Little do people know.........there is less Caffeine in a well made espresso than in an American Coffee.
The secret lies in how the coffe is prepared. Caffeine is extracted in greater quanties when the brewing is slow and prolonged. Hence Filter coffees tend to extract more caffeine than Espresso machines, because espresso machine send hot water and steam to extract first the aroma and colour and near the end of the brewing process you get an lighter coffee which is where the bitterness is and more caffeine.
Now that you know this, it's not hard to make a good coffee.
When you use a good electrical espresso machine like the Gaggia, the machine does all the work for you. A good coffee is 'ristretto' which means 'short' in italian. In qatar, the only decent espresso ristretto I have tasted is in Biella at the mall.
With a Gaggia, the coffee comes out dark and thick with a creamy froth on top. It is said in italy that this froth should hold a spoonful of sugar for a second or two before allowing it into the coffee below. If it does this, it's good coffee. :)
If you make it with a manual machine, you won't get this froth, but you can still make a good coffee. Here's how:
In the bottom part of the Bialetti, you put the water (bottled is best here), up to the little valve. Place the filter cartrigde inside and top up with GOOD espresso ground coffee. Tap lightly to flatten. Screw on the top part of the Bialletti tightly and place on the stove on high.
Then you watch! Wait for the coffee to start coming through. As you see the top part fill with coffee, keep waiting until near the end you will see it gets lighter in colour and you will hear a kind of 'spurting', meaning that all the water from the bottom part has come through. Do not allow it to spurt too much. Basically as soon as you hear it spurt, take it off the stove! Give it a quick mix with the spoon in the machine and serve. You won't have the froth on top, but that can be made with milk if you like, using a milk frother like the one below. Makes great thick cappuccino creamy froth!
This is how I make my coffee every day. And don't forget, you must NEVER wash the coffee pot with soap. If used regularly and allowed to dry, it will always be clean, even if stained.
Oh, I almost forgot; if you buy the bialetti, get the 3 cup one, not the 6 cup one. Bigger is not always better. The 3 cup one makes much better coffee.
Little do people know.........there is less Caffeine in a well made espresso than in an American Coffee.
The secret lies in how the coffe is prepared. Caffeine is extracted in greater quanties when the brewing is slow and prolonged. Hence Filter coffees tend to extract more caffeine than Espresso machines, because espresso machine send hot water and steam to extract first the aroma and colour and near the end of the brewing process you get an lighter coffee which is where the bitterness is and more caffeine.
Now that you know this, it's not hard to make a good coffee.
When you use a good electrical espresso machine like the Gaggia, the machine does all the work for you. A good coffee is 'ristretto' which means 'short' in italian. In qatar, the only decent espresso ristretto I have tasted is in Biella at the mall.
With a Gaggia, the coffee comes out dark and thick with a creamy froth on top. It is said in italy that this froth should hold a spoonful of sugar for a second or two before allowing it into the coffee below. If it does this, it's good coffee. :)
If you make it with a manual machine, you won't get this froth, but you can still make a good coffee. Here's how:
In the bottom part of the Bialetti, you put the water (bottled is best here), up to the little valve. Place the filter cartrigde inside and top up with GOOD espresso ground coffee. Tap lightly to flatten. Screw on the top part of the Bialletti tightly and place on the stove on high.
Then you watch! Wait for the coffee to start coming through. As you see the top part fill with coffee, keep waiting until near the end you will see it gets lighter in colour and you will hear a kind of 'spurting', meaning that all the water from the bottom part has come through. Do not allow it to spurt too much. Basically as soon as you hear it spurt, take it off the stove! Give it a quick mix with the spoon in the machine and serve. You won't have the froth on top, but that can be made with milk if you like, using a milk frother like the one below. Makes great thick cappuccino creamy froth!
This is how I make my coffee every day. And don't forget, you must NEVER wash the coffee pot with soap. If used regularly and allowed to dry, it will always be clean, even if stained.
Oh, I almost forgot; if you buy the bialetti, get the 3 cup one, not the 6 cup one. Bigger is not always better. The 3 cup one makes much better coffee.
[img_assist|nid=15244|title=Milk frothers|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=180|height=86]