Can I use regular coffee in an Espresso machine?
Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at
6:40 am
Can I use Starbucks/Kivu/Peet brand finely ground coffee in an Espresso Machine?
I just don’t want to buy a coffee grinder and beans, seems like too much trouble.
Also is there a big taste difference between grinding your own beans and just buying ground coffee?
Tagged with: coffee grinder • espresso machine • ground coffee • kivu • peet • starbucks • taste difference
Filed under: Espresso
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Real espresso machines need a very finely ground coffee. If the coffee isn’t ground fine enough or compressed enough the water will tunnel through the gaps instead of evenly flowing through. This will over extract and make a bitter shot.
Cheap espresso machines don’t have enough pressure for real espresso. For those you can use regular but it won’t be the same.
Ground coffee goes stale quickly and espresso ground does so even faster since it has more surface area. Grinding fresh is always best, especially for espresso and Turkish coffee.
hi yes you can i think its the same taste
No, preground coffee just won’t cut it for espresso. Chances are, if you find it too much trouble to even grind your own beans, then you won’t make espresso very often anyway.
YES, buying fresh roasted coffee and grinding with a quality grinder just before brewing is the only way to get great coffee! Preground is prestale! Some preground is pretty fresh, but it only stays that way for your first pot. There is no way to properly store already ground coffee…it will stale within a day! Think of the coffee bean as the container for the precious flavor oils inside. Once this container is broken (ground) the oils begin to age and break down, leaving you with stale coffee in about 20 minutes! Check out this video about it http://www.coffeenate.com/how-to-properly-store-coffee/
you can youse any coffee as long as it is a fine ground.
Buying a coffee beans and grinder is a big trouble, but the result of going through the trouble is countles time better than getting a pre ground coffee.
Firstly, coffee beans stays fresh only 5 to 7 days after roasting (I roast coffee myself and it is really noticeable if you brew even an only 7 days old coffee)
Coffee start oxidizing and become more stale and lose all its aroma. And since ground coffee have a larger surface contact with air, it will lose its flavor even faster. A fresh coffee lose its flavor within less than 1 hour after it is grinded.
Also dont go for franchise coffee shop’s beans, by the time you buy the coffee from the shop maybe they have been sitting there for more than 7 days.
Search for a local roastery, thats where you will be able to get the freshest coffee.
Hope it helps, send me a emal if you have any more question about coffee