Espresso: What you need and need to know. Part Five:Espresso Extras

    Like what? Well a bottomless portafilter for one. So, what is a bottomless portafilter? It is a portafilter that has had its bottom including the spout cut off, leaving only the portafilter’s walls and locking flanges, making it just a ring. Now there is nothing impeding the flow from the basket allowing you to see the flow and make adjustments accordingly. Adjustments? Yup, say that there is uneven extraction, one side not flowing or just not as much as the other side. Well, now you can see and correct it next time by tamping more evenly. If you did not have a bottomless portafilter you wouldn’t have seen the uneven extraction, it would have been hidden from you. With the bottomless portafilter your espresso will now be improved. How much? Well, it depends, you can do it your self, free, (do some looking online for a how-to). You could send in your portafilter to espressoparts.com for modification, what ever it costs to ship it to them plus $25.00. Or if you order your machine from espressoparts.com you could have them replace the standard portafilter with a bottomless one, free, it was for me but don’t hold me to that price.
    A knock box is another good extra. A knock box will save you some trouble in the removal of the puck. I will not go into this one because I already wrote a review of one and explained why you need it here ,so go read it.
    A frothing pitcher is needed to steam milk in. There are many choices; straight sided, bell, tapered, and some hybrids designed to help in creating microfoam(more on microfoam in the future). So which one is best? To be honest I couldn’t say definitely, however, I use a straight sided steaming pitcher with a handle and a well defined pour spout, not a pour lip. Just be sure that the pitcher is 18-10 stainless steel and that it is heavy. If you can bend or crush it in one hand, its junk, don’t buy it or if you did buy it return it(though if you crush it, it might be hard to explain when you return it). You should also buy a steaming thermometer, it will help you get the right temp until you get the hang of feeling the right Temp. Get a thermometer that has a large face at least one inch in diameter, and has clearly visible numbering.
    Timers, measures, and cups. You will need a shot timer, any one that can do seconds is just fine. A digital scale is also helpful, I wrote a review of one hear . A scale can be used to measure the amount of ground coffee placed in the portafilter and to measure the shot so you don’t have to pull the shot into a measuring glass, you can use the cup that the espresso will be drank out of. That leads me to cups, many many, choices are available. To make this short there are three main choices. There is an Espresso cup this holds around 2.5 to 3.5 oz. A cappuccino cup, they hold between 4 to 6oz. Lastly there is the latte cup which usually holds around 6oz to 8oz.The decision is up to you, but with all of them you should look for ones that are heavy and hold heat well, other than that, just pick ones that you like. You should be good to go.
    Cleaning supplies are next. Like what? I would suggest that you get a Pallo Coffee Tool, they are the best thing for cleaning your group, dispersion screen and group gasket of coffee debris. Also a stainless steel brush, a brass brush and a nylon brush, is also helpful. Just be careful with the brass and stainless steel ones, you wouldn’t want to scratch anything, brass on brass and steel on steel or chrome with caution. Also some back flush detergent like JoeGlo and a blind portafilter basket(also called a backflush filter or backflush basket), just be sure it fits your portafilter size, most are 58mm. Back flushing is good for periodic cleanings, I would suggest that you do it once every weak. A Steam Wand Brush is also handy, Pallo makes a nice one. You’ll also need some descaling granules, powder, liquid, whatever the case may be, to remove scale buildup in your boiler. Whether you use filtered water or not, scale buildup will happen and if it is not taken care of it will ruin your water flow and the machines ability to heat properly. I descale once every three or four months. Just use the instructions on the package.
    Next, is some tools. Now you cannot be sure of what size wrenches you will need ,but you will need some. When you get your machine get some calipers or something to measure the following: the steam wand tip, and the steam wand bolt(where the steam wand attaches to the boiler, it should be visible, not internal). Also you’ll need either a Philips or a Standard screw driver the stubby ones are best, for removing the dispersion screen and plate.
    Spare parts. You should buy a few parts to be safe. I suggest that you get; a Group Head Gasket, a Steam Wand o-ring or rings depending on the machine it may have more than one, a Group Head Screen, and a Boiler Gasket. For some machines they sell a Maintenance Kit, or an emergency repair kit, these are good a choice they usually include all of the aforementioned parts and some screws, etc.
    Finally the water. Yes water, coffee is something like 98 percent water so it would be safe to say that it is important to have good water. If you have good tap water that you would drink, you could use that, but even so I still would use a water purification system of some type. Like a 2 stage activated carbon filter from either Britta or Pur, or even better a reverse osmosis system(a bit pricey though they are the best solution out there). Using filtered water, besides making a better cup of coffee, will reduce scale buildup and help reduce long term problems.


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Espresso: What you need and need to know. Part Five:Espresso Extras by Noah Brewer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.