The importance of espresso machine accessories. So you’ve got your espresso machine, but you notice that there are a few other things you need with it that perhaps you hadn’t thought about. These are the espresso machine accessories and this is what we are going to discuss today so that as soon as you get home you’ll be able to start enjoying your brand spanking new espresso machine.
You’ll likely find that if you’ve bought any decent kind of the many espresso coffee makers available out there that it will come with an espresso tamper and coffee scoop or coffee spoon. Your best bet is to recycle these. Seriously. They’re usually just made from cheap plastic and are only to prevent you from getting mad at the espresso manufacturer for not letting you get started right away enjoying coffee. This way they can tell you that you can enjoy a nice latte or cappuccino as soon as you get home with your new cappuccino machine. But you need better espresso machine accessories than that.
They’ll work in a pinch and might continue to work for a while. But if you’ve spent some good money, say a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars and you’re serious about enjoying good coffee then you’ll want to do better with your chosen espresso machine accessories than what comes with the espresso machine you just bought.
Espresso machine accessories you need
One of the first espresso accessories you’ll want if you just bought one of the semi automatic espresso machines is an espresso coffee grinder. An espresso grinder is one of the most important espresso machine accessories that you’ll need. And I want to encourage you from not using your blade grinder or blade chopper that you have at home which you’ve been using to chop up nuts and seeds. That’s all it should be used for. Don’t let the poor coffee bean anywhere near it, it’ll ruin your coffee.
What you want to get is a burr grinder and ideally you’ll want a conical burr grinder because they last longer than the disc burr grinders. A KitchenAid coffee grinder is a great choice. That brand is reliable and priced right. There are other brands out there too, choose according to your tastes and aesthetic preferences making sure you’re getting a burr grinder as these grind the coffee beans most efficiently and effectively and consistently for better flavor extraction. If you feel like being old school or you want one for your cabin, you can still buy a really good and manageable manual coffee grinder.
It should go wtihout saying that you bought your new espresso machine to enjoy your favorite coffee, so you have the coffee beans. If you have a manual espresso machine something else to consider would be to buy some coffee pods or espresso pods. These will be a nice treat when you just don’t feel like grinding and making your latte from scratch. Not only that, but the coffee pod comes in a variety of flavors and is made by a bunch of different manufacturers so you can enjoy practically any flavor you’d like.
Espresso machine accessories and automatic machines
Now if you have a fully automatic espresso machine or what they call a super automatic espresso machine then you won’t need either of these espresso machine accessories – the coffee grinder or coffee pods, because your machine won’t use them.
You also won’t need an espresso tamper or coffee spoon. A good espresso tamper such as a Rattleware or Reg Barber espresso tamper is worth its weight in gold if you’re looking at enjoying the best coffee of your life. It is one of the fundamental espresso machine accessories that any good Barista shouldn’t be without. It’ll make extracting and learning how to extract the perfect flavor from your espresso beans that much easier. The key is that not all portafilters (where the ground espresso goes) are the same size so you’ll want to be sure to ask the sales person or call your espresso machine manufacturer to find out the correct size which can be anywhere from a 49mm espresso tamper to a 58mm espresso tamper. So there is some room for making errors if you don’t get the right one.
The last piece of espresso machine accessories you should get would be a coffee spoon. A dedicated coffee measuring spoon or set of coffee measuring spoons are very handy and won’t impart any untoward flavors if you’re using any old spoon such as the one that might have a subtle residue of cayenne pepper on it form the chili you made last night. A silver coffee spoon or stainless tell coffee spoon are the best choices if you’re going to do this right.
That’s pretty much all you need to get started, but as you grow in your coffee knowledge and enjoyment of crafting that perfect beverage, you might want to investigate purchasing and investing in other coffee accessories such as a knock box. But we’ll leave those espresso machine accessories for another day.