Pursuit of Perfect Crema

Mypressi Twist V2, the one I really want to have.

We got a new espresso machine in the office two weeks ago, and since then I have been possessed to find the best condition for coffee brewing.

I am fan since I was a college student. I loved the combination of cheese cake and espresso (for weight control, I am not into cheese cake as I used to be), then double-shot espresso became my favorite. However, it was just a habit that I couldn't afford to do on daily basis. Monthly or quarterly, maybe. And I never had a good chance to know how to brew a cup of perfect espresso to me.

When I was working in America, I finally realized how much I loved espresso. Every morning someone would make coffee in the rest area of the factory and I never took a sip of it. I could tell it didn't meet my standard to coffee by the aroma filling in the room. Not even once in five years. Americano was for caffeine supply, not for taste. But the espresso maker didn't appear in our kitchen for two reasons: I didn't know which one to buy, and Helen didn't drink coffee because the minimal dose of caffeine would keep her awake almost all night long laying in bed .

Rancilio Silvia, the model we have in the office.

Two years ago, we met our friend Su-Fang who has a Nespresso machine at home. My flexible working schedule allowed Helen and I to visit her occasionally in the morning to have a cup of espresso. The desire to have one was sprouting in my mind. After struggling for a year, I entered this company with a nice semi-automatic espresso machine in the office. I began the coffee routine every morning till two weeks ago.

The new espresso machine was delivered to the office to replace the old one. It's Ranchilio Silvia, a well known best espresso maker for home or office in the world. Everyone was excited to see it installed, but the excited last for two days. I started to discuss the crema problem with a colleague who drank coffee as much as I did.

For some reason, we just couldn't generate good crema floating on the top of the coffee, neither the aroma. It was frustrating. I tried almost everything I could thought of to operate the machine, as I did to the analytic instrument in the lab. I tried different forces to press the powder, flushing the passage of the hot water to preheat it and make sure the temperature of the first drop of water reaching the powder was ideal. None was working. Even the flow rate from the spout was obviously wrong.

I called for help. I was lucky to have a friend well experienced in making perfect coffee. His first response was "how could it be possible not able to make crema with this machine" as heard my description of the problem. He explained how the crema was created chemically, physically, and mechanically, and gave me some advises to try.

I did. The improvement was remarkable. The crema was not even close to acceptable but at least I got a layer floating on the espresso. More works need to be done before getting satisfied. It was a beginning, at least I could say so.