Do you want to learn how to make coffee on the espresso machine?

Are you looking for information on how to make an espresso? Could you use some professional coffee knowledge as a home barista? 

Then here are the Golden Coffee Tips for making your favorite coffee drink . In this coffee blog we will take you through the barista actions in simple steps that are necessary for making a good espresso and frothing milk.

Tip 1. Always keep your barista station and coffee equipment clean and tidy.

Barista Essentials Cleaning Wipes

This may seem obvious, but there are several reasons that are often overlooked.

The first reason is that the actions that precede the actual brewing of your espresso follow each other in rapid succession.
The longer the time between grinding your coffee beans and preparing your espresso on your espresso machine, the more notes and aromas will evaporate .
After all, you want the aromas and notes of the ground coffee to be absorbed by the water and end up in your cup as quickly as possible. A tidy and clean barista station ensures that you can perform your coffee technique and espresso preparation steps as professionally and quickly as possible. This means that nothing of your perfect espresso is lost.

There is a second reason for a clean and tidy coffee environment that is often forgotten.

Imagine that in the morning, after making your espresso, you do not clean your filter holder properly. At 11 o'clock you feel like having another delicious espresso or cappuccino, and you get back to work in your home barista corner . You refill your filter holder with ground coffee, perform all the coffee steps and make your delicious second cup. But it tastes a bit less than the previous one. There is a good chance that your lesser quality espresso has a bit more bitterness in it than the previous one. How come?

The portafilter (filter holder or piston: the part of the espresso machine where you put your ground coffee) that has not been cleaned properly contains old, used coffee.

This is also called extracted coffee : ground coffee that has already had its extraction once. Just like a tea bag, you can no longer use a used tea bag after a few times. All the tea has been extracted from it. The same goes for ground coffee. Only you cannot use coffee a few times like tea, but only once. That old used coffee will burn during a second extraction and that gives bitter notes .

Summary: Keep your espresso environment and barista workspace clean and tidy. This way you can quickly perform your actions to prepare the artisanal espresso and your professional coffee preparation and coffee passion always remain constant!

Cleaning and maintenance ensure better coffee preparation.

Tip 2. Measuring is knowing

Coffee scales from Barista Essentials

You probably know the saying "measuring is knowing". This certainly applies to making coffee . Suppose you make a delicious hot chocolate. You use the same amount of fresh whole milk every time, but with every cup you make you use a different amount of dark chocolate. Would you be surprised that your hot chocolate is sometimes fuller and deeper in flavor than other times? No way?!

This principle also works when preparing espresso .

It is very important that you always put the same amount of ground coffee in your filter holder. Using 17 grams of coffee one time and 18 grams of coffee the next time will result in different coffee extractions and therefore different flavor profiles of your espresso.

A coffee scale or programmable electric coffee grinder is super handy for this! This way you always know how many grams go into your filter basket and you get a more consistent espresso preparation.

I often see at home workshops that the home barista and coffee lover makes an estimate of how much ground coffee they want to use. Especially in the morning, when everything has to be a bit faster, people think that 'a full filter holder with a heap' is good enough. But if you weigh that filter holder 'with a heap' every time, you will see that there can sometimes be almost a gram of coffee difference . And a gram of coffee more or less gives a completely different taste experience in your americano or flat white.

What applies to ground coffee also applies to water. Many espresso machines today allow you to pre-program the buttons for water.
The standard amount of water for 1 espresso is approximately 30 ml and for a double espresso (doppio) 60 ml.

You can pre-program this so that every time you prepare an espresso or doppio espresso, you get the same amount of water every time. Because here too, the chocolate milk principle applies, but in reverse: not more or less chocolate but more or less milk also results in a different flavor profile. Do you not have programmable water buttons on your espresso machine? Then you can also use snot glasses , which often indicate a standard of 30 ml.

In summary, a consistent amount of ground coffee and water ensures a consistently tasty espresso.

Tip 3. Tamp ground coffee evenly and horizontally.

Tamping station from Barista Essentials

Water always seeks the path of least resistance . Therefore, make sure that you tamp the ground coffee in your filter holder horizontally. A small slanted deviation ensures that the water, which comes out of your coffee machine at high pressure (9 bar), seeks out the lowest point. A tamping station can help you to tamp straight

Compare it to a colander filled with cooked spaghetti. If you hold the colander straight, the water will flow down from all the holes. But if you tilt the colander slightly, the water will flow more from one side of the colander than the other.

This principle also applies when you prepare an espresso with a crookedly tamped coffee bed. What happens to your espresso extraction then? The water will find its way through the part in your filter holder where there is less coffee and less water will flow through the part where there is more coffee. This causes the more part to be extracted less and the less part to be extracted more. The more part is therefore not extracted enough and the less part is extracted too much.

Under extraction gives sour notes and over extraction gives bitter notes. The result: an espresso that has relatively more acid and bitter.

So make sure you tamp straight, this will result in an even coffee extraction and will give you a nice balanced espresso.

Tip 4. Flush your espresso group.

What applies to tip 1 also applies to this golden coffee tip. After making an espresso, extracted coffee particles always stick to your group. Your group is the part where you screw in your filter holder, and where the water from your espresso machine runs into your filter holder.

If you do not clean your group properly after every espresso preparation, old particles will be included in the preparation of your new cup of coffee.
You can easily prevent this by flushing your group before a new preparation, or after an espresso preparation. How do you do that? Press the button with which you normally start your espresso, but do so without having turned the filter holder in the group. This will cause the espresso machine to give some water, with which you flush away the old coffee particles.

Tip 5. Pre-rinse your porcelain or coffee cup.

Coffee cups from Barista Essentials

Nothing makes me grumpier than a lukewarm cup of coffee . And who wants a speck of dirt or fruit fly in their cortado?

Almost every espresso machine also has a hot water tap . Sometimes it’s a tap, sometimes it’s a spout that comes out of the bottom of the machine, and sometimes it’s a setting on the steam wand.

Pre-rinsing your coffee cup has two advantages . First, the hot water ensures that your cup is pre-heated . This means that some of the heat from your espresso will not be lost in your cup, resulting in the correct temperature of your coffee. Second, the hot water also rinses away dust, dirt and grime from your cup. How tasty! Don't forget to throw away the water from your cup before you let your delicious espresso run into your cup.

Tip 6. Waiting is burning.

In this golden coffee tip we discuss a frequently performed barista action that results in a lower coffee quality. The coffee is ground, tamped and the portafilter is turned in the espresso machine group. And then the waiting begins. Cups are grabbed and rinsed. The milk jug is brought out to make a delicious café latte . The new carton of milk is opened. The saucer is prepared and the cookies are brought out. And only then is the cup placed under the filter holder and the water button pressed to start the extraction. What is going wrong here?

It is often forgotten that the group from which the water comes is a hot group.
Today’s espresso machines preheat the group with special internal water tubes to prevent heat loss. But when a group is hot (think 90 to 96 degrees), it affects the freshly ground coffee waiting in the group. The top layer of coffee in the portafilter burns during the time that the water is not yet flowing through. And we read in tip 3 that burnt coffee gives off bitter notes . Therefore, always make sure that there is as little time as possible between screwing in your portafilter in your group and starting your espresso extraction.

I personally carry out all the preparatory steps first, such as filling a milk jug or preparing a cup and saucer.
I prepare everything so that the barista actions from grinding coffee to extraction can be carried out one after the other, without interruption.

So make sure that the preparations are done first, after which you have all the time to perform the espresso preparation steps 'in one go'.

Tip 7. First coffee, then milk.

Barista Essentials Frothing Jug

This tip is especially for the milk drink lovers among us. How nice is it to make a delicious cappuccino or cafe latte with oat milk, coconut milk or just 'good old' full-fat milk. And what do you think of the Latte Macchiato? Milk heaven!!

I often get asked what should happen first: making the espresso or frothing the milk.

My advice is to always make the espresso first . When you froth milk and leave it to do something else (like making your espresso), gravity gets to work. Gravity pulls the liquid milk and the milk froth apart. This means you only pour liquid milk, and the froth remains like an island at the top of the milk jug.

That's why it's best to reverse the procedure. Preheat your cup and make your espresso. It will stay warm for quite a while.
Then froth your milk and try to pour your milk into your espresso as fast as possible. This way you will get your favorite, full and creamy cappuccino or other milk drink.

Tip 8: Dirty is not clean.

The last tip is a common action that is forgotten. Imagine that you have to perform ten steps to make your cappuccino . Grinding, tamping, foaming, preheating and so on. Now suppose that steps 3, 4 and 5 are performed less well. Then your end result is a coffee drink with a number 7. But if you perform all the steps accurately and correctly, you have a chance of ending up with a number 10 more often!

This last tip fits into the series: perform all your actions correctly.

What I often see happening is that coffee lovers do not clean the steam pipe after frothing milk. Residues of caked milk collect on the steam pipe. This results in less powerful steam , because the steam holes become clogged . And the caked milk also releases particles into a new full fresh milk jug. For a high-quality coffee preparation it is important to perform each action correctly.

Make your coffee preparation a ritual, a special coffee moment in the morning, afternoon or evening. Think less in terms of "I'm going to make a cup quickly" but more in terms of "I'm going to perform my coffee ritual again." Then you will certainly succeed in an attractive coffee drink that tastes good and meets your expectations every time.