Best Coffee Makers |

Technorati Tags: barista, Best coffee maker, Espresso, Gaggia, Gaggia Classic, Home Coffee Machine

Fresh Espresso perform “Lazerbeams” live in the KEXP studio. Recorded 8/4/09.

Duration : 0:4:19

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Technorati Tags: Espresso, Fresh., KEXP, Lazerbeams

A guide to back flushing, shower screen cleaning, and steam wand maintenance, brought to you by Portland Roasting.

Duration : 0:3:27

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Technorati Tags: back, cleaning, Espresso, flushing, how-to, instructions, Machine, maintenance, portland, Roasting, steam, wand

<p>A regular morning in Italy does not begin without the &quot;stand up espresso or cappuccino&quot;&nbsp; at the local coffee bar, usually accompanied by a cornetto, a sweet, horseshoe shaped pastry; easy to eat, handed to you by the &quot;barista&quot; ( the bar man ) in a paper serviette.<br />You can grab a table if you want and pay triple or you can be part of the &quot;entire blend&quot; not just the coffee, by standing at the busy bar, part of the local culture, the interaction,where it’s all happening, hearing a string of &quot;buon giorno’s &quot; from the barista’s to the continuous&nbsp; stream of customers; at lighting speed he empties and refills another round metal container with fresh coffee, seamlessly clicking the devise onto the Gaggia. The fresh liquid appears filling the small white cups, two at the time.<br />The bar itself is usually glass topped, a perfect height for standing and sipping; glass extending halfway down, displaying oven fresh trays full of cornettos and other sweet choices of the morning; the custom of paying the cashier before you order and handing the receipt to the barista, leaves you with a sense of freedom to fully participate.<br />Even in the midst of this frenzy, you sense a general unspoken politeness, that you are there too; a &quot;prego&quot; as the person next to you, moves to give you some space.<br />
You can watch the stylish Italian customers, classical Romans, come and go, typically waving their arms in mid conversation: this is not just having coffee it’s an Italian movie, thrown in.<br />
In Rome, especially, you’ll find a bar on almost every street corner; if you can’t see them, just follow the aroma of the coffee beans&nbsp; or the clanking&nbsp; sounds of cups and spoons hitting against the saucers as the barista, serves yet another espresso; the daily sounds of Rome, these are not English tea rooms, rather a morning alarm, just to make sure you are fully awake and as soon as that espresso hits you, even though only four or five sips to that tiny cup, your ready for another day in Rome, but first the bar.<br />The bars have a reputation, of who serves the best coffee:&nbsp; it becomes an important part of the conversation among Romans, which filters through to visitors, non Romans who have come to the ancient city looking for a superior coffee shot. <br />We wonder if Achille Gaggia who&nbsp; invented the espresso machine in Italy in 1948, knew that his invention would lead to a national instituition. <br />
While you’re in Rome, looking for that special coffee,you’ll need accommodation, and since the hotels in Rome, like the rest of Europe&nbsp; tend to be expensive, you might like to try an apartment to rent in Rome.<br />We have close to 300 Rome holiday apartments available, ranging from 3 star upwards. The staff at <a href=”http://Rome-Accom.com”>Rome-Accom.com</a> speak English speakers (native)</p>

Leon Kammer
http://www.articlesbase.com/coffee-articles/rome-and-coffee-680089.html

Learn about and how to make flavored lattes at home from our expert in this free drink recipe video on making your own espresso drinks.

Expert: Natalja Robertsdottir
Bio: Natalja Robertsdottir has been a barista in both Iceland and Canada. Currently she manages the Red Brick Café in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Filmmaker: Melissa Schenk

Duration : 0:3:28

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Technorati Tags: blended, coffee, drink, drinks;, Espresso, Gourmet, how, italian, make, recipes

latest ad of Nespresso with Clooney
This is the long version

Duration : 0:1:50

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Technorati Tags: ad, clooney, commercial, else, george, NESPRESSO, tv, what, who

A demonstration of the EBM, Version 2.0

Duration : 0:4:47

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Technorati Tags: Demand, On, Pod, print

<p>A regular morning in Italy does not begin without the &quot;stand up espresso or cappuccino&quot;&nbsp; at the local coffee bar, usually accompanied by a cornetto, a sweet, horseshoe shaped pastry; easy to eat, handed to you by the &quot;barista&quot; ( the bar man ) in a paper serviette.<br />You can grab a table if you want and pay triple or you can be part of the &quot;entire blend&quot; not just the coffee, by standing at the busy bar, part of the local culture, the interaction,where it’s all happening, hearing a string of &quot;buon giorno’s &quot; from the barista’s to the continuous&nbsp; stream of customers; at lighting speed he empties and refills another round metal container with fresh coffee, seamlessly clicking the devise onto the Gaggia. The fresh liquid appears filling the small white cups, two at the time.<br />The bar itself is usually glass topped, a perfect height for standing and sipping; glass extending halfway down, displaying oven fresh trays full of cornettos and other sweet choices of the morning; the custom of paying the cashier before you order and handing the receipt to the barista, leaves you with a sense of freedom to fully participate.<br />Even in the midst of this frenzy, you sense a general unspoken politeness, that you are there too; a &quot;prego&quot; as the person next to you, moves to give you some space.<br />
You can watch the stylish Italian customers, classical Romans, come and go, typically waving their arms in mid conversation: this is not just having coffee it’s an Italian movie, thrown in.<br />
In Rome, especially, you’ll find a bar on almost every street corner; if you can’t see them, just follow the aroma of the coffee beans&nbsp; or the clanking&nbsp; sounds of cups and spoons hitting against the saucers as the barista, serves yet another espresso; the daily sounds of Rome, these are not English tea rooms, rather a morning alarm, just to make sure you are fully awake and as soon as that espresso hits you, even though only four or five sips to that tiny cup, your ready for another day in Rome, but first the bar.<br />The bars have a reputation, of who serves the best coffee:&nbsp; it becomes an important part of the conversation among Romans, which filters through to visitors, non Romans who have come to the ancient city looking for a superior coffee shot. <br />We wonder if Achille Gaggia who&nbsp; invented the espresso machine in Italy in 1948, knew that his invention would lead to a national instituition. <br />
While you’re in Rome, looking for that special coffee,you’ll need accommodation, and since the hotels in Rome, like the rest of Europe&nbsp; tend to be expensive, you might like to try an apartment to rent in Rome.<br />We have close to 300 Rome holiday apartments available, ranging from 3 star upwards. The staff at <a href=”http://Rome-Accom.com”>Rome-Accom.com</a> speak English speakers (native)</p>

Leon Kammer
http://www.articlesbase.com/coffee-articles/rome-and-coffee-680089.html

This shot was off due to grind being too tight and the coffee over-extracted. The espresso “looks” great but if it doesn’t taste good there’s no point!

This is a nice double shot of espresso using my Mazzer Super Jolly and Gaggia coffee. The coffee is a home roasted Brazil.

Duration : 0:0:52

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Technorati Tags: bottomless, Double, Espresso, naked, portafilter, shot

What do you think of when you hear the word “espresso”? Perhaps,

“Express – train; fast black, iron horse of rocket fuel!”

Or,

“Strong. Hyper-caffeinated. Bitter. What, me try it?” (is you a man or is you a mouse?)

Also, maybe,

“I like my coffee black, but not that black!”

Wrong. Espresso, when correctly made, is none of these things.

Espresso is a traditional coffee drink invented by the French, but perfected by the Italians. You can associate the word “espresso” with the English word “press”, for that is the fundamental action pertaining to both the ground coffee – which is pressed into a compact disc – and the machine used to make it, which forces or “presses” hot water through the disc of coffee. The result is a demitasse (very small cup) of all of the best characteristics of the coffee bean with none of the less desirable ones.

A well “pulled” shot of espresso is not bitter. The flavor is full, complex, and remains on the tongue for 10-15 minutes after drinking it. That flavor can be fairly accurately compared with the wonderful aroma present when the seal is first broken on a container of coffee. If your espresso is bitter blame the barista, not the drink.

Afraid of the shakes? Don’t be. Surprisingly, given the concentrated nature of the drink, a shot of espresso has only about half the caffeine of a normally brewed cup of joe. This is because the heated water is forced through the coffee too quickly (ideally in around 20 seconds) to liberate all of the caffeine present in the grind.

All of this wonderfulness requires a special type of machine to make. As already mentioned, an espresso machine’s express purpose is to press heated water (about 200 degrees) through a disc of pressed coffee. How is this accomplished? There are 3 basic designs: steam driven, piston driven, and pump driven.

Mechanically, the simplest is the steam driven machine. It employs steam pressure to force water through the coffee. Since there are no moving parts, this design is normally used for lower-priced home espresso makers. This principle was also used in early commercial machines but was abandoned by professionals when a better design came along in 1945.

That design is the piston driven machine. In this design, a long lever is pulled by the barista (hence the phrase “pulling” a shot) to drive a piston, which in turn forces the heated water out of a cylinder and through the coffee. A later refinement of this design was to interject a spring into the process between the lever and piston. The lever compresses the spring, which in turn drives the pistion. The purpose is to better control the pressure of the water (ideally 9 ft-lbs) as it is forced through the coffee.

An even better design was introduced in 1961, the pump driven machine. This design uses an electric pump to force the water. The benefit is more accuracy (and no arm-strain!).

Good espresso also has a “head”, like a beer does. The head is made up of concentrated oils from the coffee. It is dark reddish-brown, and should have enough body to support the weight of a teaspoon of sugar for about 2 seconds before it sinks into the drink.

The coffee itself is, of course, rather important. It should be of a medium roast; a dark roast has had too many of the oils and sugars cooked out of it. It also needs to be ground exactly right. A proper grind can be described as the consistency of talcum powder. The best bet is to have your espresso professionally ground at a good shop. They have the right equipment and know-how to make a perfect grind.

Need water quality even be discussed here? You don’t drink tap, so don’t brew tap. Enough said there.

Espresso is complex in both nature and process. It requires special equipment and exacting technique to make properly, but is well worth the effort. If you’ve never tried it, drop by a reputable coffee house and let them convince you. Chances are you’ll be hooked.

JoBeth Levina
http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/overview-of-espresso-and-espresso-machines-723972.html