Make Better Espresso Drinks at Home, According to Baristas

Making espresso at home isn’t difficult, but making great espresso at home requires serious commitment. To help improve and optimize your at-home espresso game, we gathered a prodigious line-up of national and world barista champions.

Whether you’re new to espresso-making or a seasoned enthusiast, these tips from the most talented coffee experts in the world will, no doubt, level up your at-home skills. 

Read on to find out what coffee pros have to say about espresso equipment, how to choose the best beans, and how to pull a balanced shot. Discover why water quality is so important and what geeky accessories are worth adding to your toolbox.

“At the end of the day,” says three-time Japan Barista Champion, Miki Suzuki, “the most important thing is to have fun with your coffee journey.”

The home espresso machine

Barista champions offer a wide range of advice on what to look for when shopping for a home espresso machine. Several recommend user-friendly options from Breville with a quick setup and easy-to-follow tutorials. Recently, Fellow Products announced their new compact Espresso Series 1 machine with simple, on-screen prompts to be able to dial in customizable espresso profiles. 

“The most important factors are temperature stability and consistent pressure. Look for machines with a PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) controller [or temperature controller] and a reliable 9-bar pressure output,” says Suzuki. 

A 9-bar pressure output will ensure that your machine can reliably push water through coffee grounds with great force, in order to extract crema and flavor from the espresso.

“Don’t get overwhelmed by the features,” says Jenny Borrego, three-time Mexico Barista Champion, and co-founder of EspressoLab. “Start with something that fits your space, your routine, budget, and the kind of relationship you want to build with coffee at home.” 

Frank La, U.S. Barista Champion 2024, and founder of Be Bright Coffee  in Los Angeles, California, recommends to think about what drinks you want to make. “If you're primarily using an espresso machine for iced lattes and flavored coffee, I would recommend a simple machine,” he says. 

Several baristas caution home enthusiasts about the commitment it takes to own a professional-level machine. The current World Barista Champion, Mikael Jasin, from Jakarta, Indonesia, recommends a high-low approach. “If you ‘have to’ have an espresso machine at home, either go with something that is below $500 for both machine and grinder included, or go crazy and go all the way up to spending more than $5,000 to get a top-of-the-range machine,” he says.

It’s all about the beans 

Buying quality coffee is an essential step to a delicious espresso shot. Though some iconic brands tout their ground coffee, coffee professionals generally recommend whole beans for espresso.

“I always recommend buying whole beans,” says Jasin. “You get a much better coffee quality and freshness if you grind your coffee just before brewing. There are a lot of volatile aromatic compounds that get lost after you grind them, so you want to make sure you grind as close to brewing as possible.” 

Francesco Sanapo, three-time Italy Barista Champion from Florence, Italy recommends to seek out “small, artisan coffee roasters, [trusted] coffee professionals, and buying coffee where transparency and traceability are evident. Do not overlook the freshness of the product,” he says.

Kay Cheon, of Dune Coffee in Santa Barbara, California, and U.S. Barista Champion 2025, suggests to try espresso from roasters and cafes to get an idea of what you enjoy. “Asking your barista how they prepare the espresso or what recipe they use can be helpful for you as well,” he says.

The grinder is key

The highest quality coffee grinder is an essential investment. Beans for espresso need to be ground finer than for filter coffee. When shopping for a grinder, coffee pros recommend several options. “The important thing is to have burrs that provide a consistent grind curve with a minimal percentage of fine and coarse particles,” says Sanapo. 

Borrego suggests to invest in a grinder that can be adjusted. “Look for a burr grinder with micro-adjustments so you can fine-tune the grind size,” she says. “Some great home options include the Baratza Encore ESP or the Niche Zero.” 

Suzuki also recommends the Niche Zero for a good value. “If you prefer high-end gear, the Lagom P64 or EG-1 offer incredible grind consistency, which is crucial,” she says. “The EG-1 is my top recommendation. 

Hide Izaki, World Barista Champion 2014 from Tokyo, agrees. “Precision, build quality, and grind clarity [of the EG-1] are unmatched in the home category,” he says. 

La likes the Timemore 078S Pour Over & Espresso Edition.  “It's a bit more on the expensive side, but when it comes to uniformity of grind size distribution, it's one of the best I've experienced,” he says. “It's also a single-dose grinder, meaning you can make meaningful adjustments without worrying about wasting too much coffee.”

Optimal water is essential

Water quality is an extremely important element to brewing delicious espresso.

“Water is the most important variable,” says Izaki. “Tap water is a no-go. Use the freshest water possible, especially since home machines tend to sit unused for longer periods.”

Sanapo is specific about the kind of water you should be using for quality espresso. “The ideal water for coffee must be clean and odorless, free from any chlorine, sediment, or other impurities that can affect the flavor,” he says. “The water should contain the right balance of minerals to properly extract the flavors from the coffee. Ideally, it should have a moderate hardness around 50-150 PPM (parts per million) with a good balance of calcium and magnesium and proper pH. A pH close to neutral, around 7, is best, as extreme acidity or alkalinity can negatively impact the taste.”

Eckroth and La both like to use Third Wave Water’s Espresso Machine Profile in combination with distilled water. “If anything, it'll give you more consistency on the water side,” says La. “So you know that if you face issues with your espresso, it's not the water.”  

The technique behind pulling an espresso shot 

“I like to say that coffee is a sequence of science experiments where you get to taste the results,” says Cheon. “Be consistent and methodical, and trust your tastebuds.”

Start with the most common ratio of ground coffee to water: 1:2.

“Get to know your basket, how much it holds, and start with a basic recipe,” says Borrego. “A 1:2 ratio is a great place to begin. For example, 18 grams in, 36 grams out, in 25–30 seconds. Once that’s tasting good, you can begin to fine-tune. Be consistent. Build a technique that you can easily repeat and feel comfortable doing. Keep notes and be patient. Espresso is all about small adjustments and, most importantly, trust your palate.”

A scale is essential to “track everything,” says Izaki. “How many grams in, how many out, and how long it takes [to pull]. Instead of adjusting the dose, change the grind size. Grind size has the most significant effect on taste. Learn to build flavor through logic, not luck.”

It’s important to keep track of every variable changed and pay attention to how each change affects the espresso. “The most important thing is to change one variable at a time,” he says. “The more features your machine has, the more factors like pressure or temperature, you’ll need to consider during dialing in. That’s why it’s best to start simple and build from there.”

Keep it clean

It’s vitally important to keep your espresso machine clean. Just like cooking with clean utensils, a clean espresso machine delivers the best results.

“If you don’t clean your machine, at best you get a really weird tasting coffee, at worst you are going to destroy thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment,” says Jasin.

If espresso machines are not cleaned regularly, “coffee oils will oxidize and negatively impact flavor,” says Suzuki. “Over time, scale buildup will also damage the internal parts of the machine.”

Cheon believes that keeping your machine clean might just be one of the most important steps to make quality espresso. “Even if you’ve got the best coffee and a ton of experience, if you’ve got dirty equipment, you’ll always be working from a deficit,” he says. “Using cleaning products from a company like Urnex will make your coffee taste better, and will also keep your equipment maintained.” 

Practice makes perfect espresso

With fresh beans and water, a high-quality grinder, practice time with your (clean) espresso machine, and some patience, you’ll be pulling a balanced shot of espresso with a beautiful layer of crema on top in no time.