Barista Tools, Barista Equipmet and Coffee Cafe Supplies
There are an absolute tonne of coffee machine accessories and all types of barista equipment on the market, so how do we know which ones we actually need?
When think coffee, we think of a tonne of alternative brewing methods which all produce different results. Brewing methods like Aeropress, French Press, Batch Brew and Espresso undergo unique processes and therefore require different coffee accessories to make a delicious cup possible!
If you're brewing from home, cafe or in the world barista championships, chances are your equipment and tools will be relative to the quality you're aiming for! For many home brewers, Coffee Scales, cups and glassware, coffee machine cleaner, Milk Jugs and a good quality coffee Tampers will have you brewing delicious coffee every-time!
Not to mention the importance of a high-quality Grinder. Make sure to pair your brewing unit with either one of our, Commercial Coffee Grinders, Home Coffee Grinders or Manual Hand Grinders for freshly ground beans every time!
Our favourite home brew grinders are stocked within our range of Baratza and Eureka automatic grinders. Our favourite commercial grinders are within our range of Mahlkoenig, Anfim, Mazzer, Victoria-Arduino and Slingshot. If you prefer to work a little harder for your brew some of our personal favourite Hand Grinders include the Comandante, Porlex and Timemore range!
If you're working within a cafe / specialty coffee shop you might get the most out of a high quality shower screen to help with optimal water dispersion from IMS, precision filter basket to provide uniform extraction from VST, Pesado or Pullman or some Coffee Scales such as the Acaia scales to assist in control of your flow rate and therefore becoming a step closer to consistently hitting your desired brew ratio.
As we know consistency is key when it comes to brewing, the solution? Coffee scales like the acaia lunar for weighing in your portafilter or dosing cup and the acaia pearl for monitoring your extraction time, total yield and the ideal tool for adjusting your grinder. Ready for your best cup of coffee yet?
Espresso Machines all need maintenance regardless of being commercial or a unit you brew at home with. Frequency of maintenance can be determined by the volume of use your machine undergoes. A busy cafe might have scheduled servicing every few months whereas your machine at home might have only one every 6-12 months if you’re only pulling twenty or so shots a week.
Replacement of the group-head seal is a maintenance task required on all espresso machines. Over time the seal can become hard which decreases the machines ability to hold pressure within the group-head and the Portafilter. Usually in worse case scenarios you’d find leaking around the head of the portafilter when attempting to extract a shot. Over time with usage the seal is exposed to oils from the coffee grounds and the high pressure environment of the group-head that the boiling water travels through.
When performing maintenance on the group head, you need to inspect the shower screen. Shower screens are responsible for the dispersion and evenly distributed water from the group head into the portafilter basket and into the compacted coffee grounds. Over time it’s common to find these screens becoming blocked and loose. As you could expect in a higher volume environment like a cafe or restaurant, replacement will be indicated from roughly 3 to 6 months, home brewing will be a lot less frequently.
Additionally depending on water quality that your machine is using, a combination of water hardness levels and TDS (total dissolved solids) you may develop scale within the group head and decrease the lifetime of not only the important components within the group head but potentially throughout your machine.
How do I clean my espresso machine?
- Remove shower screen with a screwdriver, place a towel underneath so it drops onto the towel once removed.
- Use espresso machine chemicals in a bucket to soak the screen, screw and portafilter spouts. If you are not using a spout you can just soak the basket. Soak for 30 minutes.
- Take your brush, scrub gasket and everything up under the group head with water running.
- Once items have finished soaking, give the portafilter and spout a scrub with the brush. Rinse basket, shower screen and screw (scrub items if they have residue on them). Put back together and into the machine.
- Start back flushing process, insert blind filter basket into portafilter and add espresso chemicals as per required for machine
- Insert portafilter into the group head and run back flushing either for 10 seconds or on a machine specific program. Repeat 4-5 times, with the portafilter untouched.
- Run the machine and move the portafilter backwards and forwards (tighten and loosen motion) to allow the water to flow throughout the gasket.
- Run 5x more times with just water to ensure all chemicals have been flushed, also repeat the backwards and forwards motion to flush gasket from previous chemicals.
How do I use scales?
To brew the perfect espresso we have to manage the wildly fluctuating variables in a consistent manner, this is where the scales serve their purpose. We aim to select your preferred brewing ratio, in this case let's pick 1:2 being that we are starting with a 20g dose and resulting in a 40g yield.
- Step 1: Adjust your grinder so that your extraction time is aligned with 25-30 seconds.
- Step 2: Weigh your portafilter basket with your desired dose, let's just say 20g of freshly ground beans for example, then tamper.
- Step 3: Place the portafilter into the machine and pull your shot. Either use scales underneath spout to time extraction and weigh the yield.
- Step 4: Make sure your result aligns with the brewing ratio you chose. If yield is larger than expected make grind size finer to slow the extraction process. If yield is smaller than expected, you guessed it, make the grind coarser. 3mm of adjustments on the grinder will result in a longer or shorter extraction time by approximately 3-5 seconds.
As we know by now, there’s a little more to brewing coffee than just putting a coffee capsule into a machine and hitting a button, well for a quality cup of coffee anyway. All of our accessories are meant to complement and significantly enhance your brewing experience and ability! Usually, you’d begin your espresso process by using a Dosing tool to weigh the appropriate amount of beans with your Coffee Scales before grinding your fresh coffee!
Your coffee grounds will be put back into your dosing cup and transferred into your Portafilter Basket which may be a single, double or triple! The Distribution tool will help you to evenly distribute the grounds within the Filter Basket prior to using a coffee tamper to compress the grounds. By placing your portafilter onto a Tamping Mat you’ll prevent damage to the portafilter handle or bench, simply place 10-30kg of even pressure down on the tamper and twist to polish. Lock the portafilter into your machine, use the scales under the spout with whichever cup, glassware or reusable cup you prefer and commence brewing.
Now when texturing milk it's important to use the correctly sized milk jug for the amount of milk you require. Once you texture the milk, use a milk Thermometer to get the ideal steaming time for whatever milk you’re working with and if in a cafe you might have the option of a Milk Jug Rinser which is incredibly convenient for the post brew clean! A chocolate shaker is a must for those mocha or cappuccino lovers. When the shot is pouring, make sure to use a barista timer or your scales to measure for the perfect extraction, we recommend 23g in and 46g out at an extraction time of 25-30 seconds. Knock the puck out in either a Knock Box at home or a Standing knock tube or in bench shoot if you’re in a cafe!
Now every machine deserves a good clean, check out our range of Blind Filters, cleaning brushes, cleaning products and chemicals! Everyone loves having a few beans up your sleeve so be sure to check out our favourite Coffee Storage units for home or cafe! If you've got a passion for coffee, well there's nothing tastier than some cupping, use some of our coffee Cupping Tools, such as bowls and spoons to bring this professional experience into your own home!