What Makes A Great Coffee? The Person Or The Coffee Machines?

Does the person making the coffee have all the power to make it great or bad, or is it all about the coffee machines themselves? If you are a barista and you have to make coffees all day every day then you can probably answer this question; unless you aren't very good and you might think it is the machines fault? We all like our coffees a certain way, and when we get a horrible tasting one, well it can ruin our whole day. Usually you can have a favourite place to go that you always get a nice coffee, however if the person behind the machine changes, does the coffee change dramatically? And if so is it all down to the person or the machine? We hardly think of how hard it must be to make a nice cup of coffee, because we are usually tapping our finger waiting for it so we can rush off to wherever we have to go. So how hard is it to make a coffee?

Coffee machines are difficult things to master, and they do not make it easy either. There are the type that are automatic and basically do most of the work for us, however this does not guarantee that you will not muck up your part. With an automatic machine you still have to tamper in the coffee into the basket and then connect it to the machine, then you just press a button for one shot or two and the machine does it for you. However, did you know that one of the most important parts of the coffee making process is tampering the coffee? If you tamper it too lightly then it is not going to be tight enough to get all the flavour out, and well if you tamper it too hard, then you ruin the flavour and the colouring. Plus we have yet to get to the milk! The milk can make or ruin a coffee, because even if you have extracted a perfect shot and everything is perfect, if you burn the milk and ruined the texture, then the coffee just will not be as nice as it could have been.

The art of making coffee is a difficult one, and it does take a lot of practice to make sure you have mastered it. A lot of us have our own techniques and will make coffee a lot differently to others around the world; but if it tastes great every time then it shouldn't matter what your technique is really. Even if you are the greatest barista that ever lived, I'm sure from time to time there is going to be a coffee that is not up to its usual standard, but that happens to everyone right?

I guess in the end what it comes down to is if the person knows how to treat the machine properly or not. They have to be cleaned after a certain amount of coffees and they have to be flushed out in order to not have coffees tasting of old beans. If the barista has little experience then of course the beverages are not going to taste great every time, however all we can ask for in our baristas is that they learn from their mistakes and hopefully get it right the next time.

Coffee machines make our mornings go round really, and we do need to know what we are doing in order to get that great cup of coffee that we have been searching for. If we learn what type of machines is out there and pair it with someone who knows how to use them correctly, then I'm sure we will get a nice coffee every time.

Putting on a function and are in the need of Coffee Machines to make the event a success?. Then give the group at Choice a call soon!. This article, What Makes A Great Coffee? The Person Or The Coffee Machines? is available for free reprint.

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April 08 2011 | coffee | No Comments »

Process Of Making Coffee From Machines

Coffee made through machines were originally known as espresso machines and now have various variants such as latte, mocha or even the cappuccino which are all produced by using a particular technique of producing the coffee rather than a special ingredient or a special type of coffee bean.

The basic principle is pressurized water. The hot water has to be forced through the ground coffee beans at a high pressure so that the flavor and the caffeine of the bean grounds is released quickly so that a thick and strong brew is obtained. The espresso machine boils water in a metal boiler made of copper or stainless steel, at the top. The machine has to be filled with clean and pure drinking water from outside as the machine parts can be damaged by the presence of chlorine.

There is a wire made of metal which is placed at the bottom. When the current is switched on the wire provides resistance to it and the heat generated is taken in by the plaster of Paris which is filled in the tube around the wire. This heat is then passed on to the water in the boiler. When it gets heated to a particular temperature it comes out with force on to the filter basket which is placed behind the dispenser nozzle. This filter basket is filled with the dust of freshly ground coffee. When the pressurized water flows through it, the hot brew emerges from the nozzle. The grounds have to be fine as a coarse ground may not give out much flavor and all one gets will be a lightly flavored brew.

The fine dust of coffee beans is packed to form a puck which can be done manually using a tamping tool or by the machine itself. The hot water is passed around this at 9 atmospheres pressure. The puck has to be changed repeatedly as it can produce only a few cups of coffee at a time.

The more sophisticated machines have two boilers one of which is use to create the water at the right temperature and the other for producing steam which creates the frothing in the coffee. This takes place together and creates a strong and perfectly flavored coffee in the quickest possible time.

Want to find out more about espresso machines, then visit Bill Howards's site on how to choose the best espresso machine for your needs.

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October 24 2010 | coffee | No Comments »

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