My Go-to Espresso Recipe - An Everyday Brew

Recipe Context

• I got into espresso a few years back. I started out simply enjoying an office machine espresso, but as my interest grew, I found myself venturing to local cafes (these were sparse in early days, but the number has grown over the years in my town) and eventually crafting my own brew at home.
• Being the lone espresso consumer in my household, I typically brew a couple of espresso shots in the morning and, occasionally, an additional pair in the afternoon.
• It’s essential to note that the brewing method would differ substantially with change in the frequency of machine usage.
• The hot water runs and steam preheat stages are mainly needed as Gaggia has a very different pressure curve based on your n-th brew of the day.
• For a user who brew a double shot only once a day, it is necessary to get to the “sweeter” portion of the pressure curve.
• The below recipe is for a single daily home brew.

Coffee Beans

• Beans: I generally keep on trying different types of coffee bean roasts and origins, but a few ones I like are below.

  • Indian origin: Kokoro Kensho is my new favourite medium roast. My previous post about coffee beans of India explores different Indian beans in detail.
  • If available, Antigua Guatemala Medium is great.
  • Gianyar or Kintamani Bali are great for darker roasts, but they are not really easy to purchase in my place. Sumatra and Ethiopia are my fallback.

• Roasts: For espresso, I prefer medium roast. Medium-light is okay-ish. For Moka-pot or cold brew, I sometimes do like to experiment with darker roasts.

• Grind Size: For medium or light medium roasts, I prefer a size 2 for most beans. As Mr James Hoffmann says “Grind Finer!”.

  • Darker roasts have been a bit tricky for me to get a shot of my liking out. E.g: Indian darker roasts move towards a lot harder beans in most cases, but Malabar monsoon ones are not that hard. This leads to an inconsistency in the grounds even at same ground size. This means I have to adjust between 4 and 6 through trial and error.

Equipment

• Coffee machine: Gaggia Classic Pro, no mods.

  • By default, when the brew light is on, i.e., without steam pre heat, the brew thermostat ensures the temperature at boiler 90-94^oC and 88-92^oC at puck.
  • It has ~12 bar pressure at coffee puck.
  • There is a consensus among machine modders that a 9-bar OPV gives the best results for espresso, especially with lighter roasts, as higher pressure can lead to over-extraction or channeling. As of now, I am happy with my shot output, but I may try out a the OPV mod in the future.

• Non-pressurized standard double shot basket from Gaggia.

  • Gaggia also comes with a pressurized basket, it is the one with a single tiny hole at center.
  • It is designed to compensate for pre-ground coffee or inconsistent grind size.
  • It is a good convenience tool, but leads to a foamier artificial crema, and an espresso with muted flavours and less body.
  • If you are grinding freshly, can get consistent grinds from a burr grinder, and take care of puck prep, use the non-pressurized basket.

• Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Plus. This is not a specialized espresso grinder like the Baratza Sette, but works well enough for me and allows me to make cold brews, moka pots and french press coffee once in a while.

• (Optional) Dosing/Puck screen: Most common, 1.7mm thick, 150 micron. I have not really experimented with other sizes, so not sure what adjustments will be needed if this changes.

• Tamper: A heavier 58mm stainless steel tamper.

• WDT: 6 Needle stirrer.

• Water spray bottle 50ml.

• Magnetic dosing ring.

• Kitchen scale.

The Espresso Recipe

Pre Brew Prep

• Switch on your Gaggia Classic Pro machine, insert the empty portafilter into the group head and let it heat up for 20 minutes.

• If you are using the machine after a while (i.e., more than a day):

  • Open the steam valve and run the brew and steam buttons together to flush hot water through the wand. This helps clear any stale water and preheats the system.
  • You can do this by switching both the steam and brew buttons on the machine.

• Run two cups of hot water through the portafilter:

  • Background:

    • Running two blank shots (without coffee) through the portafilter preheats the group head and portafilter, and stabilizes the system temperature.
    • This ensures your first shot of the day is consistent.
    • If you skip the blank shots, the group head and portafilter may be cooler, and the first water through the system may be hotter, potentially above 94^oC, especially if the machine has been sitting.

  • Keep the empty portafilter attached to the machine and wait until the first “brew” light illuminates.

  • Activate the brew button to dispense the first cup of hot water.

  • Once the light is off, turn off the button.

  • Allow the machine to heat up again for the second time, and repeat the process to brew out a second cup of water.

Grind

• Start by measuring 18g of medium or medium-light roasted coffee beans for a double shot.
• Spray/spritz the whole beans lightly/once with water from the light spray bottle. This is called the Ross Droplet Technique (RDT), and it helps reduce static and clumping during grinding, leading to more even distribution.
• Grind to size 2. This is for medium or medium-light roasts. As noted before, you would need to increase the grind size for dark roasts.

Puck Prep

• Remove and dry the portafilter using a kitchen cloth.

• Focus on even distribution and tamping.

• Attach the dosing ring to the top of the portafilter and transfer the freshly ground coffee to the portafilter. The dosing ring helps in avoiding spillage of grinds. Not necessary, but a good to have tool.

• Stir the grinds using the dosing needles. This helps prevent channeling and ensures a uniform extraction. Make sure to break any clumps of coffee grinds. Be sure to stir gently and reach the bottom of the basket for even distribution.

• After WDT/Stirring, gently tap the portafilter to settle the grounds.

• Remove the dosing ring and use a tamper to compact the grinds. For best results, use a heavy tamper that fits the portafilter size perfectly.

• (Optional) Add a puck screen (stainless steel mesh) on top of the compacted grinds. This helps ensure water hits the puck evenly, reducing the risk of channeling.

  • I don’t use this regularly. Using a puck screen means I have to reduce the coffee grounds dose (reduce from 18g to ~17g). For some beans getting the balance of the lower dose, grind size and water flow to get a proper shot becomes very tricky.
  • My general preference is that while dialing in a coffee bean batch, experiment with and without puck screen and then decide whether or not it would be useful.

• Reattach the filled portafilter to the machine.

Temperature Surf i.e., Force Preheat

• Background:

  • Gaggia’s brew thermostat i.e., inbuilt boiler handler keeps 88-92^oC temperature at puck with ~12 bar pressure. Temperature surfing doesn’t increase the pressure as it is still regulated by the thermostat, but it helps in getting higher temperatures.
  • Darker roasts extract easily, so just doing the two blank shots for proper pre heating and skipping this preheat step is ideal.
  • But, medium/medium-light roasts need higher temperatures for good extraction.
  • The steam switch overrides the brew thermostat, rapidly heating the boiler to produce steam. The boiler is higher, but the actual puck temperature is always a bit lower than boiler temp due to heat loss in the group head and portafilter.
  • Switching the steam button on for different times increases the temperature of boiler to different levels:
    • A 10 seconds period, gets you to 96-100^oC, which is ideal for medium or medium-light roasts.
    • A 15 seconds period, gets you to 100-104^oC, which is ideal for light roasts.
    • Anything above will get you to a overheated boiler and most probably lead to over extraction.

• For medium/medium-light roasts: Activate the steam button to preheat the machine for 10 seconds.

• Turn off the steam button.

Brew i.e., Pull The Shot

• Background:

  • Target is to get to a 1:2 ratio of coffee grinds to output espresso, i.e., 18g of coffee grinds in ~36g of coffee shot out, in ~28-32 seconds.
  • Using weight is the best measure for consistency. From a volume perspective, espresso in itself is a bit denser than water, so just espresso will be less than 36ml in volume, and with crema, it may be ~45 ml or more.
  • Depending on extraction speed and taste, adjust your grind size.
  • If your shot is too fast and sour, grind finer or increase your dose slightly.
  • If it’s too slow and bitter, grind coarser or decrease your dose.
  • Espresso is all about dialing in!

• Once the brew light is illuminated turn on the brew button to start brewing. This should be almost immediately after temperature surfing step above.

• Allow the brew to process to get to the desired output i.e., ~36g. Ideally, your brew should be a dark brown color, topped with a rich crema.

Extra Tips

• Cleanup diligently: knock out puck, rinse portafilter, and run a quick water flush after brewing.
• Purge steam wand after use.
• If your tap water is very hard or soft, consider using filtered or bottled water for more consistent results and reduce scale buildup.
• Descale every few months if you have hard water.
• Store beans in an airtight container away from light and heat. Happy brewing!

Happy Brewing!