Friday, May 22, 2009

Coffee Equipment

By Matt Hellstrom

A quality cup of coffee according to the experts is only as good as the coffee equipment used to brew it. Although the quality of coffee does also depend on a few other variables too. For instance, the amount of time elapsed since the beans were ground, and roasted, as well as the quality of the actual coffee bean will affect the taste.

Freshly roasted and ground coffee is a great deal better than coffee which has been ground and allowed to grow stale. So you will need a coffee grinder to get the best possible quality out of your coffee. A coffee bean roaster would be great if you can manage it. A lesser quality coffee bean which is freshly ground is much better than a high quality coffee which is ground and allowed to go stale.

The basic piece of coffee equipment you, as a coffee lover, require is a good grinder. Grinders are available in all kinds of makes and models. They also come in different sizes, but no one really needs an industrial sized coffee grinder at home. Remember you want to grind the coffee fresh every time you need it; this is how you maintain the quality of the brew.

The be all and end all of coffee equipment has got to be the espresso machine. These are manufactured by many coffee equipment companies and are designed to make espresso the correct way at home.

Espresso needs to be made within a certain time frame; this is not easily achieved with the semi-automatic type machine; however they are adequate. The automatic espresso machine is the most preferable type of coffee equipment to use as it is simple to program in the time required to cut off a good shot of espresso. Cutting off a shot is the terminology used for making a cup of espresso as aficionados refer to it.

The best espresso machines have all the bells and whistles; these are the "super automatic" machines which do everything for you. They look good and this coffee equipment will grind the coffee, tamp the ground coffee and pull off the shot. Some models even discard the coffee grounds. Super automatic espresso machines are very entertaining for coffee lovers and they will watch fascinated as their coffee is made fresh for them. Now we are talking about some major coffee equipment with the price tag to match.

If you are going to go for coffee equipment that has a high price tag, you had better make sure that parts are easily available and that servicing can be obtained locally. The last thing you need is to be without your espresso machine for extended periods of time; that just wouldn't do!

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