What's a piston machine?

With a semi-automatic, you can personalize a coffee specialty. So you can make an espresso that's completely to your liking. If you think it takes too much effort or don't have time for it, a fully automatic is a better choice for you. Those allow you to make coffee with the touch of a button. Do you want to monitor the brewing process yourself? Choose a piston machine. You can operate it manually, so it takes some practice and time. But it does give you complete control over the preparation of your espresso. You can always choose the amount of ground coffee, the grind size, and the amount of water yourself.

Which coffee you put in a semi-automatic is all up to you. You prepare an espresso by grinding coffee beans. You can do so with a separate coffee grinder or with a coffee grinder that's built into your machine. It doesn't matter whether you use coffee beans from the supermarket or from a specialist store. Keep in mind that beans largely determine the flavor of the coffee. So make sure to choose coffee beans you like.

First things first, you can affect the quality and flavor of your espresso when you're making coffee. Start by grinding the coffee beans very finely. The ground coffee now goes into the portafilter. You can then tamp it firmly with the tamper. Insert the full portafilter into the machine and press the button. The machine will now start making coffee in half a minute with a high pressure.

With a steam wand, you can turn an espresso into a true milk specialty. The fun thing about frothing milk yourself, is that you can determine the balance between milk and coffee. How? Fill the milk pitcher with a milk of your choice and place the steam wand in the pitcher. Some semi-automatics have an automatic steam wand, which froth the milk automatically. With a regular steam wand, you have complete control. So you can determine the temperature of the milk and how thick the foam layer should be.

The most fun part of a piston machine is that you can work like a real barista by creating designs in a latte or cappuccino. This is called latte art. For this to work, the milk has to be at the ideal temperature and only a thin foam layer. To get a nice contrast between the coffee and the milk, it's important to pour the milk in the middle of the cup. The higher you hold the milk pitcher over the cup, the less foam pours out for a beautiful result.

Be prepared, a piston machine requires quite a lot of maintenance. If you maintain it on a daily basis, there won't be an issue. If you clean the steam wand and portafilter right away after use, coffee and milk residue won't build up. Rinse the pipes daily and empty the drip tray when it's full. Make sure to read the manual well before a big cleaning, such as descaling the machine and cleaning the grinding discs. This is something you have to do on a monthly basis.