If you’re a coffee lover and you own a simple Keurig coffee machine, you might have wondered, “can you do espresso in a Keurig”? As most of us know, Keurig coffee machines are one of the most popular and trusted coffee-making device ideal for anyone who wants their coffee quick and easy. And an espresso brew is a quite complex drink that serves as a base for a number of coffee beverages.
To set the records straight, it is not possible to create an authentic espresso brew with a Keurig machine simply because it lacks the necessary features and power to do so. However, it is possible to produce an equally strong and full-bodied cup of coffee with a Keurig machine that you can use as an alternative.
What is a Keurig?
Keurig is a long-established coffee-making company that is widely considered as the leading brand in the industry. For most newly-introduced coffee lovers, owning a Keurig coffee machine is a dream come true as it produces great-tasting coffee easy, fast, and hassle-free. Keurig takes pride in its user-friendly brewing program that is designed to brew a wide range of beverages in a matter of minutes by using pre-measured cups filled with pre-ground coffee. This efficient way of brewing coffee led to the brand’s growth in the coffee-making industry and made it one of the most sought-after products for coffee lovers.
How Keurig’s Work?
So we know that Keurig coffee machines offer an innovative technology that allows you to brew good tasting coffee with the slightest effort. But do we know how this machine really works? Here’s how.
- Keurig coffee machines are generally like any other coffee machine that simply runs hot water through ground coffee in order to make a coffee brew.
- The main difference between Keurig and other coffee machines, however, lies in the process of preparing the ground coffee.
- Normally, people use store-bought ground coffee or beans. On the other hand, Keurig coffee machines use Keurig K-Cups that are little pre-packed, freshly-ground coffee pods. These pods are prepared, flavored, and packed to be used in Keurig coffee machines with little to no hassle.
- Keurig’s feature a specific opening piece where the K-cup is loaded. Once the pod is installed, the brewing process of running hot water through the ground coffee happens and completes the coffee brew.
How to Properly Brew Espresso
For coffee experts and connoisseurs, espresso is a very important brew as it serves as a heart for numerous coffee-shop favorites such as cappuccino, latte, macchiato, and more. Unlike a simple brewed coffee, pulling a shot of espresso requires more skill, technique, knowledge, and patience as it is a complex and frail recipe that is fairly easy to mess up. To further understand the complexities of espresso-making, here’s a quick rundown of the preparation and steps needed in pulling a perfectly good shot of espresso:
- Pre-heat all necessary equipment and material such as your espresso machine, portafilter, and shot glass.
- Freshly grind your coffee beans and dose the right amount needed for your brew. Generally, a single-shot would need about 7 grams, while a double-shot would require twice as much. Remember to grind your coffee beans to a fine grind but not too fine. A grind that is too fine would result in an overly bitter over-extracted shot, while ground to coarse would result in an under-extracted shot.
- Once you dosed the right amount of ground coffee on your portafilter, tamp the ground to compress the grounds tighter and ensure uniformity in your ground.
- After tamping, you can place your portafilter into your brew’s head and start pulling your shot. Remember that an espresso shot would only take 20-30 seconds to pull. Anything less or more would result in an over-extracted or under-extracted shot.
Can you do Espresso in a Keurig?
Again, to reiterate, it is not possible to make an actual espresso shot using a standard Keurig coffee machine. However, it’s possible to manipulate the machine a tad bid in order to make an espresso-like coffee. The results will not taste as full as an actual espresso, but it would make as a fairly good heart for espresso-based beverages. Here’s how to do it:
- Pour quality water onto your coffee machine’s water tank and let it heat up to 200-degree Fahrenheit. This temperature is enough to extract enough rich coffee flavor from the coffee grounds.
- While heating the water, prepare your grounds by freshly grounding your coffee beans to extract the best possible flavor and aroma from the ground.
- ‘Dose’ the right amount of coffee beans by using a one-two brew ration. This means to use at least two tablespoons of ground coffee for a 6 oz or single-serve brew. After checking the proper measurements, put the grounds inside your machine’s portafilter
- After the initial brewing process that heated the water to 200 Fahrenheit degrees, you can now put your portafilter filled with ground coffee back into the machine and start ‘pulling’ the espresso shot. Set the timer of your Keurig somewhere between 25 to 30 seconds, or manually check on the brew and turn the machine off at a time that you prefer.
End Point
To answer the question, “can you do espresso in a Keurig?” the answer is no. It’s not possible since an espresso shot requires extremely high pressure to properly extract that a simple Keurig coffee machine cannot provide. So if you’re a die-hard coffee lover, you have to understand that brewing an espresso-like drink in Keurig would never amount in taste and body of a shot pulled from an actual espresso machine. The idea of trying to brew an espresso in a Keurig is to serve as a simple alternative in order to make espresso-based drinks like cappuccino and latte right in the comforts of your own home. Learn more about espressos.