Espresso Tips – Correct Coffee Amount for Espresso Machine

Crema is a food foam. For crema to form and survive long enough for us to enjoy the espresso, something needs to hold the bubbles of the foam together. In most food foams proteins help hold up the bubbles, but in crema it is a mixture of proteins and oils. This makes it hard to predict what makes good crema. From practice, good crema comes from:

• Enough pressure and well timed extraction
• Fresh grind with a good grain size distribution
• Darker roasts

There are also tradeoffs between stability of the crema and the amount of crema produced. The two don't seem to go together. The crema also should have bubbles that pop and sprinkle the coffee aromatics into the air and our noses (like champagne). The higher pressure extraction helps extract and emulsify the oils (about 0.1g ends up in one shot). The darker roasts help with the Maillard reaction which creates the still unknown molecules that give crema its color and volume.

To answer the second part of your question ('the pros and cons of an espressomachine'):

Pros:
- Taste. If done right, you will capture much more of the coffeebean in your cup.
- Milk foaming. Most espresso machines have the possibility to froth milk for cappuccinos or lattes. Look up 'latte art' on Google Images for some inspiration :-)
- Process. The making of coffee becomes an enjoyable ritual with shiny machines, hot water and steam.
- hobby: there is an enormous amount of ustensils, tools, cups, coffees, online forums etc. to discover for enhancing your espresso.

Cons:
- Taste! as much more taste ends up in your espresso cup, you will also taste the defects much better (bad or stale coffee, badly grind, wrong water temperature etc.) will give you a sour or bitter cup.
- Technique. It takes practice to prepare a good espresso (except if you opt for a machine that takes coffee pads - but your choice of coffees will be limited and often not fresh).
- Cost. Espresso machines (good ones) are costly. And it doesn't stop there. To make really tasty espresso you might want to grind the beans yourself, so you'll need a grinder that can grind fine enough for espresso. After that you might start to suffer from upgraditis...
- Room on the kitchencounter. An espresso machine can take up quite some space.

Hope this helps!