by fun_yunchables » Tue Jun 17, 2014 10:50 pm
^ espresso is coffee that is finely ground and extracted under 9 bar of pressure, to amount to about 2 oz for a normal, average shot.
you won't make good espresso unless you are willing to drop $$$ on a good machine. if you absolutely want espresso, the gaggia classic is one of the home machines that is highly recommeneded.
otherwise, aeropress & moka pot are probably the closest thing you can get to espresso w/o buying a legitimate machine, although these are still rather watery compared with real espresso (i don't remember exactly but these methods will extract around 1.5 bar pressure as a comparison). you can make something americano-like with these two methods.
one more thing i just remembered, invest in a good burr grinder. imo, the biggest difference you can make in brewing is getting a good grind.
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