When I decided to finally dive into making espresso at home, I knew there was a steep learning curve. I spent hours reading about pressure, temperature, and extraction times. But one piece of advice kept coming up over and over: puck prep is everything.
Living in Hawaii, I have a complicated relationship with hot coffee. I love the ritual of a warm cup in the early morning but it doesnt take long for the sun to heat things up.
When you walk into a coffee shop and look at the menu, the options for espresso with milk can feel endless. You’ve got lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites, macchiatos, and whatever seasonal sugary invention is currently trending. For years, I defaulted to a latte simply because it was the safe bet. Though thanks to the 90's movie "You've Got Mail", it was the Caramel Macchiato that got me started.
For years, my morning ritual was simple: drip coffee.
If you have an espresso machine at home, you probably have a plastic "tamper" that came in the box. It feels like a toy, it’s light as a feather, and it is almost certainly ruining your coffee.
Look, I get it. Buying gifts for people like me, the "coffee snobs", can be frustrating. We speak in weird acronyms (WDT? RDT?), we weigh our water, and we flinch when we see a blade grinder or grocery store beans. You probably want to buy us a cute mug or a bag of "Holiday Blend" from the grocery store.
If you have ever Googled "best home espresso machine," or walked into a high-end kitchen store, you have seen it. It looks shiny, professional, and undeniably convenient.
My journey with coffee actually started over 20 years ago in Australia. I had the chance to work in a small shop there, and if you know anything about Australian coffee culture, you know they don't mess around.