Posts tagged crema

Home Espresso shots (continued)

Food

The past three weeks have been kinda strange as I’m been mostly in my home (and home office and home studio too!).

Obviously, that meant that I’ve lots of time to work on my espresso pulling on my Evolution. So far, I’ve found that fresh beans will produce superb crema and obviously, taste and aroma as well. Starbucks beans are nicely roasted but are weeks old when you buy them at their stores. Even this pricey tin of espresso from Illy wasn’t fresh enough.

For regular people like me who love their coffee but aren’t too anal about 100% freshness, Coffex provides the easiest solution. As the beans are roasted in Australia and air-flown, you are mostly guaranteed some semblance of freshness. How fresh? No beans I’ve tried (Boncafe, Illy, Starbucks, etc) provided me with instant lovely crema right out of the Evolution and the aroma is absolutely fantastic. My house smells like a little cafe after pulling a couple of shots.

Here’s 18 grams of Coffex Superbar tamped nicely and ready to go!

And of course, the results! Look at that lovely crema!

And my morning double-shot ready to get me started!

One double shot coming right up

Food

I’m pretty much a coffee person. Personally, coffee can sometimes make or break my day. Bad coffee stinks and is pretty much undrinkable. This is sadly the average coffee scene here in Malaysia. We don’t really get fresh ground beans and many cafes serve instant coffee powder anyways. So far, I get an acceptable cup at Starbucks or Dome. Otherwise, it’s pretty much a forgettable cup. Of course if you’re after the local brews of robusta beans then I find the ones in Yut Kee in KL and Bentong pretty respectable. For arabica bean coffee, it’s a rare cafe that serves up anything fantastic.

You know what they say… if you want it done right, you do it yourself! Easier said than done considering the high import tax this country slaps on Espresso machines… Since I’m pretty much making shots for myself, I decided that an entry level machine will suffice. I’ll splurge on a good grinder and freshly roasted beans instead.

So, the new addition to my kitchen counter top was a brand new spanking Gaggia Evolution. It’s pretty much the “kancil” of espresso machines. I would really love a Nuova Simonelli Oscar (in red) but it doesn’t really justify the cost at this time. Maybe when I’ve perfected the art of pulling shots with perfect crema and latte art will I upgrade my Evolution.

More to come once I’ve gotten some practice in 🙂

p.s. if anyone’s looking for a gift for me, a nice knocker would be a lovely gift 🙂