☕️ Let’s talk coffee baskets!
There are two main types of coffee baskets: pressurised and non-pressurised. These baskets come in a variety of sizes, each designed to hold a different amount of coffee grounds.
The difference between pressurised and precision baskets is that pressurised baskets are designed for use with coarsely ground coffee. They are often used in entry-level espresso machines or with lower quality grinders that can't grind fine enough or the coffee machine can't push water through a finer grind. These baskets offer more resistance to achieve an appropriate flow rate and build the pressure needed to extract CO2 for crema. However, I still recommend investing in a better grinder and using precision baskets for the best results.
How coffee baskets effect your coffee ?
When brewing espresso, the coffee puck creates resistance to the water flow from the group-head, but the basket also plays a role in this resistance. Baskets are mostly solid with small holes throughout that create further resistance to the water flow.
It has been shown that if you use a lower amount of coffee grounds, such as 14 grams, you will need more resistance in your baskets for better extraction of your espresso and a more optimal flow rate. This is in contrast to brewing with 18 grams of coffee grounds, which would require less resistance.
The other reason your baskets comes in different size is because you want to be able to fit more coffee into a coffee basket without your coffee grounds touching the shower head as it may disturb your puk and causing channeling in your espresso.
You can always under dose a basket like putting 20g of coffee into a 22g basket. The downside of this is in the end your coffee puk will be watery and loose results harder to knock it out and clean it.
To assess the quality of your basket, hold it up to a light and inspect the holes. Inconsistencies in the hole sizes or holes that are not punched through are signs of a poorly made basket, which is common with cheaper espresso machines. Investing in a better basket will significantly improve the espresso extraction and result in a more balanced and sweeter taste.
🔎 Cafe in the spotlight
Espresso Embassy
📍Budapest, Arany János u. 15, 1051 Hungary
⏰ Mon - Fri: 7:30am - 4:00pm , Sat - Sun: 8:00am-6:00pm
One of Budapest most well know Specialty coffee shops. Espresso Embassy open they doors in 2012 being one of the first Speciality coffee shops in Hungary. Tibor Várady the founder of espresso embassy open his first shop in a small corner of a design shop and it ended up No 1 on Tripadvisor’s Budapest restaurant list. Then he moved on to open Espresso Embassy, a standalone shop, which is held as one of the prime coffee destinations in Hungary. In the meantime Tibor earned a high positions on different coffee related world championships, and recently started judging championship as well. These achievements kept Espresso Embassy to be one of the best specialty cafes in Hungary to this day.
They coffee beans from Casino Mocca a well know specialty coffee roaster in Hungary established in 2013.
If you walk into Espresso Embassy today you will find well experienced baristas serving espressos, lattes to filter coffees. You also find a large selection of Single origins and Blend coffees that you can enjoy there or take the beans home.
Since opening the doors in 2012 they have gone through some renovations and extend the cafe next door to give them much larger space to and a refreshed look to help serve they delicious coffee to more people.
If you find your self in Hungary and looking for a good coffee than you must put this place up on must visit list.
👨🍳 Recipe of the week
Sparkling Mint Espresso
Something different and refreshing to spice up hot summer day
Ingredients:
Ice
Bunch of ice
Sparkling water
Brown sugar
cocktail shaker
Step 1: Brew a single or a double shot of espresso
Step 2 : Add the espresso , 7-8 leaves of mint, ice and brown sugar to the cocktail shaker than shake it.
Step 3 : Strain your freshly made coffee mix into a glass. Than filled up with sparkling water pour over a spoon slowly.
Step 4: Decorated wit a few leaves of mint than Enjoy it!