Making great coffee at home

If you are like the majority of people then you no doubt think it looks real easy to make a great cup of coffee when you see the barista at work in your local Starbucks. Of course, if you've ever paid good money for a substandard cup of coffee then you;ll know that its possible to get things wrong.

The thing is that these Baristas at the local coffee shop are using top of the line commercial espresso machines and grinders. So if they can get it wrong how do you expect to pick up a machine, grinder and some coffee beans from a retailer and quickly throw together world class coffee.

The reality is that if you want to make superior espresso coffee at home then you are going to invest significant time as well as money to reach your goals. First and foremost you will need to spend a fair amount of money because great espresso making equipment doesn't come cheap. You'll have to find an espresso machine capable of producing enough pressure to be able to compete which commercial machines. And you'll need to get yourself a conical burr grinder which is up to the task of producing a consistent grind.

When you've got the hardware in place you'll have to learn how to use it and this is the really tricky part. If you have no experience making coffee with an espresso machine then don't think for a minute you'll manage to figure out how to go it on your own unless you have unlimited time and some great instruction videos. You'll really need to get a hold of someone who knows what they are doing to show you the ropes. Ideally it will be someone with a commercial coffee background who has thousands of hours experience behind a machine and isn't afraid to persevere until you get it right.