How To Make The Best Coffee & The Importance Of Using Fresh Coffee Beans

Crema is the best tasting part of an espresso shot. But what is coffee crema, why the crema is important to coffee drinkers and how do you get the best crema on your espresso shots?

Every avid coffee drinker is familiar with the rich caramel colour present on the top of their espresso coffees – whether they’re made with milk, or served black in their pure form. While some espresso aficionados may know that a good crema is of the utmost importance, many may not know why or indeed how to get barista-quality crema on their espressos at home. The secret to a good crema – like most food groups – lies in using the right recipe, with quality ingredients.

Fresh Coffee Crema

What is crema and what is it made of?

That beautiful and (hopefully) familiar golden mousse-like head of foam is made up of aerated soluble coffee oils, acids and sugars; a well extracted espresso shot will be a balanced mix of those key ingredients. Luckily for us, the best parts of coffee dissolve in water when subjected to enough heat and the appropriate amount of pressure. Different brewing methods will produce different results in terms of how many dissolved solubles they release, and as such will produce different flavours, caffeine hits and consistencies. None are better than others, each catering to specific preferences. However, when it comes to espresso – there is an ideal amount of solubles we are aiming to extract, and using the right techniques with fresh coffee beans is the winning recipe.

 

Why is crema important?

Crema is an especially important measure of how good an espresso is. This is because it showcases how well you managed to extract the available coffee oil, acid and sugar. The crema of an espresso accounts for whopping 70% of the flavour of the total espresso shot and the total espresso shot should be around 18-22% coffee soluble (the rest is water).
A good crema should be around 5mm thick, and have a dark, golden caramel tone. It’s normal for it to have a mix of darker and lighter colours on top – each part of the espresso shot pours out different solubles over its running time, and they range in colour. The change of colour and ingredients whilst an espresso shot pours is never more obvious than when making a ristretto drink– an espresso shot that has been restricted or limited in some way.

How much caffeine is in your coffee?

 

How to get the best crema on your espresso shots?

There are several key things that go into getting perfect crema on your espresso shots every time, and while there is a lot going on – all of the individual components are easy to accommodate. The secret lies in ticking all the boxes!

• Buying freshly roasted beans

Like all good food and beverage recipes – success starts with buying quality, fresh ingredients. Coffee is considered a fresh food group by the FSANZ (Food Standards Australia New Zealand), and should be purchased and treated as such. That means visiting your favourite coffee roaster and buying freshly roasted coffee beans. The total shelf life of coffee beans after roasting is only 6 weeks – and roasters will withhold their beans from sale for at least 5 days to allow for flavour maximum development time – so consumers really have at best 4-5 weeks to consume their coffee. Our strongest advice is never buy beans that aren’t stamped with a roasting date on them!

• Storing your roasted coffee beans correctly

Storing your beans – just like storing your fresh food products – is of utmost importance to get the best flavour and shelf life out of them. Coffee beans are affected by environmental factors, just as other food products are. These include moisture, UV sunlight, heat and oxygen. Storing them in an airtight container in a cool, dark, dry location when they aren’t in use is a must.

• Grinding your coffee beans fresh-to-order

As soon as you crush a coffee bean by grinding it, much like the squeezing of a citrus peel, it will release many of its aromas and solubles within seconds. The surface area of the beans is greatly increased, and will allow key ingredients to either begin escaping or degrading quickly depending on what they are. This is why it’s so important to brew immediately after grinding your coffee – the longer the delay, the more ingredients make their escape!

Grinding your coffee beans fresh-to-order

• Brewing your coffee with the correct techniques

Using the right techniques and staying in control of variables is key in producing perfect espresso, with a healthy thick head of crema on top. The best way to do this is build up experience in making it – this will help improve muscle memory, which improves consistency; learning how to tell if your espresso shots are dropping well based on visual cues will also come with practice and experience. You can also use other tools like scales, timers and calibrated tampers to help make the process easier.

• Using quality brewing machines and equipment

Once you are buying freshly roasted coffee, grinding them fresh each time you brew and you have your technique down-pat – quality brew gear and equipment starts to matter. When you have little or no experience, it’s very hard to tell what difference the quality of your gear makes, but it will become more apparent as your barista skills increase.

• Getting training

If the thought of trying to figure it all out on your own makes your eyes squeeze shut and your head ache – we’ve got you covered. Come in and talk to us about booking into the Espresso Essentials class we run. We often call this the Home Barista Class, because it’s specifically designed to cater to those wanting to learn how to make great coffee at home and look after their beans and equipment.

 

What happens when you grind coffee beans

A number of things happen simultaneously once a coffee bean has been crushed or ground, and those chemical processes continue thereafter. Many of these will have negative effects on coffee flavour and performance, and it’s why grinding fresh-to-order is the best practice! The four main processes that contribute to this are:

Oxidation
This is the process that can happen to some materials when they come into contact with oxygen. Just like steel rusts, bread goes stale, and avocados go brown – coffee oxidises too. Coffee that has been left for too long in contact with oxygen will have a funky, bland flavour.

Moisture
Coffee beans are roasted down to around 3-4% moisture content. This makes them highly absorbent, similar to dry rice. Any moisture that coffee comes into contact with will be absorbed and this will dilute our precious water-soluble coffee oils before brewing. They can also absorb flavour and aroma compounds form the water molecules, contaminating the product.

Contamination
The cell structure of roasted coffee is extremely porous, which makes the absorption of foreign compounds floating around in the air very likely when they are left in their ground form for too long. These compounds could be anything from perfumes, cleaning chemicals or food odours. Just like foreign compounds can get in, precious coffee ingredients like CO2 can get out.

• CO2 Depletion
Coffee beans contain gases, which slowly leech out of the beans over their shelf life. These gases (mostly carbon dioxide) are the mode of transport for our oils, acids and sugars. Without a gas content, it’s very difficult for the coffee solubles that taste good to come through with the water. Being groundallows the gases to escape almost immediately, and this will reduce flavour delivery very quickly.

Why everyone should buy a home coffee grinder

 
Why you should buy a home coffee grinder

By now it’s becoming clear that being able to grind each dose of your precious coffee beans fresh, as you need them, is of the utmost importance. There are some very good reasons for this, and these are just a few:

• Higher coffee quality
Grinding your beans fresh will ensure the best possible coffee quality. You will be extracting maximum coffee solubles with minimal coffee degradation caused by the passage of time and exposure to environmental elements.

• Longer coffee shelf life
Keeping your roasted coffee beans in their whole-bean form until you are ready to use them will extend the shelf life right up to the 6 week mark. Buying coffee that is already ground will usually only have a 10-14 day shelf life before they begin tasting bland and/or bitter.

• Flexibility in brewing
Having your own grinder allows you to make changes to the way you do things, such as:

- Switching between different brewing gear
If you use more than one method of brewing at home – such as espresso and cold brewing – then you can easily switch between different grind sizes. Depending on the coffee blend you’re using, you might be able to use the same bag of coffee for different methods.

- Grinding as you need
Being able to grind only as many beans as you need for the brew you are putting on is a great way of extending the shelf life of your coffee beans. You are able to leave the majority in their whole-bean form, and to brew your freshly ground coffee immediately.

- Making grind adjustments
If you’re making espresso coffee, this option is a must. Espresso machines require regular, small adjustments to grind size to get the best out of your coffee, and therefore make great crema. Being able to change your grind size can also help you experiment with what suits your tastes, no matter the brew gear. Some people prefer a much finer grind size to make their French press coffee than what we would prescribe – every tastebud is unique!

 
How to choose the right coffee grinder

If you have had a look online or in-store at grinders, you will know that there is avalanche of information and options out there. Our strongest advice is to speak to a coffee specialist and utilise their extensive experience in navigating the very crowded market that is coffee grinder buying. Here at Crema Coffee Garage we have a showroom where you can come and test drive all our grinders with our highly trained machine specialists to guide you and answer your questions. That being said, there are a few things you can think about and decide on before starting to look for a grinder. Knowing these will really help narrow the field:

• What kind of coffee you brew
Depending on the type of coffee you brew, there are grinders out there that will be most suitable. For example, if you brew pour over or cold drip coffee – you won’t need a grinder that grinds super-fine. These grinders tend to be built differently to those that suit espresso machines, and can come in at a lower price point. Or maybe you want a grinder that leaves you room to change your mind and brew everything!

• How much coffee you need to grind
Much like the type of coffee you’re brewing, if you are grinding in large amounts or batches – you would select a very different grinder (what many of us would call a batch grinder or alternative brew grinder) than you would if you only need to grind small doses at a time. Using a hand-grinder might not be very fun if you plan on grinding a whole 250g bag of coffee for you cold brew! However, hand-grinders and electronic espresso grinders do very well with small doses.

• Your coffee grinder budget
Once you have identified what style of grinder best works for you, you need to decide how much you are prepared to spend. Within each style of grinder there will be a variance of cost. These costs are usually tied very closely to quality however, this is the advantage of visiting your local specialist. There certainly are grinders out there that perform unexpectedly well with a lower price tag, and only your coffee experts are going to be in the know enough to have figured these ones out for you.

• Where to buy a home coffee grinder
There are plenty of places to buy coffee grinders online or in-store, and our website and showroom is no exception. Always be careful to make sure that the web address or company you are buying from is reputable, and where possible is located within Australia. This will ensure easier and safer postage and customer support where needed. Try to find online reviews of the company you are planning to buy from, as well as reviews of the grinder itself. Only buy online where there is a clear warranty and returns policy.

How to choose the right coffee grinder


How to make the best crema on your coffee today

Come in-store and see us! Or if you’re too far away, contact us either by phone to talk with our friendly staff, or on the chat function of our website. Not only do we continuously roast our coffee beans locally, we supply all the machines, equipment and grinders that you could ever need, along with the support services to boot. Our knowledgeable coffee specialists can guide you through the process of buying to brewing, our trainers can put you through your paces in a lesson and our team of coffee technicians can cover your maintenance and repairs. Here at Crema Coffee Garage, we aim to provide all our customers with their ultimate brewing experience. We have put thousands of hours into training our staff, coming up with brewing guides and buying guides and developing the services you need to have the best possible coffee experience. Check us out today and start making a 10/10 coffee!