Heading out to spend money on coffee (sometimes two or three times) has become the norm in our daily lives, while companies like Nespresso market us fiddly, environmentally unfriendly pods because they know we love our barista made coffee, but aren’t sure how to make it with the same taste and quality at home.
However, it is possible to make cafe-style espresso at home, and without an expensive coffee machine!
Perhaps you've seen an aluminium
espresso maker such as the Pezzetti. They have been around for a long time and modern day restaurant
coffee machines were actually designed around these miniature versions in order to churn out large volumes of espresso-style drinks in very little time.
The mechanism is basically the same – steam and pressure from boiling water is pumped through some packed coffee grounds, which then bubbles espresso through a valve.
Pezzetti is made in Italy and is world renown for their
coffee makers. Their aluminium machines are lightweight, totally portable and come in many colours and sizes. They are perfectly designed to protect the coffee from the boiling water so that the brew is rounded in flavour and not overly bitter.
I have the black enamel, 9 espresso volume coffee maker. Unless you truly want an individual cup coffee maker, I suggest going for the largest size to meet your requirements, as we are used to double-sized drinks here in Australia and it is no trouble to make one cup in the Pezzetti – you just take it off the heat when you have enough espresso. The coffee ground container is larger the bigger the machine, so you will use more coffee.
5 Steps to Make Barista-Style Coffee at Home
- Fill the base of the coffee maker with water. Avoid filling past the safety valve hole on the inside.
- Fill the container to the top with quality ground espresso beans and place into the top of the bottom half of the coffee maker. Pack down the espresso with a coffee press or back of a spoon.
- Screw the top half onto the bottom and place the machine onto a gas or electric burner over medium/high heat.
- In a few minutes, you will hear the coffee bubbling through the top. When you have enough for your needs, turn off the heat and pour into your cup(s).
- Serve with warmed milk or top up with hot water, as required.
To view the entire range of Pezzetti coffee makers from Italy that come in a range of sizes from small 2 cup capacities to larger 12 cups, steel or aluminium, including their fantastic gift sets click here
About the Author:
Becky Gilhespie is a food writer and former Masterchef semi-finalist. She is currently working part time as a chef, having chosen to do on the job training instead of enrolling at culinary school. Becky is a recipe writer and product tester for many household name brands via Everten (Australia’s largest online kitchenware retailer), and her own food blog,
www.eatwhatweeat.com focusses on family friendly meals with the wow factor that are healthy, fast and simple to prepare.
Becky is originally from the US but lived in London for 15 years and now resides in Sydney with her husband and two little boys. Her food is inspired a lot by her travels (and desire to travel more).
