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Owner’s book •
03 Espresso
The tamping
The espresso in the portafilter basket has to be properly
tamped down to provide the flowing water with the needed re-
sistance: If the espresso is not tamped sufficiently, the water
will run through the grind without picking up the entire aroma,
if the espresso is tamped too hard, the water flow can be very
slow or not happen at all.
The suggested force to be tamping with is 33 lb. For training
purposes, we suggest that you use your bathroom scales, with
a little practice you will find out the perfect tamping pressure.
The extraction
After tamping, place the portafilter, which holds the basket,
counterclockwise into the brew group. If water or coffee spills
out from the sides when you pull the lever down, you have eit-
her put in too much espresso grind or the portafilter is sitting
too loosely in the brew group. Once it has been tightened, pull
the lever up slowly, and then push it back down.
The result should be an aromatic, delicious espresso with a
beautiful hazel-colored crema.
Perfect espresso in
five steps.
The preparation
The espresso machine should be switched on 15 minutes
before use, so that the right temperature exists in all parts of
the machine and the needed pressure has built up. Since most
parts only really heat themselves when the espresso is being
made, we suggest putting the portafilter with basket, but
without espresso into the brew group and letting water flow
through by lifting and lowering the lever. Repeat this action
two to three times until the brew group and portafilter are hot.
The grinding
For the use of the grinder, please consider the advice offered
to you in the owner’s book of the grinder “Olympia Express
Moca”. The setting of the grinder is extremely important,
since it can alter the size of the grind. If the beans have been
ground too coarsely, the water will flow through the grind too
quickly and not all the desired aromatic parts will have been
extracted. The result is a thin espresso that is poor in aroma.
However, if the grind is too fine, the water will run through the
coffee very slowly and the espresso will taste wooden and
bitter. Endless factors, such as humidity, air pressure and qua-
lity, blend and roast temperature of the bean are of such high
importance to the outcome that there is not “the” right grind
setting.
The ideal grind setting is achieved when it takes 20 – 30 se-
conds to pull an espresso shot.
The dosage
After the grinding, it is important to fill the basket in the por-
tafilter with the right amount of espresso (0.27 oz an 0.32 oz
for a single and 0.53 oz for a double shot). Not following these
guidelines would mean that the same problems might occur
as with the too coarse or too fine espresso grind. Please pay
attention to the right choice of basket. If you select the wrong
one, the outcome can be frustrating.
