Once you taste a delicious espresso, you crave for it everyday. All good things in a coffee intensifies in an espresso. Espressos are easier than making manually brewed coffees.
“A jet of hot water at 88°-93°C (190°-200°F) passes under a pressure of nine or more atmospheres through a seven-gram (.25 oz) cake-like layer of ground and tamped coffee. Done right, the result is a concentrate of not more than 30 ml (one oz) of pure sensorial pleasure.” - Illy
Espresso was invented about hundred years ago. It is intense version of black coffees: sweeter, more flavourful, more body, and perfect finish. Time, pressure and temperature of the espresso machine whips up the magic. A typical espresso cup has about 40gms of beverage. It takes between 30 seconds and a minute to pull a shot. A typical manual-brew takes five minutes. While it takes years to master manual brewing methods such as V60, you can start making decent espresso in a week.
“For many coffee drinkers, espresso is coffee. It is the purest distillation of the coffee bean, the literal essence of a bean. In another sense, it is also the first instant coffee. Before espresso, it could take up to five minutes –five minutes!– for a cup of coffee to brew.” - Smithsonian Magazine
One has to develop muscle memory to perfect the manual brews. Infusion brews are consistent, but the sludge at the bottom isn’t pleasing. Espresso has just three steps. One, grinding beans. Two, preparing the puck. Three, pressing the button for espresso to come out. Owning an espresso machine is not as expensive as it used to be.
Entry level commercial grade espresso machines are available below INR 40,000 ( forty thousand rupees). My favourite is Gaggia Classic Pro. Gaggia also invented the modern espresso, and named the top foamy layer as crema. At first people disliked the foamy layer. Only after calling it the cream of the coffee, coffee drinkers loved it. It also became a sign of the freshness of the coffee beans. An entry level grinder should cost below INR 20,000 ( twenty thousand rupees). My favourite brand is Baratza. Blue Tokai retails Baratza in India.
Worth your time: History of espresso machines Link
The most difficult part of the espresso journey is to learn it for the first time. It is difficult in the beginning, but it gets easier. I have been pulling espresso since 2021, both at home and at Shack Coffee Co. If I can, so can anyone who loves coffee. I will be starting a one on one bootcamp for pulling espresso.
Espresso Boot Camp:
I will start conducting Espresso 101 sessions this week onwards. Every Sunday I will hold two sessions of two hours each. It will be sans jargon, focusing on pulling great espressos.
What will the session have?
Basic introduction to coffees and machines.
Understanding the types of coffees.
Knowing about the types of roast profiles.
Basics of pulling an espresso: dose, temperature, pressure and time.
Tasting espressos, and improvising the taste.
DIY
Finding the right espresso and grinding machines.
Just fill up the form Link. I will reach out to you with the timings.
Coffee Satsang Is Back
Finally, after a hiatus of five years Coffee Satsang is back. Except, it is less about coffee and more about bootstrappers. Shahpurjat is a hub for bootstrapping. One can see bootstrappers such as hawkers, selling fruits and pickles. One can also see bootstrappers Rebekkah and Ariella, who run sophisticated businesses such as Atmosphere. There are also bootstrappers such as Navika and Hiten, who are running a wildly famous Zuru. Innovative bootstrapper Nishil runs Catapult, an integrated digital forward agency, with fifty team members. Mayank runs French bakery Miche. Nishant bootstraps Diggin In India, an international vinyl business. Bootstrapper Leesha sends her floral jewellery to international markets. The list is long. I will feature each one of the bootstrappers in the weekly newsletter The Bootstrappers.
You can join the group The Bootstrappers Group, I will send the updates.