"Hacking" a cheap espresso machine for a better brew

Here is a technique I use for making a decent shot of espresso from a yard sale purchased, cheap espresso maker.

First, the final product, a delightful double shot of espresso

So the trick with espresso is that its a combination of a nice high temperature and also high pressure. A high end, multi-thousand dollar machine will let you get all dialed in and give you total control. This is not a luxury I can afford, and really if I want a really top cup of espresso, I'll go have a professional make it for me.....

So here's my espresso setup, a Krups Il Primo $4 at a yard sale, I spent 5 x that on the tamper

Add the espresso (I don't weigh it out) and tamp it in as tight as you can.

Add your water, I go with about 250 ml.

Now here's where we get all kinds of crazy.....Flip the switch to steam (STEEMIT....haha).The reason for this is that if you flip it over to "brew" the water will heat up and build pressure. As it starts to do this it starts getting pushed through the grounds and dribbling out. Taking about a minute and a half of brew time or "pull". This is not ideal and yields a very bitter brew. By letting the water heat up first, you let it get to boiling before it starts getting forced through.

I leave the cover off until it starts getting steamy, then I put it on and keep it on steam until the pressure builds enough to where the wand would be used for foaming. (you can see the condensation on the mug)

Then I flip the switch over and the "pull" takes about 25 seconds to go through, yielding about 100 ml of delicious espresso....

And we're back to where we started. I find that this method reduces the bitterness due to the much shorter brew time, and it yields a great double espresso for a cheap espresso maker.

In my spare time, I'd like to add an Arduino controller with a pressure and temperature sensor and a servo motor to "flip" open the gate that allows the water to move into the portafilter.Maybe a project down the road.

Hope you find this a helpful hack for espresso!!

Cheers