gerrym Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Las Vegas, NV Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Tue Dec 19, 2006, 5:04pm Subject: Cuban Coffee in an Espresso Machine?!
Ok here's the deal, I'm cuban and I love cuban coffee. No one makes cuban coffee like my mom! :) She's a purist who thinks the "cafetera" is too high tech. She makes it in a metal pot and a cotton drip filter, no joke, caveman style! At any rate, the coffee is second to none.
Problem is I don't see my mom as often as I'd like and my wife is not cuban. That means Gerry has to fend for himelf! For the last 3 years I've been using the cheap $100 Krups Coffeemaker (Krups "ll Caffé Duomo) we got at Target, and although not as good as my mom's coffee, it's not bad. I mix about half and half coffee and sugar in the metal filter and fill the carafe to the number 2 level and viola! Well...for my birthday my wife decides to buy me a "new and improved" espresso machine. She buys me a new Krups stainless steel model (XP2070), I think it cost like $399 at Williams Sonoma. Aside from the fact that it can store the water, it seems to be a huge step back in the quality of the coffee. First, the metal filter is only half as large as it used to be so there's not enough capacity to put in enough espressso and sugar in the filter. This is the key to good Cuban Coffee, a taste that simply cannot be equalled to adding sugar to a regular shot of espresso after the fact.
This brings me to a couple of questions:
1) Do any of you make cuban coffee? If so, how do you do it? 2) Are there any espresso machines that specialize in cuban coffee? In particular, one where you can mix the sugar and coffee *BEFORE* it's brewed.
I wouldn't mind paying even more (maybe up to around $1000) for a machine as long as it makes good cuban coffee and it makes the process easier. The water storage of the new Krups machine is a big improvment but not being able to mix the sugar and coffee in the filter before it's brewed makes it pretty much unusable to me.
CoffeeRoastersClub Senior Member Joined: 6 Jul 2005 Posts: 2,137 Location: Vernon Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Vintage La Pavoni Lever... Grinder: KitchenAid Pro Line Burr... Vac Pot: Vintage Silex Drip: Aeropress, French Press Roaster: "EL SUPREMO" w/QuikSPIN-CRC...
Posted Fri Dec 22, 2006, 2:04pm Subject: Re: Cuban Coffee in an Espresso Machine?!
gerrym Said:
Ok here's the deal, I'm cuban and I love cuban coffee. No one makes cuban coffee like my mom! :) She's a purist who thinks the "cafetera" is too high tech. She makes it in a metal pot and a cotton drip filter, no joke, caveman style! At any rate, the coffee is second to none.
...snip... I wouldn't mind paying even more (maybe up to around $1000) for a machine as long as it makes good cuban coffee and it makes the process easier. The water storage of the new Krups machine is a big improvment but not being able to mix the sugar and coffee in the filter before it's brewed makes it pretty much unusable to me.
Hello. The only time I ever had real Cuban coffee was at a diner in Key West, Florida. It was a Cuban espresso, and was done with their lever-pull espresso machine. I would think a comparable machine would be the La Pavoni. However, I understand that is a difficult machine to master.
Posted Sun Dec 24, 2006, 5:40am Subject: Re: Cuban Coffee in an Espresso Machine?!
We have a new Cuban cafe that I tried last night. It's owned by a young cuban couple and everything is made from scratch. Obviously I will be a repeat customer, but not just for the food as I had a Cuban coffee there and was most impressed. It was made in a commercial Rancilio espresso machine. The portafilter was loaded, leveled, VERY lightly tamped and then topped off. He placed a small amount of coffee in a pitcher and then drew the shot which was under 10 seconds and yielded about 5 or 6 ounces. I haven't tried to make it at home, yet. I will probably buy some beans there (the brands excapes me now) which they sell for $10.
Hope this helps. Have fun experimenting, I post my own results in a few days.
Yirga Senior Member Joined: 3 Feb 2006 Posts: 659 Location: Big Bend Expertise: Just starting
Posted Sun Dec 24, 2006, 6:45am Subject: Re: Cuban Coffee in an Espresso Machine?!
gerrym Said:
. . . 1) Do any of you make cuban coffee? If so, how do you do it? 2) Are there any espresso machines that specialize in cuban coffee? In particular, one where you can mix the sugar and coffee *BEFORE* it's brewed. . . . Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thx.
I make it, kinda not too often -- mostly to get a flash-back to more kinder, gentler times spent in and around, Little Havana, in Miami. I use a moka pot (the Brikka pot, I hear, is a slight improvement -- either kind is inexpensive – moka = ~$20; Brikka, 4-cup = ~$50). I just pour stove-top, "espresso" -- actually, just very strong coffee, into demi tasse cups and use a fairly large ratio of sugar added and stirred-in with one of those very small spoons (check at: espressoparts.com .) But, my very favorite method is to place sugar for a moka pot full of coffee into a pre-heated ceramic pitcher, add just enough coffee to make a very thick paste, then stir the paste vigorously until it becomes thick and white, then slowly add the remainder of coffee while gently stirring -- a delicate froth should form in the pitcher, then pour into pre-heated (in simmering water in a stove top pot) demi tasse cups, and sip (experiment with coffee to sugar ratio, for your taste).
Espresso based Cuban Coffee (with added sugar) can often be (for me) a delight, although I'm mostly a straight (nothing added) espresso drinker (provided it's a decent shot -- fresh roast, grind that'll give ~2 oz. in ~20-25 sec.)
I'm sure the world is close to coming to an end, when I'm telling a Cuban how I make Cuban Coffee! But, I understand how a loving son can still be in search of coffee to even come close to what his Mom used to make. I've been through this before with a Puerto Rican friend! His Mom made both drip pot and moka pot coffee he was always trying to duplicate! I kept telling him -- it's the, MOTHER'S LOVE, you can't duplicate and never will, on your own!
gerrym Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Las Vegas, NV Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Mon Dec 25, 2006, 12:20am Subject: Re: Cuban Coffee in an Espresso Machine?!
old442 Said:
We have a new Cuban cafe that I tried last night. It's owned by a young cuban couple and everything is made from scratch. Obviously I will be a repeat customer, but not just for the food as I had a Cuban coffee there and was most impressed. It was made in a commercial Rancilio espresso machine. The portafilter was loaded, leveled, VERY lightly tamped and then topped off. He placed a small amount of coffee in a pitcher and then drew the shot which was under 10 seconds and yielded about 5 or 6 ounces. I haven't tried to make it at home, yet. I will probably buy some beans there (the brands excapes me now) which they sell for $10.
Hope this helps. Have fun experimenting, I post my own results in a few days.
Thanks for the advice, however I have noticed that the espresso that has sugar added to it after it's been brewed tastes completely different than the one that has been brewed with the sugar added to the coffee. So after a lot of time spent reading many posts on this website I am left with a couple of questions.
Is there any machine (under $1000) where I can brew more than 1 shot of espresso with sugar added? If not, what do any of the popular machines (e.g. Gaggia, Rancilio, etc.) do that my new Krups XP2070 doesn't do? Thanks for the help, and Merry XMas!
Posted Fri Dec 29, 2006, 11:53am Subject: Re: Cuban Coffee in an Espresso Machine?!
gerrym Said:
Thanks for the advice, however I have noticed that the espresso that has sugar added to it after it's been brewed tastes completely different than the one that has been brewed with the sugar added to the coffee. So after a lot of time spent reading many posts on this website I am left with a couple of questions.
You could try packing some sugar in with the grounds on a Brikka moka pot. That might approximate the taste a bit. The taste your after comes from the sugar caramelizing a bit under pressure. the problem with doing that is that it lends to channeling a bit in making espresso, and you put a bit more wear on your group.
gerrym Said:
Is there any machine (under $1000) where I can brew more than 1 shot of espresso with sugar added? If not, what do any of the popular machines (e.g. Gaggia, Rancilio, etc.) do that my new Krups XP2070 doesn't do? Thanks for the help, and Merry XMas!
A 'shot' is a subjective term. Most prosumer machines work best for 'double' or 'triple' baskets -- where you have a basket with 12-18 or 17-23 grams of coffee in it. double spouted portafilter spouts are used to seperate into 2 drinks. but most people around here are pulling a 'ristretto', where you're doing the volume of 1 shot with the a double or triple basket.
some people also consider a shot to be 1oz, others 2, and more somewhere in between.
gerrym Said:
Ok, how about this, are there *any* pump espresso machines that make more than two shots at a time?
gaggias are known for being the cheapest thing that can make a good drink RELIABLY. you might be able to get something out of your krups, but i don't know.
gaggias, and the krups, use a thermoblock. its a piece of metal that is heated, with a path for water drilled through it. cold water is brought to temp by passing through the block. needless to say, temp stability isn't always the greatest, and you have a long 'recoil' time between shots.
silvia is pretty much a consumer machine made with a bunch of commercial parts. like some of the pricier gaggias, you get a 3 way solenoid valve to relieve pressure, and a pump pressure regulator- so you're at 9bars instead of 15 (pumps tend to be rated at 8 or 15 bars max pressure)
silvia has a boiler, so you're making a shot with boiler water which is at-temp. cold water is used to drive pressure, which brings down the temp, but the mass of water and metal stabilizes it a bit. you're looking at a 1-2 minute recoil time between shots.
the next class of machines are hx , which has a big boiler of steam temp water, and a tube of cold water that is passed through it to make the shot (it heats up on the way). because of the mass of metal and water in the hx class machines, there's no recoil between shots. the 2nd-5th shots you pull even tend to be better than the first.
and the final class are double boilers, which have a larger boiler than the silvia for brew, and another one for steam. they generally have no recoil time either.
so when you get the more expensive machine , you're paying for:
a- better quality / parts b- better temp stability c- faster recoil between shots
and C is what you're worried about -- you won't have to pull more than 1 shot at a time, because you can pull them back to back.
JohnF Senior Member Joined: 19 Oct 2003 Posts: 283 Location: Sugar Land, TX Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Carezza (in the nude) :) Grinder: Rocky Vac Pot: Yama on the way.... Drip: Pour over and presses... Roaster: 2# Buzz Roaster & SC/TO
Posted Fri Dec 29, 2006, 6:07pm Subject: Re: Cuban Coffee in an Espresso Machine?!
I had some great Cuban coffee once and the guy put sugar directly into the portafilter with the coffee, tamped, and pulled a double shot as per usual.
He only sprinkled some sugar in the coffee so he put some additional sugar in the milk and steamed that......made sort of a latte-ish drink out of it but it was really good.
He used a nice espresso machine (I don't remember what brand but it was a nice one) and appeared to use standard techniques other than the sugar in the portafilter bit.
I think the only limitation here is the actual set up.....go for the best grinder you can get and then the best machine you can afford after that and look for something that can fit triple baskets for the extra sugar/coffee...you ought to be in good shape.
John F
"coffee is bag to me. It always follow me like bag. I do love coffee. Its taste & aroma make me sweet~ . I happy happy day with coffee"
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 