Make Espresso Coffee at Home - Is it affordable?

For the coffee lover near you

If you enjoy fresh ground coffee, this might be for you

If you enjoy fresh ground espresso coffee, this post might give you a new idea for how to brew fresh espresso coffee at home, in an affordable way.

Espresso Coffee and Coffee Beans

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People get together, visit, take time off work, sit around enjoying each other's company, and drink coffee! I have looked at a wide variety of different solutions and products to make rich espresso coffee at home. Many of the methods being advertised include purchasing an expensive coffee machine. If you are used to making drip or perk coffee at home, and you start to review methods of making espresso coffee, you too will find what I have. Expensive machines and equipment. 

How did I answer the question? How do I make a delicious cup of espresso dark roasted coffee at home, without expensive equipment?

Ground Coffee vs Whole Bean Coffee

Coffee is found at your local grocery store. If you have drunk coffee for any length of time you will already be familiar with the common coffee products. Most ground coffee in the grocery store is ground to be used with drip coffee makers or percolators. Espresso coffee is a much finer grind of coffee and requires a different process to make coffee. 

If you have a drip coffee maker and are using ground coffee, the process is pretty straightforward. The coffee machine will have some sort of coffee basket, where you put your coffee. The basket will have either a screen or you will have to use a filter to put your coffee into. The basket keeps the coffee grounds from running into your pot with your coffee as the hot water drips down over the grounds. After adding coffee to your basket, you add water to the water reservoir, close up the lids, put an empty pot below to catch the dripping coffee, and turn the pot on. The coffee machine heats up the water, which then drips down over the coffee grounds, and runs down into your pot. Soon the water reservoir is empty of water, the pot is full, and the coffee is kept warm from some burner below the pot.

To make espresso coffee, the process requires pressure instead of just running over and through the coffee grounds, it is forced through under pressure. The coffee grounds are much finer in espresso brewing to take advantage of the pressurized water being forced through the grounds. If the grounds are not fine enough, the pressurized water just blasts past the grounds, and you get a weak cup of coffee. 

You can buy ground espresso coffee at your grocery store or online. There are some very delicious options. One big advantage of espresso coffee made at home is that you can grind your coffee fresh by buying coffee beans, using a coffee grinder, and chopping up a fine coffee grind to make your espresso. There are some very good reasons to do this. Freshness in the taste of the coffee really stands out when you grind your coffee fresh. 

Once you have your espresso coffee, ground fine, how are you going to brew it? You can not use fine-ground espresso coffee in a drip coffee maker, as it requires pressure for the water to flow through it. If you put a fine espresso ground coffee into a drip coffee maker, the coffee grounds will stop the water flow, plugging it up, and the water will overflow your basket, making a real mess. I have tried this, and it is just a huge mess. 

Without an expensive specialized espresso coffee machine, how can you make espresso coffee at home?

The good news here is, and the best answer I have found is, you can use a Moka-style coffee pot. There are a variety of different manufacturers that produce this type of coffee pot, and prices vary, but in general, they are priced way below specialized espresso coffee machines. Why are they so much cheaper? The Moka-type espresso coffee maker uses heat from your stovetop to brew your coffee. In this type of espresso maker, there is a separate water vessel that gets heated up to boiling, and the design of the Moka pot forces the hot water under pressure through a separate container that holds your coffee grounds, before pushing the fresh espresso up into a holding container on the top of the Moka pot. 

Some of the biggest advantages of using a Moka pot espresso coffee maker are no filters. There is a coffee basket that you clean out, and refill, but no filters. You can use both fresh ground and ground coffee from the store to make coffee. Cleaning is easy, just rinse out the coffee filter area and the coffee holding area, and you are done cleaning.

So how did I go about finding a Moka-type espresso pot and learning how to use it? I stumbled on it, to be honest. I had seen the Moka pots in some movies and tv shows in the past but I did not realize they were espresso pots. I thought they were just tall percolator coffee pots. Doing some web searches, I found some information and decided to try it for myself.

I was at this point fortunate enough to have saved up and bought myself a Grosche Milano Moka pot, Stovetop Espresso Maker, Greca Coffee Maker, Stovetop Coffee Maker, and espresso maker Percolator (Black, 12 cups) from Amazon.

I bought the Grosche espresso stovetop coffee maker online. This coffee maker has been a game-changer. It is fast, easy, requires no filters, is easy to clean and maintain, and makes a really delicious pot of coffee. You can use espresso grind coffee that has already been ground, but you can also use a coffee grinder to create freshly ground coffee. It came with very clear instructions on how to use it. 

The Grosche Milano Moka Pot, stovetop espresso maker, and manual coffee percolator machine are all available. It is more user-friendly than electric espresso machines and produces a rich cup of Italian-style Moka coffee. The stovetop espresso coffee maker GROSCHE Milano Moka is made of food-grade anodized aluminum.

The easy-to-use Moka Espresso Coffee Maker and Cuban Coffee Maker work with all gas, electric, and propane camping stoves but not induction. It makes Moka coffee on glass top stoves, but it heats slowly because it isn't magnetic. It's a simple stovetop espresso maker, percolator, or expresso coffee maker. It's also referred to as a Moka pot, a Moka coffee maker, or a Cafetera Cubana.

Grosche Stovetop Espresso Maker

With the Milano Moka Stovetop Espresso Maker, you can easily make Moka coffee, also known as a low-pressure stovetop espresso, at home. To make lattes or cappuccinos at home with this coffee percolator stovetop, simply add milk from a milk steamer or milk frother. It is constructed with a high-quality silicone Moka pot gasket.

A safety valve made in Italy has been used in the pot and the safety valve guards against excessive pressure buildup. The handle on this Moka pot is large and soft to the touch, with a finger burn guard.

This Moka pot also functions as a Greek Greca coffee maker. The Moka Express is the home espresso machine coffee maker and Moka pot that everyone should own, in my opinion. It has a silicone gasket and a variety of colors and styles. Use your favorite coffee and double-walled glass espresso cups to experiment. This is the home espresso coffee that every coffee enthusiast should try. Again, this is my opinion.

What exactly is a Greca for coffee? The Italian coffee maker, also known as the greca or macchinetta, is an espresso machine that uses steam to make coffee.

Previously, if I wanted an espresso coffee, I had to go somewhere like a restaurant or coffee shop to get it. I once looked at various purchase options for espresso makers, but all of the options seemed pretty expensive compared to just buying coffee at a coffee shop.

Most of the options for making espresso at home were not very affordable. One of the biggest changes was being able to grind coffee beans and use fresh ground coffee right away. The flavors and aromas from the coffee are so much better with freshly ground coffee.

So I have my Grosche stovetop espresso coffee maker; now what do I do to make espresso coffee?

Next, you need to have coffee to put into your espresso pot. Espresso coffee is a finer grind of coffee, and you can purchase it already ground if you choose. You can also grind your own coffee beans to use in your Moka pot.

I did experience a false start recently when a friend of mine thoughtfully brought me a used "coffee grinder" they had bought at a secondhand store. It turns out the coffee bean grinder was actually a Nespresso milk frother. I woke up one morning after getting the gift, opened up a bag of coffee beans to grind, put it into the Nespresso milk frother to grind the beans, and figured out it was not a coffee bean grinder. Google search is your friend! The best news was that now I had a milk frother to use with my espresso coffee. Yay!

I was also fortunate to receive as a gift a new OXO Brew conical burr coffee grinder. That same person who had gifted me the Milk Frother made good on the gift by getting the OXO Brew shortly after finding out that the original gift grinder was a frother!

The video below is a short video where I introduce the OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder and demonstrate using it with the Grosche espresso stovetop coffee maker to make a cup of coffee. The video shows you just how easy it is to make a delicious pot of espresso at home.

So with the Grosche Moka pot, the OXO Brew conical burr coffee grinder, and the Nespresso milk frother, I can make a cup of delicious espresso coffee from start to finish at home.

The entire process looks like this. Below is my rough espresso coffee recipe using the equipment I just mentioned.

What you will need - 

Grosche Moka Espresso Coffee Pot

Whole bean coffee or ground espresso coffee

OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

Nespresso Milk Frother

Whole coffee beans - 

The first step is to obtain your espresso. One of my favorite off-the-shelf espresso coffees is Café Bustelo Espresso Dark Roast Ground Coffee. This is a common brand, not in any fancy packaging, that can be found just about everywhere and can be delivered. It has a predictable, consistent grind and flavor without any noticeable off-flavors. I do like my coffee strong, so this is my opinion.

For coffee beans, I have recently tried a coffee from the Kicking Horse Coffee brand. The specific name is “Grizzly Claw, Dark Roast, Whole Bean, in a 2.2-pound bag of Certified organic, fair trade, and kosher coffee." I got this from Amazon directly. I found it to be stronger than the Cafe Bustelo Expresso Dark Roast, but it was also very rich, and I have very much enjoyed it.

Kicking Horse Grizzly Claw Coffee Beans

You now have your coffee. If you purchased whole beans, it is now time to grind the beans. The OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder is a simple machine to use at home. You open the top of the machine, and simply pour in your beans to grind. Replace the top lid, and rotate the bean basket to adjust for your desired grind. Turning the grind about 8 to 10 clicks up from fine works really well in the Grosche Moka pot for my espresso. Next, make sure your catch container is firmly in place at the bottom front of the grinder, set the turn knob on the front for the amount of time you want to grind, and push the button in the middle of the time selector. The grinder runs for the time you selected and stops automatically. Freshly ground coffee is deposited into the catch basin on the bottom front of the grinder. 

Great! Now you have coffee, either freshly ground with the OXO, or already ground from the store. 

Next, you load up your Grosche Moka pot. This is an easy process, you simply unscrew the bottom of the pot from the top, and remove the coffee basket from the bottom half. You fill the bottom container with fresh water up to but below the pressure relief valve on the side of the container. Next, you replace the coffee basket into the bottom of the pot. 

Now you can scoop the ground coffee you have, into the coffee basket, up to the top of the basket. You do not have to stamp down or pack the grounds into the basket, and the instructions recommend not packing the coffee in.

OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

The next step requires that you take the top of the Grosche Moka pot and screw it back together with the lower half of the pot, making a complete pot. This is then placed on the stovetop or heat source, and you set the heat under the pot. 

Once the water in the pot has heated up enough, it will move up from the bottom of the Moka pot, through the coffee grounds, and into the top container of the Moka pot. You will hear the water turning into steam as the brewing is nearing completion, and you can turn off the heat or remove the pot from the heat once you start seeing steam coming out from the top.

I usually prepare the cup that I am going to drink my coffee from while the coffee is brewing. I use honey as my sweetener, and I like to add cream of some sort to make a thick, rich cup of coffee. Here is where the last item on my equipment list comes in. The Nespresso Milk Frother.

Nespresso Milk Frother

The Nespresso Milk Frother will whip up milk into a creamy froth that you can add to your espresso. Hot or cold milk froth is quickly prepared with a single touch. 1 button for all preparations, 1-second button pressure for hot milk or hot milk froth, and 2-second button pressure for cold milk froth. The maximum hot and cold milk froth capacity: 4. 1 oz. and the maximum hot milk capacity: 8. 1 oz. Auto shut off when finished. There is a non-stick surface inside the container. If the quality of the milk froth is not up to standard, it is recommended that you use refrigerated whole or low-fat milk. Make sure that the jug is clean. This frother quickly heats milk to temperatures ranging from 160 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. So if you want froth in your fresh espresso, this is an option.

The one thing I would like to point out concerning the frother is, that it is the most expensive item on the list and, depending on your desire for frothed milk, could easily be replaced by less expensive options. The operation is simple enough. There is a single button to push!

Great, so this is how I make fresh espresso coffee at home, and I do this on a daily basis. I hope this information has helped you decide if you want to go down the same path that I have to make espresso at home. 

From a financial perspective, if you regularly purchase expresso coffee from a local restaurant or coffee house, you can pay for all the items listed here pretty quickly if you start making your own instead of paying for it.

Cheers!

Now that you have your espresso figured out, you might enjoy reading some of my other posts below - 

Easy Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

 

Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Scrambled Eggs