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Excuse the rookie question, but I am a newbie to coffee. (I blame my nationality; I grew up with tea. ;) )

What equipment, exactly, do I need to get from coffee beans to a cup of espresso that I can drink?

starsplusplus
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1 Answers1

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Easiest thing is a bean to cup machine like any of these, these will grind a pre-measured amount of beans, heat water and pump through into your cup and dispense the used grounds into a grounds bin internally.

Going the other way you need a minimum of some form of grinder (preferably burr type) which can be manual or electric.

A 'normal' espresso machine like these which may or may not have a milk frother.

You can opt for a digital scale machine to weigh your beans, possibly mineral water if you hate descaling your machine.

The scales are for measuring an accurate amount of beans, I do this because I have a manual grinder. The water is cheap still mineral water because I live in the south of England and the water is so incredibly hard that it has tattoos.

Also you need cups to drink the final product.

EdChum
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  • Huh. I kind of assumed I either had to buy a grinder or buy ground beans. Can you explain what to do after that? – starsplusplus Feb 04 '15 at 16:46
  • Are you asking about tamping the ground coffee into the holder and then clamping to the machine and switching on? – EdChum Feb 04 '15 at 16:47
  • I'm asking what the next step is after grinding the coffee (sorry, comment was badly worded - I was in the middle of editing to clarify when I saw your comment). I've heard of filters and percolators and cafetières, but I don't know what the differences are or how I'm meant to use them. – starsplusplus Feb 04 '15 at 16:50
  • You asked about espresso coffee which requires 9 bar pressure, the other things you mentioned just use gravity and/or steam to extract the flavour – EdChum Feb 04 '15 at 16:51
  • Ah, right. I may be asking the wrong question, then. Is espresso what I need to start with if I want to make a latte or cappuccino or whatever? Or can I start with the coffee that comes out of those other devices? – starsplusplus Feb 04 '15 at 16:57
  • latte and capuccino require a milk frother, this can be done using a separate device and can be added to coffe made by other methods but don't expect amazing things, each method produces different tasting coffee so it depends on your preferences, budget and space – EdChum Feb 04 '15 at 16:59
  • Thanks for your help. I hadn't realised espresso making was so different. I've edited my question to better match your answer, and will probably ask a new question about those other methods. – starsplusplus Feb 04 '15 at 17:03