Hospitality - Cafe Skills
Prepare and Serve Espresso Coffee
What is Grinding?
Grinding is crushing the coffee beans so that the hot water can extract the coffee.
Coffee can be ground to different grades (sizes). The grade of the grind affects the time the water takes to move through the coffee and how much flavour it can get out. If the grind is too coarse (big) or too fine (small), it affects the flavour and quality of the coffee.
Coarse - Very distinct particles of coffee, like heavy grained, chunky salt
Medium - Gritty, like coarse sand
Fine - Smoother to the touch, a little finer than granular sugar or table salt
Extra fine - Finer than sugar but not quite powdered. Grains should still be noticeable to the touch
Turkish - Powdered, like flour
To make good espresso coffee, you need an extra fine grind, and to do this correctly you will need a coffee grinder.
The Coffee Grinder
Flavour and Aroma deteriorate quickly, so to get the best flavour for your coffee, it must be freshly ground. The success of the coffee depends on the coffee is ground. That is why the grinder settings need to be perfect to achieve the correct grind size.
There are different brands and types of grinders.
 Blade grinders: The blades chop the coffee beans. They are not suitable for use with espresso machines, as the grind is not even.
 Burr grinders: These grind the coffee beans between two rotating parts. This crushes the beans into grounds that are the same size, so it is suitable for use with espresso machines. There are many different brands.
The two main parts of the coffee grinder are:
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 hopper – you put the beans in the hopper ready for grinding
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 dosage chamber (doser) – the ground coffee is transferred to the dosage chamber when it is needed. A lever connected to the feed system dispenses a single cup measure of ground coffee.
Here are the parts on a typical grinder:
Preparing The Grinder
Before you start making coffe, you need to prepare your grinder.
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Check the inside of the hopper is clean and free of moisture.
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Fill the estimated amount of beans needed for the service period. Never fill more than enough for 2 hours, as the beans will start to go stale.
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Check the grind setting. It should be set to fine or superfine for espresso. Always do a quick grind test to check.
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Run the grinder so you can fill the doser.
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Check weigh the coffee in your doser. It should be set to dispense exactly 7g of coffee each time, which is the exact amount of coffee needed for one espresso.
Cleaning the Grinder
It is essential that you clean and empty the grinder daily. Wach the video below for a few tips.