h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The coffee used to make espresso is dark roasted. This gives it a nice flavour and also reduces the amount of caffeine. A cup of regular coffee made with a lighter roast has more caffeine.

Modern pump espresso machines take on the order of 30 seconds to get ready. One trick to keep the coffee warm is to warm the cups first. I wish I had an old Gaggia - they are beautiful machines, waiting for the thing to warm up is part of the excitement if you've got one.

I find also (at least with my particular machine- a Krups - I would think other brands work the same) that the extraction works best as follows:

- Prime the macine (turn it on and wait for it to heat up however that is done). Warm the cups with steam
- Load it up.
- Turn on the water until the coffee has been soaked and the first drop falls. Then quickly stop the water.
- Wait about quarter to half a minute (on my machine the thermostat cuts in and heats the machine up for this amount of time roughly).
- Turn the water back on.
- Make your cup "short" like it is drunk in Italy - about quarter full in a small espresso cup. You will get a nice crema and a very concentrated flavour.

You must use good fresh dark roasted coffee otherwise it will be bitter and horrible. Best thing is to invest in a grander and grind coffee as you need it. To make espresso you need to use a plate grinder rather than a thing that mashes up the coffee with blades as this machine creates a lot of dust clogging the flow of water when you make the coffee - The plate grinder will give you a more even grind.

Dudemeister, my Gaggia dates all the way back to January 2001, and it takes 6 minutes to warm up.

Actually, I read somewhere that espresso generally has less caffeine since the water is in contact with the coffee for a shorter time that with most other brewing methods.

Trying to recall the chemical engineering bits about extraction I learned about ...errr... X years ago, this sounds plausible.

I have discussed the matter with myself and decided to keep drinking espresso (and it's siblings, café au lait / latte & cappucino) anyway

Good article - anjoyed it! If you'll excuse me, I have to go out and put some on!

I was thinking of one of those big brass things with dials all over it. My Swiss contraption gets cranking after one or two minutes, a nice piece of consumer product engineering it even purges itself to avoid water build up once done with the coffee making, I've used it constantly for years on years and it has never failed or complained. From my international travels I've noticed the Swiss (at least those I know) are at least as particular as the Italians when it comes to coffee, they would fear venturing into places like Germany for any length of time for example unless armed with the appropriate machinery to make sure they can get a decent cup.

This post has been removed.

I have had the error of my ways pointed out to me, this is a reposting of the earlier (now hidden) post.

The espresso process uses arabica beans that do have a lower caffeine content, and the roasting process is also said to reduce caffeine levels. BUT as the grind is very fine, and the machine uses hot water under pressure - so the caffeine would be very efficiently removed.

The real 'lowering' of caffeine levels would come with the addition of frothed milk, diluting the espresso 'shot' (about 2 oz). A short black, macchiato or cafe ristretto are nothing more than the expressed coffee and very strong and bitter.


God, I love even just talking about the stuff!! There is no HOPE for me EVER losing my coffee habit!

I got my hands on some dark roasted pluma altura from Veracruz (roasted by hand in Mexico).

It made an excellent espresso - not at all bitter - more chocolatey.

I find in general if the coffee is dark roasted well then the coffee is not bitter. If it is not dark enough the coffee is bitter.

We've got this coffee machine thing at work that essentially makes a kind of espresso for filling up 8oz cups of whatever you want - it makes a good cup with lighter roasts. A few of the lighter roasts will have you shaking and irritable in no time.

I'm not particularly fond of the 'plunger' style of coffemaking. The grind isn't fine enough to extract the stronger flavour I prefer. But if it was fine enough there would be nothing but grounds in the cup.

The drip filter method suits me fine for day to day coffee consumption - I save espresso for a treat as it is too damn expensive for my taste. The next best thing is the 'volcanoes' that sit on your stovetop (coffee-makers, stovetop espresso, etc - the person who got me onto them was Italian and that's what they call it), make a good strong cup!

But messy. I like being able to just toss the grounds out in a neat package (actually they go into the worm farm, they must have plenty of attitude by now). I'm addicted, but lazy.