and flavor.

We taste the espresso and adjust or correct whatever is needed: grind coarseness, extraction time, and espresso quantity. We'll leave the details for another post. I'll briefly explain this so you have an idea of ​​what variables we control to get the best espresso . We can also consider water temperature, water quality, and machine pressure, but these variables are more fixed.

Once we have the recipe, we try to replicate it, although each espresso can vary due to factors such as humidity and climate changes. As soon as the espresso is roasted, coffee, its CO2 and humidity levels begin to increase.

To reduce the impact of both factors, it is recommended to increase the dosage as time passes from the roasting date.

We baristas drink a lot of coffee to make your espresso perfect. At the end of the workday, we're all out of breath, but that's okay. ;)

Now, I would like to share our current recipe for Tree Soul from Guatemala .

• 18.5 grams of ground coffee
• 38 ml in a cup
• 28 seconds

Have you tried it? You can also make it at home using a traditional Italian moka pot or French press , and you'll get incredible coffee.