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Help with stovetop espresso machine

nightowl6261a

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Originally Posted by Vaclav
If thats espresso,why is it so much?

I am not quite getting the gist of your question, this is considered one of if not the best commercial grade home espresso/cappucino/coffee machines you might ever purchase for a complete kitchen set-up.
 

Vaclav

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Originally Posted by nightowl6261a
I am not quite getting the gist of your question, this is considered one of if not the best commercial grade home espresso/cappucino/coffee machines you might ever purchase for a complete kitchen set-up.


Do you make your espresso, so large like the photo?
 

nightowl6261a

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Originally Posted by Vaclav
Do you make your espresso, so large like the photo?

No, you are quite correct, it is a damn big cup, I use some small demi-sups we brought back from Italy
 

Dmax

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The Capresso S9 is a nice machine but one does not have to spend $2400 to get excellent espresso. This machine and other superautomatics like it automate tasks like grinding, measuring, tamping and even frothing and that's why it costs what it does.

If you are willing to sacrafice some convenience for additional control over the whole process than you can get a superior setup for much less.
 

Augusto86

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halespress.jpg
Me: Open the espresso pod bay doors, Hal! Hal: I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. Dave Bowman: What's the problem? HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL? HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it. I'm sorry, that's the only thing I could think of looking at that beast with the little red LED. I was under the [mistaken?] impression that a stovetop espresso machine was something along the lines of this Bialetti:
NewBrikkaSMALL.jpg
Of course, I use mine and don't expect real crema or anything, just a cup of very strong coffee that has a nice taste...so maybe I'm using it wrong?? When I want espresso, I go down to my Starbucks(yes, I work for The Man) and I use the Marzocco there:
sm-machine2.jpg
It's old school, hand tamped/ground/etc, industrial strength, and luvverly. When our store switches over to the new 'Verismo' automatic ****, I will cry and then try and steal the 500lb, 7-foot-long monster before they do some horrible thing like throw it out. We need a coffee smiley for posts, just because.
 

tattersall

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Originally Posted by Augusto86
I was under the [mistaken?] impression that a stovetop espresso machine was something along the lines of this Bialetti:
NewBrikkaSMALL.jpg


A Moka like the one you've pictured makes fine coffee. For espresso, I use one of these:

Atomic.jpg
 

Augusto86

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Originally Posted by tattersall
A Moka like the one you've pictured makes fine coffee. For espresso, I use one of these:

Atomic.jpg

I may have to look into that...my college coffee shop is expensive and leaves much to be desired.
How hard is that Atomic to clean?
 

nightowl6261a

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Originally Posted by Dmax
The Capresso S9 is a nice machine but one does not have to spend $2400 to get excellent espresso. This machine and other superautomatics like it automate tasks like grinding, measuring, tamping and even frothing and that's why it costs what it does.

If you are willing to sacrafice some convenience for additional control over the whole process than you can get a superior setup for much less.


Ahhhhh....but if you know what and where to buy from they can be had for much less, roughly 30%
 

tattersall

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Originally Posted by Augusto86
I may have to look into that...my college coffee shop is expensive and leaves much to be desired.
How hard is that Atomic to clean?


Pretty easy. You'll want to clean the 'frothing wand' fairly promptly after you use it to save yourself from harder work later on. Apart from that, certainly no worse than the Moka.
 

Dmax

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At 70% off that machine is an awesome buy.
 

Horace

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Originally Posted by Vaclav
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=284507


Alas, "not available".

I bought a cheapo version on the street in Paris for about 5 Euro.
*************. Plastic handle all melted and whatnot.

Not bad coffee though. And I've found (and have been told) that the fine ground works much better on these types than the course ground coffee.
 

rdawson808

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Twouthe1992

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KRUPS EA8250 Espresseria Fully Automatic Espresso Machine with Built-in Conical Burr Grinder is the best product of espresso machine known to me so far.. It has intuitive LCD display for easy recipe selection and easy to use steam nozzle for creamy latte drinks. This machine is very easy to use and makes great cup of coffee..
 

peterson35

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I'm having trouble perfecting my espresso with my stainless steel stovetop espresso machine.

As a preliminary matter, would you please confirm whether these contraptions are capable of making excellent espresso? I was under the impression that stovetop machines were among the best for an authentic espresso, the only drawback being ease of use/cleaning. However, I've been research this a little, and have read that real espresso cannot be made on the stovetop because it cannot create enough pressure. Which is it?

One problem is that I get a lot of grounds in the cup. My beans are ground at the grocery store on the 'espresso' setting. It's pretty fine. In the cup, it collects at the bottom looking like sludge. If I get it ground any coarser, it won't be 'espresso'. Should I opt for a slightly coarser ground? Drawbacks?

The biggest problem is that I get no crema. Overall, I think the espresso tastes pretty good. How important is crema, if at all. Is it just hype, or a necessary component of an ideal espresso?
If you get sludge in your cup it usually indicates that the beans were ground too finely. "Turkish grind" is the the finest grind on the common scale of coffee grind sizes. Going from coarsest to finest a rough grind guidline would look like this:

French Press (aka plunger pot)
Drip (metal filter)
Drip (paper filter)
Espresso
Turkish (aka Greek, aka middle-eastern)

Proper espresso preparation requires a great deal of control over your grind. If the grind is too thick the coffee will not present enough obstruction to the hot water pushed through it. The water will gush through you brew basket (portafilter) and fail to extract the aromatic oils and other coffee goodies.
If the grind is too fine you will choke the machine and the water will not be able to pass through your grinds at all.

If you want to get any kind of crema then freshly roasted and freshly ground coffee is very important. The presense of crema in the espresso shows that the coffee oils have been properly extracted and that the coffee used was relatively fresh.

If you don't have your own quality grinder then always buying the same coffee and always having it ground the same way may offer enough consistency to get satisfactory results (even in a stovetop as pejsek was able to do).

When I talked about real espresso machines I did not talk about Braun or Krups "steam toys". A real entry level pump machine would be something like Gaggia Espresso. It is perfectly capable of producing good espresso when paired with at least an entry level burr grinder.

Dimitry

Espresso is coffee of Italian origin, brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Espresso is generally thicker than coffee brewed by other methods, has a higher concentration of suspended and dissolved solids, and has crema on top.
 

romafan

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Nice to see Vaclav, even if only as an apparition
 

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