Espresso Coffee Grinder

Espresso Coffee Grinder questions and answers

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Q: How do I make espresso coffee that is strong but not too strong?
I was blessed with a coffee grinder & dark roast coffee beans. I LOVE strong coffee so I have been making it espresso but sometimes, it comes out so strong, it tastes too bitter to me. I like my coffee strong but not that bitter. Any suggestions on how to dilute the bitterness? I make 10 cups. How many coffee scoops might I try? I've been doing 2 1/2.

A: try different coffee. you forgot to mention

Q: Can I use my coffee bean grinder for espresso beans?


A: Because of the additional oils in espresso beans, I would go ahead and spend the $20 and get another cheap grinder. I ruined a very expensive burr grinder with espresso beans because I could not get all of the oils off of the grinder. Grounds stuck everywhere! I learned my lesson. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Q: I have a coffee grinder with 9 grind size settings. what setting should i use for drip,plung and espresso?
The machine is made for commercial use and made in Italy. any help would be great

A: It's pretty much trial and error. Even two grinders of the same model will probably grind differently at the same setting. 9 settings are not that many... Shouldn't take you too long figure out which settings work best for you. For drip... Just put the adjuster near the middle of the scale and grind a little coffee... See if it looks finer or coarser than store-bought coffee... adjust until it looks right... After that, you could eventually try a pot made 1 setting up or down from there to see if it's any more to your liking. For espresso... I'd try maybe one setting up from the finest to start. If the espresso flows too quickly... has poor flavor and crema... Try finer. If the doser clogs... go a little coarser. Making a few test shots to find that perfect grind out of 3 settings or so shouldn't be too difficult. You're going to want to use dark espresso roasted beans for espresso of course. For press coffee... Try near the top of the scale. Grind should be small pebble sized. Too fine... The press will clog and be hard to push down... many grinds in coffee. Too coarse... Bland coffee with no "bright" flavors. Guess what you just made me want?... LOL PS... Have you tried buying green coffee beans and roasting them yourself yet? OMG!!! You haven't lived if you haven't!!! The hot air corn popper method works great for me. I cool the coffee beans as soon as they come out in a stainless steel colander with the cool setting on a blow dryer. I usually roast them just until the second crack starts for drip with most varieties of coffee. I find slightly dark is good in air roasted coffee because the process is so quick the centers of the beans are probably not heated to where they would be using a slower roasting method. http://www.sweetmarias.com/airpopmethod.html Sweet Maria's sells some excellent green beans.

Q: Can you use plain coffee grounds with an espresso machine, specifically the Hamilton Beach 40729?
I've heard it doesn't work or it just leaves a different flavor than regular espresso. Which is true? If you can't, how much (generally) do whole coffee beans cost? how much would a very cheap grinder be? Or how much would it cost to buy pre-ground espresso coffee?

A: You can use it, but it won't come out quite the same... the main thing that's going to affect the quality of the espresso is the fact that the regular coffee grounds are alot more coarse than normal espresso grounds. This gives the grounds less surface area and will, as such, affect the flavour... if you have a grinder at home, you could always throw the regular coffee grounds into the grinder and grind them a bit finer... might give the espresso more flavour... but judging by the second part of your question, you don't have one. A cheap, but decent grinder will run you about $40, if you go too cheap, then the consistency of the grinds will suffer which will affect your espresso. A bag of whole beans is cheap and most places will grind them for you perfectly at no additional charge. I'm not positive about your machine, but many can also accept espresso "pods", kind of like a tea bag but filled with espresso grounds... this can save you some time and effort and the resulting espresso is usually quite good. Good luck!

Q: What is the best brand of espresso coffee?
Everyone claims to have the best coffee in the world that is different to everyone elses. Put it to the people, whats the best type. Eg - Brand - Illy, Coffex, Monte, Vittoria, Grinders etc etc

A: One of the most popular domestic espresso blends from a roaster in the good 'ol USA is Black Cat from Intelligentsia coffee roasters. Ask Mark Prince, the Coffee Geek himself, and this one would be at or near the top of his list. Illy has been a long time favorite, but it can never be as fresh as beans just roasted. You want the best espresso, you need beans that are less than 2 weeks off the roast. Older than that and the flavor starts to degrade and your crema will not be as good.

Q: Anyone know of any affordable "start up" espresso packages?
I am thinking of opening a much needed cafe/lounge in my small town and want it to be as simple as possible. Would be great if I could just buy an "all in one" deal with the espresso machine, tools, grinder, coffee pots/pumps etc.

A: Do you have a business plan written out yet?

Q: Is anyone familiar with LA PAVONI espresso machine?
I am planning to sell espresso coffees at my deli shop and I just bought a la pavoni espresso machine and grinder, it is used, bought it off ebay ad it looks good, it's not installed yet, my question is if anyone out there who has had experience with this brand please let me know how well these performs and also is it easy enough for me to install it or qwould it be wiser to have someone else install it. It is 2 group espresso machine PUB 2, also is there a particular water softerner that works best for this or could I use just whatever is available. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

A: Yea it works great!

Q: What kind of coffee do you brew at home?
*Why? Just curious what others are drinking AT HOME *Also, if you brew your espresso, what kind do you use and what level do you set your grinder on for coffee vs espresso (course & fine) I have a bunn grinder with 10 levels of courseness and I just can't seem to get it right...

A: I like Jamaican Blue or Foglifter (from Millstone). If you have a flat bottom filter you would grind at the 6 or 7 level. 7 or 8 for a cone shaped filter and 9 or 10 for expresso

Q: Received soft bricks of ground coffee, stale??
I don't own a coffee grinder, so I order my espresso ground already. It normally comes in very hard(freeze dried??) bricks. When I received via UPS the coffee bricks the other day, one of the four bags was really soft. I was told that would not make the espresso stale; sometimes that happens in shipping/handling. Also told only way it would be stale, would be if coffee was leaking out of bag. Is this true? I was under the impression the coffee brick staying really rock hard is what kept it from becoming stale. (I do know coffee can begin the "stale" process immediately after being ground, but it is still much, much tastier than store bought coffee/espresso). Thanks in advance.

A: Your coffee brick bag is soft because it is no longer sealed air tight. The length of time it's been soft effects freshness. Coffee needs to be sealed so it won't go stale or absorb odors.

Q: Can you reground already ground coffee?
Hello. I bought a new coffee grinder, and ground my Starbucks beans too coarsely for espresso. I don't want to waste the grounds, so can I run those grounds through the grinder again and make them finer? Thanks --Caleb

A: Sure, you can regrind them till they get as fine as you want them.

Q: Coffee machine w/ bean hopper & grinder?
I am looking to purchase a good drip coffee brewer that also contains a built-in bean grinder. I have a grinder currently but, as messy as it is, so long as I am buying a new machine I want one that has the entire operation built-in. I was wondering if any of you have any experience with any specific machines and could offer me any recommendations (or steer me away from troublesome machines). NOTE: I currently own a DeLonghi Magnifico espresso machine (which was about $1200) so I do not want/need an espresso machine. The Magnifico does make coffee but it does so by the cup - I want a machine that produces coffee in a carafe.

A: Cuisnart is a good brand for home use that has the grinder feature. You can pick them up for a little less than a hundred. Still have to do some extra cleaning of the grinder in between uses. The Starbucks Brand Dehlonghi is very similar but cost a lot more with little or no additional features. However with that said I still believe the easy and less effort is to grind your own then transfer it to a brewer. It will still be less work due to the fact on both brewers water gets in where the grinders are causing one to do lot of extra cleaning. If you want great coffee at home the Bunn wins hands down. fast brewing time and the coffee is hot. They extract well and cost around 150.00.\\\ If you want great tasting coffee; try prewetting your coffee after putting it in the filter and inside the brew basket. Let this set . This causes a chemical reaction that will give you a coffee house taste. The commercial brewers at Starbucks and other highend coffee shop have this feature built in to ensure this beginning process. A few of the bunn brewers and Fetco brewers for home use does this as well. You may also check out http://www.thecoffeemakers.net for more coffee makers reviews is the web address I believe where a lot of reviews are posted. Amazon also does a good job of posting consumer reviews of coffee makers. Good Luck in your purchase. Enjoy the coffee. CraigL http://www.steamingjoes.com

Q: Is it possible to run morning glory seeds through espresso machine?
WE've got some money Heavenly Blue morning glory seeds. My friend gets sick as hell from the shells though. NOw we put them in a coffee grinder, then gel tabs, then swollow them. But now we have a better idea... Would it be possible to take the powdered seeds, place them in a high powered coffee machine (more like espresso machine) and get the chemicals like that? would it work? any other ideas that dont involve ether would be great too. Thanks, steve the place I get them from doesn' coat them. all natural. www.iamshamin.com but I wash them anyway. the gel tabs are really just a tiney piece of digestable plastic. so they release immediately. I hate the taste of chewing them. anyone tried the tea method?

A: well LSA the active ingredient in morning glory that causes hallucination is alot like LSD. LSD is water soluble, so i would imagine LSA is. You can make a tea out of it, i have seen it done. So an espresso machine would probably work perfectly. Enjoy!

Q: ESPRESSO MACHINE; what brand? what type? how much? PLEASE help!
I've been an coffee drinker for quite a while now, and have recently taken a liking to cappuchinos and espresso. we have a coffee maker at our house; nothing special - just a mr.coffee. we have a coffee bean grinder, as we only buy beans. i'd like to get an espresso machine before winter hits, but don't want to spend an arm and a leg for them - i have seen some that sell for thousands! it wouldn't be used very often, and just for one person, do you have any ideas? I'd really appreciate it! :]

A: check overstock.com, they have great prices, and reviews so you can see which one will be the best for you :) Plan on spending at least $100 to get a decent one, if you get one that's too cheap it will just break down and not be worth the money you had thought you saved in the first place. I got one at target for like 20-50 bucks, it only worked like 2 times, and not even that well... You want a good sturdy one, not one that feels like a kids toy. http://www.overstock.com/search?keywords=espresso%20machine&taxonomy=&SearchType=HP_Header

Q: Coffee grounds texture??
My guy and I just got a new coffee grinder to go with our coffee maker. It has 3 settings to choose from: percolator, drip and espresso. Could anyone tell us the differences in these settings? Would one of these grind finer than another and how would it affect the resulting brew?

A: Just the way you listed them is the grind size, perk is course for the repeated drenching of the water, drip is medium grind for single past through, exspresso if fine grind for a more surface to water ratio to produce a stronger flavor

Q: where can i buy espresso powder... like for baking?
i have tried at my usual grocery store and they said they do not carry it so i went to starbucks who is also in the store and they said they dont sell it.... so i was wondering if i could buy it or i would have to make it myself with a coffee grinder which i dont have. Thank you to anyone with info :)

A: Use nestle instant cooffe. maggi