Choose, use, understand.
Come funziona una macchina, quale scegliere, come si estrae un buon caffè.
Deep dive
The 15 bar myth
Fifteen bar is the pressure the pump can reach, not the pressure the coffee comes out at. They are two different number…
Deep dive
Steam wand: panarello or professional wand
A panarello emulsifies for you and produces a puffy foam. A bare wand does nothing on its own, and precisely for that r…
Deep dive
Pre-infusion and pressure profiling
Before pushing to nine bar, wet the puck. And then, instead of holding one pressure from start to finish, decide how it…
Buying guide / pick
How to choose a bean-to-cup machine
The number of drinks on the display is the thing that matters least. What will decide whether you still use it in three…
Deep dive
Vibration or rotary pump
Two ways of pushing water to nine bar: one is cheap, fits anywhere and makes noise; the other is quiet, lasts longer an…
Buying guide / pick
How to choose a coffee grinder
It is the appliance that decides more than any other what comes out of the machine, and it is almost always the one tho…
Deep dive
Flat or conical burrs
Two geometries that grind the same bean in two different ways. The question is not which is better, but what shape the …
Deep dive
Mechanical thermostat or PID
A thermostat switches off and on around a threshold. A PID anticipates. Between the two lie the degrees that separate a…
Buying guide / pick
Bean-to-cup or portafilter machine
It is not a question of cup quality but of where your time goes: one decides for you and has to be cleaned, the other l…
Buying guide / pick
Single boiler, heat exchanger or dual boiler
Three ways of solving the same problem: espresso wants water at one temperature, steam wants it at another. How a machi…