Your New Home Espresso Bar – Setting Up Shop
Have you recently given in to your long standing desire to have your very own espresso machine at home? Congratulations! If you set yourself up with a few key accessories you should enjoy brewing your own delights for many years.
The first add-ons that you need to get are your espresso making tools and at the top of this list is the espresso coffee grinder. Low end grinders use a blade to grind up the coffee beans and they do a fine job for course grounds. Burr grinders are higher quality grinders and they do a much better job when you need finer grinds for espresso. The blade grinders can also burn the coffee beans if they are used for a long time to make finer grinds.
The tamper is a pretty simple tool that is used to press down on the coffee grinds prior to brewing. If you have a new espresso machine, a tamper probably came with your machine and it probably sucks too. If you upgrade your tamper make sure it fits will and that it feels and looks good to you.
A steaming and frothing pitcher rounds out your arsenal of espresso making tools. Many espresso drinks call for steamed milk or frothed milk or both. For example a Cappuccino is made with roughly equal portions of espresso, steamed milk and frothed milk. A 12 oz. pitcher is appropriate for home use but you can also get them twice as large if needed.
Espresso Cups and Espresso Cup Sets - This is one of the best places to insert some personality into your espresso bar. There are many types of espresso cups that range from simple porcelain cups to ones with name brand designer patterns. Espresso cups also come in glass and stainless steel. Once you find an espresso cup set that you enjoy for a while, you may just find yourself looking for another set because collecting them is a ton of fun. Your first set of espresso cups don't have to be expensive and you will enjoy using them. If you enjoy larger drinks like lattes and cappuccinos then you will also want to get a set of cappuccinos cups for those drinks.
You will also want to get sets of espresso spoon and latte spoons to go along with your cups. Espresso cups and spoons are geared toward drinks that are 1 to 2 ounces, while latte and cappuccino cups are usually 6 to 12 ounces in size.
Until you master a multitude of espresso drinks, you will want to have a coffee recipe book. These recipe books can contain hundreds of recipes for coffee beverages (wow!). Basic espresso drinks that you will want to master include the latte, the mocha and the cappuccino.
Flavors come next and there are LOTs to choose from. Although there are flavored powders (ex: chocolate, mocha, etc) most flavors are added as syrup. There are dozens of flavors of syrup and they range from the perennial favorite of chocolate to seasonal flavors such as pumpkin.
There are many more options for decking out your new home espresso bar but there is one more I should mention. Although not as exciting as the other accessories, you will need cleaning brushes and cleaning powder to keep your espresso machine in top condition. Follow this list and add the options that make sense to you and you will have a great deal of fun starting down the wonderful path of becoming a home brew barista.
Shopping for an Espresso Machine? Here's a selection at affordable prices:
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Capresso 303.01 4-Cup Espresso and Cappuccino Machine List Price: $100.00 Sale Price: $59.94 Average Rating:   |
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Experience the full taste of espressos, cappuccinos and lattes. The Capresso 4-Cup Espresso and Cappuccino Machine features an exclusive Coffee/Steam Selector that makes it easy to control both brewing and steaming, allowing the user to adjust coffee strength to their personal taste... |
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Mr. Coffee ECM160 4-Cup Steam Espresso Machine List Price: $39.99 Sale Price: $29.99 Used From: $20.00 Average Rating:  |
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Makes delicious espressos, cappuccinos, and lattes. Powerful milk frother. 4-Cup capacity: 20-ounce. Per shot. Removable drip tray. Easy to pour decanter. Removable frothing aid. On/off indicator light. |
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Nespresso C100-US-AERO-B Essenza Automatic Single-Serve Espresso Machine with Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother, Black List Price: $299.00 Sale Price: $220.05 Used From: $165.00 Average Rating:  |
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Combination package of C100 Automatic Essenza and Aeroccino. Compact Brewing Unit with a 19 Bar pressure pump and thermobloc heating element. Automatic and programmable Coffee Quantity (Settings : 40 ml for espresso, 110 ml for lungo) with backlit on/off and coffee volume buttons... |
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DeLonghi EC155 Espresso Maker List Price: $140.00 Sale Price: $84.95 Used From: $56.99 Average Rating: |
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The DeLonghi Espresso Maker has a patented dual-function filter holder for use with ground espresso, this unique filter mixes air into the brewing process to produce a perfect crema. Distinguished by it's caramel color, the crema is the essence of authentic espresso... |
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Urnex Cleancaf Coffee Maker & Espresso Machine Cleaner and Descaler 3 Pack Sale Price: $7.99 Average Rating: |
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Cleancaf® Brand Cleaner and Descaler is an essential component to maintaining great tasting coffee at home. Cleancaf® is designed to remove flavor-tainting stale coffee oil residue from home machines... |
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April 18 2009 11:00 am | coffee