WHAT ESPRESSO MACHINE IS BEST FOR YOU?
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Espresso Machine Boiler Types
Learn everything you need to know about boiler types before assembling your espresso set-up.
Pour Over Brew Method Demystified
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What is Drip Coffee?
Discover the nuances of coffee brewing and get the right brewer for you.
A Beginner's Guide to Coffee Grinders
Get a grasp on grinders. Know their burr type, materials, and the features your machine needs to brew a consistent shot.
Coffee Flavor Affected By Grinders
Learn about coffee grinders affect the taste of your coffee.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHOOSING COFFEE
Start your journey into the wonderful world of specialty coffee and espresso with this diverse collection of beans.
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Browse our extensive selection of gourmet coffee and espresso beans. Whether you’re looking for whole bean, pre-ground coffee, decaf, single-serve capsules or ESE Pods, we have it all.
Scale in Dual-Boiler Machines
For proper machine maintenance, we stock genuine parts and premium care products.
Support Library
Don't know what part you need? Check our support wiki for part diagrams and guides to help troubleshoot issues.
BWT Water Filters for Espresso Machines
Build the perfect coffee bar and make sure it stays that way with a state of the art water filtration system.
The Importance of Espresso Tampers
Choosing a quality tamper is often overlooked as an important consideration of brewing good espresso.
Technical Support
Discover useful specs, troubleshooting guides, and brewing tips from our huge support library.
Whole Latte Love on Youtube
With over 1,000 videos, our channel has everything from espresso machine reviews, tech and maintenance guides, coffee recipes, and more!
Machine Video Library
We’ve taken our expert YouTube videos and carefully collected them into specific playlists for each machine.
Profitec Pro 500 PID vs Quick Mill Arnos
It's time for another showdown between two great espresso machines, this time in the heat exchanger category.
Whole Latte Love Blog
Advice, staff picks, mythbusting, and more from the Internet’s leading coffee experts. Let us help you.
by Whole Latte Love Updated: March 12, 2019 1 min read
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You might not have known it, but you can actually use your espresso machine to prepare a couple of drinks that similar to drip coffee: Americanos and Cafe Cremas. Both of these drinks use the espresso brewing process which forces hot water under pressure through finely ground coffee. The resulting beverages have similar yet slightly different flavor profiles when compared to traditional drip coffee. While an Americano is a diluted shot of espresso, a Caffe Crema is a long brewed espresso where all the water is passed thru the coffee using the espresso brewing process.
An Americano is a very straightforward drink. Espresso is prepared normally in a mug with hot water added to it. There’s no standard as to how much espresso or how much water but a 3 to 1 water to espresso ratio is a good place to start. In Australia, an inverted version of the Americano exists called the Long Black. Unlike the Americano, a Long Black has the water added to your mug first with a shot of espresso brewed over it. This helps to preserve the layer of crema produced by the espresso brewing process.
Cafe Crema became popular in Southern Switzerland and Northern Italy in the 1980’s. It’s a 6 to 8 ounce drink. To make a cafe crema, the coffee used is ground coarser than would be for a standard espresso and/or tamped lighter, to alter the flow of water through the coffee and influence the extraction. Typically, you’d be looking for the same total extraction time of 20 to 30 seconds as when pulling a double shot - and stopping when the shot blondes. There are variants to this like a caffe lungo where the coffee is extracted longer out, for 35 to 40 seconds.
The next time you've got a guest who prefers a drink closer in size to a standard American coffee, give an americano or cafe crema a try. You likely find they produce a richer and more complex cup than if you prepared the same coffee with a drip brewer.
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