Hey i just got a cheap espresso maker, Is there any recipes for

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or you can give me pointers. Having trouble steaming milk.

>>8517318
is it pic related?

steam espresso machines don't get high enough pressure to make true espresso, it's more like strong coffee. I reccommend using filtered water, due to these types of machines having scaling issues, and to never tamp.

Steaming milk is going to be most easily done just by heating up milk in a pan or microwave, and either frothing it in a french press or with a whisk. Those machines just don't usually do it well.

>>8517504
I had a super shitty cheap one and it frothed milk fine, idk what are you on about

>>8517591
This. Low pressure consumer espresso machines can't get crema for shit because their pumps are too small but steaming is just a matter of heat. If your technique is bad you might run out of BB you get the ideal texture especially if you're making more than a double's worth of milk but there no reason it won't froth.

>>8517504
pic is related, its the one i just bought,
u said don't tamp the espresso? why not?

>>8517670
Steam machines don't have the pressure to push through a very fine grind / almost any grind that's been tamped.

Start with a medium grind (about drip grind), your coffee will likely come out under extracted (a bit watery, maybe sour). Just keep making a cup at a time with finer and finer grind until you just barely hit that sour to bitter change and start bringing out those bitter flavors. Steam machines are finnicky, and dialing in your grind like this is important for each individual machine due to variance in output pressures and heats.

Pre-heated water can help as well, because it lowers the exposure time, preventing overextraction, and makes the pressure more consistent during the entirety of the brew process.

You won't achieve a crema, you won't make real espresso, but you can make a solid cup of strong coffee if you get used to your machine.

>>8517670
If you tamp / use too fine a grind, your water will sit in the grounds basket too long before being passed out as coffee, overextracting. If you had an espresso grind and tamped at ~30lbs you likely wouldn't have any coffee coming out at all, then you'd have a load of pressure built up in your stopped up machine.

>>8517318
This is the last thing my mom got me before she died, I had forgotten. Fuck.

>>8517706
sorry bud..

>>8517697
I have espresso fine ground coffee and i tamp it lightly..some cafe bustello. it told me to tamp.. and it comes through fine. I have put less in, in hope to make it less bitter.

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>>8517691
damn nigga, you go to espresso college..?

>>8517721
Overly bitter means you have to reduce either temperature of water, pressure in brewing chamber, time of exposure, or coarseness of grind.

The only thing you can control is the coarseness of your grind, which will change your exposure time and pressure naturally. No brew method actually uses as fine of a grind as espresso apart from actual espresso from a proper pump machine, or turkish which uses an even finer grind.

>>8517728
I actually just really got into coffee maybe two months ago. The internet makes things easy.

>>8517721
Is that stuff worth a damn taste wise?
Can I use a regular grind in a coffee maker? I think I saw medium grind in the store but maybe it's all espresso ground, I can't remember.

>>8517740
ive been a coffee (drip) fan for decades.. . just getting bored with it. My wife likes mocha lattes and i tasted it and like it alot. Figured why not.

>>8517747
Taste fine to me. A little strong compare to my drip coffee but if i make a latte with it its hard to tell. Ive never see a medium grind.

>>8517750
There's nothing wrong with a simple steam machine, it just won't produce "espresso" like some may expect. I wouldn't recommend them to people but I also wouldn't knock somebody for using one. It's like drip coffee, it works, and is consistent, very good for simple home use, but doesn't allow precise control over the variables involved in brewing.

It produces a similar cup as a Moka pot, but Mokas allow more control over all the variables, meaning they not only can produce a much more refined and specific cup, they also take a bit more effort to get that perfect cup dialed in.

>>8517763
Are americans the only people in the world to drink drip coffee..? Im tired of chugging down 30 oz of muddy shit water. Seems like the rest drink espresso style coffee..IDK

>>8517778
It's not as near as common in other countrys, you're right, and there's a reason the espresso drink named an "Americano" is literally just watered down espresso.

Most countries have their prefered method of brewing, but then again most coffee-enthusiasts in first world countries pick whichever they like the most since they have all available to them.

It's generally agreed that a proper pump espresso machine is the absolute best way to extract any and all flavors from a bean, due to the extremely high pressure during brewing, allowing a lower temperature and lower exposure time to be utilized, causing extremely even and controllable extraction.

>>8517778
Yes. It's an American thing. I hate working in and visiting Europe because I can almost never find regular filter coffee. In London it's especially a pain in the ass. I just get flat whites there.

>>8517788
It's very easy to bring / buy your own filters. Just pack a manual grinder like a Hario Skerton, and a pour-over cone like a v60 with some filters. I know people who always take a hand grinder and small french press with them when they travel.

>>8517795
I don't care enough to do this, unfortunately.

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well i thank you gents on my espresso concerns.. im going to go make a chai latte for me and the misses n chill. thanx for the input

I have this same one!

>>8517697
I can confirm this anon is wrong, I use very fine ground and tamp properly and it works fine. Do you get a perfect extraction time? No, buy it doesnt take more than 45 seconds.
Also, i tried sreaming milk in a mug and it didnt work, using one of those stainless steel pitchers works so much better (not perfect, but passable for home)

>>8518225
I can confirm you make terrible coffee.

>>8517318
that's not an espresso maker.

>>8517691
I don't know what shitty machines you've used but even my 5 year old automatic machine will make a thick crema

I bought a cheap expresso maker, and for the first months it worked fine but now it seems to have trouble pulling milk,at first getting much less milk than expected, and afterwards just milk steam.
Anybody ever had a problem like that?

>>8517318
finely ground, med to dark roast coffee in the basket, tamp down with some demerara, pour a double long.

give 'er a splash of cream if that's your taste, but it's pretty decent without.

Some folks call it Cuban Coffee. My Cuban neighbour disagrees, but says it's great with rum and a cigar in the early afternoon.

>>8517318
Use only reverse osmosis filtered water to prevent minerals clogging the pump, and because it tastes better. You can buy it from a supermarket for $0.50/gallon if you don't have your own unit.