Coffee machines are in numerous households, workplaces, and restaurants, steadily supplying people with a potent energy boost to help them take on the day. These machines can obviously make a cup of coffee, but an espresso machine takes your daily coffee experience up a notch.
Multiple factors play a role in an espresso maker’s ability to craft fine coffee that outshines regular coffee makers.
The Difference Between Coffee and Espresso
Both drip coffee and espresso are sources of caffeine that many people drink. Coffee is thinner than espresso and has a milder flavor with plenty of room for a balanced taste and additional ingredients.
Espresso is an improvement over coffee due to its stronger taste and thicker consistency. Both have different amounts of pressure applied to squeeze any of the juices out of the grounds and water mixture, with low pressure for coffee and high pressure for espresso.
The extremely fine grind of dark roast espresso beans paired with the high pressure leads to a robust and potent espresso experience. Meanwhile, drip coffee utilizes a coarser grind and results in less caffeine per ounce.
The Parts of Both Machines
A coffee machine of some kind is part of any essential checklist of kitchen equipment. Coffee and espresso machines have boilers that hold the water and heat it.
The bean hopper sits on the machine and feeds beans into the grinder to create the grounds that will mix with the hot water to produce the coffee.
Both machines have a pressure gauge to determine how much pressure the boiler produces to ensure that excess heat and steam do not cause the boiler to burst. Most espresso machines use a sight glass that gauges the heat of the water, allowing you to know when to begin the grinding process.
Some espresso machines better suit households due to their steam wand attachment, which lets you add steamed milk for a creamy taste.
How Espresso Machines Grind Better Coffee
The espresso machine utilizes a high-pressure process, from the pounds of pressure needed to press a tamp the grind and the pressure required to get water through the portafilter. The larger amount of fine grind creates a more potent mixture that gives a stronger presence of caffeine.
The grinding is more powerful in an espresso machine to ensure that the beans have a finer texture and mix better with the water. Due to this higher concentration, espresso will come in the form of a shot instead of a full cup like coffee, allowing for more flexibility in drinking.
Espresso mixes with any other form of coffee to add a rich, caffeinated taste and pairs well with milk or creams for a more dessert-like experience.
Espresso machines are a fantastic upgrade for any place serving coffee. If you want a truly great cup of coffee, the espresso machine will outclass the coffee machine.