The Importance Of The Coffee Grind
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Considering that espresso means 'coffee quickly' the grinding of each does must occur immediately prior to the actual brewing of the coffee. 
The tool used for this operation is the grinder.
When preparing the espresso the grinder must turn the roasted coffee beans into ground coffee powder. This is especially delicate as coffee must not reach high temperatures when passing through the grinding discs and grinding must be consistent.
The degree of grinding is directly related to the extraction time of the espresso. If the grind is correct an espresso is extracted between 20-30 seconds. If the extraction time is lower than that, the grind is too fine.
Another main component of the grinder is the dozer. This device determines the exact dose of coffee needed for an espresso, and this is the part that drops the correct amount of ground espresso into the filter basket.
Freshness Of The Coffee
Ideally, roasted coffee is sold in whole bean form so as not to allow its taste, freshness or aroma to deteriorate. This aroma and freshness is paramount to ensuring that a proper espresso is made each time.
I grinder of choice is the Compak. Compak produce a range of grinders to meet a wide range of applications, from the Compak K3 designed for low volume or decaffeinated coffee, up to the Compak K10 conical, which is capable of grinding 16 Kilos of beans per hour, the Compak K10 grinder is used in the World Barista Championship.
An unopened bag of Caffe Vinci has a shelf life of one year. When you open the bag, you have a freshness window of 18-24 hours. Once the coffee has been ground, you have one hour. It is therefore very important that any open bag of coffee is stored correctly. You must reseal an opened bag of coffee to retain some freshness.
Cleanliness Of The Espresso Machine
The brewing heads must be cleaned on a regular basis - this is called 'backflushing'. Click Here To See How To Backflush.
Every coffee you make leaves a bit of ground coffee in these brewing heads, they brew at 60°C. Coffee burns at this temperature if left in the head all day. Therefore, it is important to backflush on a regular basis. Caffe Vinci recommends you backflush at least 4 times a day.
"It doesn't matter how good or expensive your coffee is, if your espresso machine is not clean then your coffee will never taste as good as it should."
