Barista course · Episode 2

The bean — which coffee for espresso

The full text of this episode — to read, look up and quote.

Cold open

Before you press a single button on your machine, the most important decision has already been made. At the shop. Because the best machine in the world cannot rescue an old, tired bean.

Today we take care of the first two Ms. The mixture and the measure.

Where this sits in the five Ms

Mixture, that is your bean. Which variety, roasted how, and how fresh. And measure, how much coffee you use and how much ends up in the cup.

Two Ms that are completely in your hands, before the machine is even warm.

Teaching: blend, variety and roast

Let us start with the variety. There are two that count. Arabica and robusta.

Arabica is the fine, aromatic one, with fruitiness, with sweetness, with a lively acidity. Robusta is heartier, harsher, holds more caffeine and produces a great deal of crema. Many espresso blends combine the two.

Plenty of arabica for the taste, a dash of robusta for crema and body. For the beginning the rule is simple. A good espresso blend, ideally with a high arabica share.

Then the roast. The darker the roast, the less acidity, the more roasted bitterness and body. A light roast means more acidity, more fruitiness.

But it is also more demanding to dial in. My advice for the start. A medium to slightly darker espresso roast.

It forgives you more and tastes round. As you grow more confident, work your way towards lighter roasts. That is where the most exciting aromas are.

And remember one thing we already had in episode one. Dark does not mean strong. Dark means bitter.

Strength comes from the measure and the preparation, not from the colour of the roast.

Chart: the freshness window

Now for the thing most people underestimate. Freshness. Coffee is a fresh food, not tinned supplies.

Every good bag carries a roast date. And that is what counts, not the best-before date. Picture a window.

In the first one to two weeks after roasting the bean is still closed. It is degassing, and that disturbs the extraction. Let it rest for a little while.

Then, from week two to about week twelve, comes the sweet spot. Now it tastes at its best, full and balanced. And from around three months on, the aroma flattens out.

The bean turns flat and tired. So buy in quantities you will drink within four to five weeks. Better fresh and often than one enormous sack.

That is the old innkeeper's rule. And this is important, and it is the subject of the next episode. Once ground, coffee holds that aroma for minutes only.

Buy whole beans, grind them fresh.

Teaching: dose, with the chart

Let us come to the measure. This is where guessing ends and weighing begins. Professionals work with a simple ratio.

How much coffee goes in, how much espresso comes out. A proven starting point for a double espresso. Eighteen grams of ground coffee in, thirty-six grams of espresso out.

That is a ratio of one to two. So you weigh not only the beans beforehand, but the cup afterwards as well. Why so precisely?

Because that is the only way your espresso becomes repeatable. If it tastes good today, you want to hit it exactly the same way tomorrow. And that only works with numbers, not with a feeling.

A small barista scale with a tenth of a gram of accuracy. That is the cheapest big improvement you can make. Eighteen in, thirty-six out, one to two.

That is your anchor. From there we will fine-tune later.

Hands-on

Now you. Take your beans and look at the roast date first. Are you inside the sweet spot?

Then set your scale to zero and weigh out eighteen grams of whole beans. Feel how little that actually is. And how much it still matters.

That is your measure for the next shot. We are not doing more than that today. We are building the chain step by step.

Common mistakes

Three stumbling blocks. One. The big supermarket bulk bag.

Roast date unknown, months old. There you are fighting against the bean. Two.

Buying it ready ground. Convenient, but the aroma is gone before you get home. Three.

Dosing by eye. One heaped spoon is fifteen grams one day and twenty-one the next. And your espresso tastes different every day without you knowing why.

Recap and your task

Let us hold on to this. Variety, a good espresso blend. Roast, medium to slightly darker to begin with.

Freshness, read the roast date, stay in the sweet spot, grind whole beans fresh. And measure, weigh instead of guess. Eighteen in, thirty-six out.

Your assignment. Buy yourself a fresh bag of whole beans with a visible roast date, and get hold of a small scale if you can. In the next episode comes the most powerful adjustment of them all.

The grind size. omaneo — and YOU can do espresso.