Coffee tips for home

Make the best coffee at home like a true barista. 
Most coffee lovers enjoy a well-made espresso, cappuccino, or lungo at home daily. But a home appliance works slightly differently than one in a professional coffee bar. Making just one or two perfect coffees is more challenging than a large number. Below are several tips to achieve the same results at home as in the coffee bar. Sometimes, you need additional tools to achieve these professional results.
Every coffee, from the first in the morning to the last after dinner, deserves the same attention. 

Flow time and strength of your espresso
It must brew long enough to prepare an espresso with a good taste. With a fully automatic machine, you can hardly adjust the espresso, except the strength and, often to a limited extent, the grind. The power of one, two, or three beans depends on the amount of ground coffee; this has little to do with a more robust flavor but more to do with the mouthfeel. The coffee is slightly more watery or slightly more syrupy. The grinding degree has more to do with the processing time. The longer it is, the more bitter your coffee tastes. The finer you set the grind, the longer the processing time. After all, water moves more slowly through sand than through marbles. 

Keep your portafilter warm.
Do not store the portafilter next to your machine, but in the group to keep the filter warm so that your espresso does not cool down too much while you are making it. You can also make a shot without coffee to heat it and then dry it thoroughly. 

The right amount of coffee
It is essential to always use the same amount of coffee to ensure that the espresso is consistent. When you have a grind-on-demand grinder appropriately set, the same amount of coffee always comes out of the grinder. If you make a small number of coffees at home, you are better off with a smaller grinder where you weigh the coffee yourself. A filter contains about eight grams of coffee per cup or about sixteen grams for two cups. You can weigh the coffee beans before putting them in your coffee grinder. If you weigh and grind sixteen grams of coffee beans, you can assume you also have sixteen grams of ground coffee. Then, collect the ground coffee in a larger container. Place your portafilter on a scale and fill it until you have the desired amount before dispensing it into the filter and tamping it down. You can use a teaspoon to scoop or add a little coffee from the filter. When you make the espresso, you can see whether you have used the right amount of ground coffee from the puck. 
If your puck is very wet, you are using too little coffee, and it is wise to put more ground coffee in the filter holder next time. If the coffee puck is too dry, you use too much coffee. If the puck feels moist and firm, the amount is correct. 
Make changes in the amount and grind after you make a coffee. If the coffee has been brewing for too long, grind coarser. If the coffee flows too quickly, grind a little finer. 

Froth a small amount of milk.
It is easier to use cold milk and a cold pitcher for frothing; this gives you enough time to blow warm air into the milk to create a nice thick foam layer before it gets too hot. Use a thermometer to ensure that the milk does not boil. Do not fill the pitcher more than one-third with cold milk. Frothed milk approximately doubles in volume when properly frothed. 
When your espresso machine cools down, steam from the boiler condenses in the steam wand. Water first comes out of the steam pipe when you start frothing milk. To avoid diluting the milk with water, hold a cloth before the nozzle to protect yourself and blow out the steam nozzle before frothing. 

Work efficiently
The best baristas know what they need and when they need it. Make it easy on yourself, and keep all your tools at hand. A tidy coffee corner is neat, and you can focus on the coffee. Wipes are also essential to have on hand. To prevent cross-pollination, use a drying cloth to wipe down your portafilter, a damp cloth to keep the machine and work area clean, and another wet cloth to wipe the steam wand. Quickly tell the wipes apart by using different colors, for example. 

Please keep it clean.
It's easy to skip cleaning your coffee maker when you've only made one or two espressos. If you make coffee a few hours or a day later and the old residues are still on the group head, the residues are more challenging to remove, and the taste of freshly made coffee is much less good. Clean your machine regularly and make sure it is clean after use. This way, you know you're always getting the best coffee you can make yourself.