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Your new Krups espresso machine has been constructed to make café quality espresso,
cappuccino, and latte at home.
Espresso is a style of coffee that comes from a unique process, not a particular type of
coffee bean. Hot water, under pressure, is passed through tightly packed, finely ground
coffee. The resulting liquid is rich, dark, and extremely flavorful: the concentrated essence
of the coffee bean.
Espresso is not served in regular coffee cups, but in small 1.5-oz «shots». The perfect
espresso shot is topped by beautiful, thick, golden foam known as crema, a product of
the natural oils in the coffee bean, and the source of its rich flavor and aroma.
It is important to note that your espresso coffee must be both well roasted coffee and
correctly ground. If you cannot buy ground espresso coffee, use a coffee grinder to grind
the beans. The coffee must not be ground too fine. It must be slightly granulated, with a
consistency somewhat between flour and sugar. Too fine a grind results in bitter, over-
extracted espresso and a risk of blocking the grid of the brewing head and the filter; too
coarse and the espresso will be weak and under-extracted.
In addition to the coffee you use, the other three factors that determine perfect espresso
results are water, temperature and pressure. Your Krups machine ensures all three are pre-
cision-controlled by expertly designed technology. What you must ensure is that the water
you use is freshly-drawn (so that it has not had time to stagnate in the air), without any
chlorine odor and at a fairly cold temperature.
We recommend that you filter your water using a commercially available KRUPS
Claris - Aqua Filter System cartridge (reference F088) (sold separately).
There are a number of misconceptions surrounding espresso. The first is that espresso
should be bitter and burnt tasting. In fact, the ideal espresso shot should be aromatic, bit-
tersweet (not bitter) and assertive, with a lingering aftertaste.
The second myth is that drinking espresso will keep you awake all night. Actually, despite
its strong flavor, espresso contains less caffeine than regular coffee; typically 60-80 mg per
shot compared to 80-100 mg per cup of regular coffee due to espresso’s longer, darker
roasting.
And finally, many people think that espresso takes too long to prepare. The truth is, as
the name implies, an espresso is intended to be served quickly, without elaborate prepara-
tion. As you will discover, your Krups espresso machine has been intuitively designed for
easy use and built for the long term.
7 KRUPS
Espresso Coffee
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