# Newbie and confused



## alexb123 (Mar 7, 2010)

Hi All,

I know nothing about cappuccino/coffee but I want to buy a gift for my g/f.

My g/f likes Starbucks cappuccino, what machine would be best?

Also, I'm confused on what else I might need. I have been looking around and become confused (I suffer from cognitive functioning difficulty). Could someone please give me a step by step guide on what I need so that I can make my g/f, a starbuck's type cappuccino?

I imagine I might be able to find £250 to spend, but if more is needed I might be able to get it.

Any help here would be so appreciated.

P.s Glenn thank you for sorting out my posting problem


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Welcome Alex

The equipment and process for making a cappuccino is pretty universal

The basics are:


 Beans (or ground coffee - espresso grind, not omni-grind or filter grind)

 Burr Grinder (not required if ground coffee is purchased - but the taste difference can be noticeable)

Tamper

 Espresso machine with steam wand

 Milk

 Milk Jug

 Chocolate or Cinnamon to dust the top

 Cup or Mug


Beans vary in price from £3 per 250g bag (and can go as high as £20 per bag).

Ground coffee is approximately the same price.

There are 2 main types of grinders


Blade Grinder

Burr Grinder


A blade grinder is like taking a pair of sharp scissors to coffee beans as they are flying through the air. The result is lots of little odd shaped pieces

A burr grinder cuts and crushes until the pieces of the bean are small enough to fit between the burrs and escape into the hopper where they are accumulated and ready to be used. Burr grinders are usually consistent in the grind size.

As hot water passes through the coffee grinds it touches each particle (and there are approx 3000 - 3500 particles of coffee that form each bean for espresso grind coffee and 600-800 particles for filter coffee)

The length of time that the water touches each particle determines the taste of the espresso (the base for the cappuccino)

A tamper compresses the coffee grounds into the portafilter and basket, and the pressure of your tamp determines how much contact time the water has with your coffee that you have ground (or purchased already ground)

The espresso machine itself is also a factor. You need a machine that has sufficient pressure to push the hot water through the coffee. This is normally shown as 9 bars of pressure (135psi)

Most home espresso machines are capable of reaching this.

If you like cappuccinos then you need to be able to heat and stretch the milk to get air into the milk to form small bubbles. This is often referred to as foam.

The milk jug should ideally be metal and retain the heat. Glass is not as effective.

The process itself is;


 Grind the beans

 Tamp

 Prepare your espresso straight into your cup or mug

 Steam/stretch the milk

 Dust with chocolate or cinnamon

 Serve and enjoy


Training helps too as what I have written above is the general process but there are many variables to control/master

That said, I am a firm believer that anyone can learn to make a good coffee

£250 is a realistic budget and there are plenty of second-hand machines on the market that will allow you to enter the home espresso making game within this budget.

Keep asking questions, we are only too happy to help.


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## sandykt (Dec 3, 2009)

Good Luck Alex - let us know what you end up getting for your girlfriend and how she likes her present.


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

Quite a few of us on this forum give ourselves plenty of time for the coffee hobby and not only do we enjoy the results, the magic is also in the preparation.

Do you feel your girlfriend is prepared to put in a little effort to make her own cappuccino?

I'm not trying to be negative, but some people are and others aren't. For example, my wife enjoys my coffees, but would not put in the effort. One of the guys are work likes the idea, and maybe more of the status symbol of an espresso machine (if they had an Alex II







) but when I mention the preparation and perhaps the tweaking to make the best drink, he quickly got cold feet. He just wanted to press a button on a nice shiny machine.

If you think she will have a passion for it, then great since I love this hobby







and so do the rest of this rabble so we will help as much as we can.


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## alexb123 (Mar 7, 2010)

Many Thanks all for the replys and the great summary of what lays ahead.

However, I'm in a dilemma now I know of all the work that is needed. I also thought it was a push one button task. If the g/f does something that she does it to the best of her ability or she won't do it at all. So the big question is will this be something she puts her effort into *ponders*

What machine do you think would be suitable to get a cappuccino that is similar to starbucks?


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## sandykt (Dec 3, 2009)

Hi Alex, I think you might need to take some headache tablets! There is no one button machine - unless you go for a pod machine and most of us coffee geeks here prefer fresh coffee. Is your girlfriend going to enjoy spending time making coffee? If so, she will quickly get bitten by the bug. I have upgraded my machine once already and another upgrade is on the cards







. I spend most of Sunday morning perfecting my coffee making skills. Every time a parcel arrives for me at work the receptionist says "something to do with coffee then?" - are you getting the picture. When I'm not making coffee, I spend time admiring shiny machines on the internet. Have you got a machine in mind?


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

oh Sandykt - you could be talking about me instead. Trouble is I have to hide my coffee machine prn from my good lady. I have already dropped a couple of hints which left her speechless when I told her the money involved for shiny!

Sorry Alex. For £250 you are not going to get a fully automatic that sorts out the milk too.

Look at Glenn's response on the number of items you need to get tooled up on. As a first step you good buy:


Espresso Machine

Stainless Steel Milk Jug

Thermometer


Is there any way you could sound her out?

If yes, then we'll start chipping in with machine recommendations.


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## alexb123 (Mar 7, 2010)

I'm a bit lost. I have just watched some youtube videos on how to make a cappuccino. It appears the machine does two things. Firstly, it filters water though the coffee and secondly it heats the milk to a very high temperature.

These seem like simple tasks (although I'm such I must be missing a lot here). So what is it that one machine will do better than another?


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## sandykt (Dec 3, 2009)

That's the million dollar question!! At the end of the day, you should be looking to get the best machine possible for your budget. Is £250 just for the machine or are you looking for a grinder as well? Remember to set aside money for beans, milk jug, maybe even a tamper etc. Search previous threads on this website which will give you an insight into other people's machine. When is your girlfriend's birthday?

YouTube is quite helpful. When you have narrowed down your search, it is handy to actually see the machine working.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

I am a firm believer* in hands on experience on a coffee machine.

Depending where you are I may be able to rent a machine to you (Gaggia Classic) so that you can evaluate the coffee experience, or could demonstrate the process in person.

*disclaimer: shameless self promotion link here

A full end-to-end understanding of the process is an eye-opener (and can make the bank manager happy due to bouts of upgraditus)


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

Alex,

Yhere are machines that can make a cap at the push of a button. They are called "super auto" or "beans to cup" machines. The are much more than your budget. The best one for a consistantly good espresso(IMO) would be a Jura Inna. Priced around £900-1200.

Best thing would be to find out if your gf is up for the learning thing.

Where in the Uk are you?

Lee


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