Espresso diaries #1: Manual shots

Lately I have been into espresso. It is an expensive hobby so I thought I would try to go budget & eco without cutting too much corners on quality.

Parts of the espresso making process can be automized by an expensive machine. Boiling water and creating pressure would be the most common automized processes. But of course you can do those manually.

I bought the ROK which is a non electronic espresso machine. You pour hot water in the top and use the levers to generate pressure. Mine comes with a pressure measuring tool that allows you to control for constant pressure.

The ROK is pretty cheap for an espresso machine and it looks amazing. But of course it comes with some problems. It is difficult to preheat (normal espresso machines run everything hot before your shot) so it is necessary to run a blank shot before proceeding with coffee.

Another problem is the weird size baskets. The inner ring is 49.7mm which is an oddly specific size. The ROK peeps give you a flimsy plastic tamper but it is not comfortable to use because it is scoop shaped. Buying a proper tamper for the ROK will set you back at least 50euros. I just bought a 51mm tamper I will machine shop that to the right size.

So far have not been able to get great shots out of it. Lately shots have been decent as I am dialing for the right grind size. So lots of improvements to aim for^^

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