• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Pudge Factor

A food blog with everyday recipes, step-by-step directions and photos, and detailed recipes.

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Recipes by Category
  • Just Recipes
Home » Sauces » Make Your Own Espresso Powder

Make Your Own Espresso Powder

June 4, 2017 By PudgeFactor 8 Comments

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Yummly
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
Make your own espresso powder

If you do much baking with chocolate, you probably know that many recipes call for a small amount of espresso powder. The reason is that a bit of espresso powder significantly enhances the chocolate flavor in cakes, brownies, etc., without causing your treat to have a mocha flavor.

Homemade espresso powder

You probably also know that it’s difficult to find espresso powder. If you do find it, be prepared for “sticker shock.” It’s not only expensive, but also comes in much larger quantities than you’ll probably need.

According to the King Arthur site, espresso powder is made from ground, brewed, and  dried coffee beans. Therefore, I figured that if I brewed coffee, then I could make espresso powder from the leftover grounds! Seriously? Yes – it worked like a charm! Here’s what I did.

Fresh pot of coffee

Making the Espresso Powder:

First, I spread the leftover coffee grounds on a baking sheet. Then I put them in my oven set to the lowest temperature possible, which was 170° F. The key here is that I wanted to dry out the grounds, not roast them.

Wet coffee grounds on baking sheet

Anyway, I left the coffee grounds in the oven for several hours, until they dried out and felt slightly crunchy. After two hours, the grounds were dried out, but still not crunchy. It took me another 30 minutes before the grounds felt crunchy.

Dried Coffee after 2 1/2 hours

Next, I put the dried out grounds in a coffee grinder, and ground them until I had a fine powder. If I hadn’t had a coffee grinder, I probably could have used a blender, a food processor, or a mortar and pestle.

Before and after grinding to a powder

I ended up with homemade espresso powder that was perfect in my chocolate masterpiece (stay tuned!). Yum!

Homemade espresso powder.

4.38 from 8 votes
Print
Make Your Own Espresso Powder
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
3 hrs
Total Time
3 hrs 5 mins
 
If you do much baking with chocolate, you probably know that many recipes call for a small amount of espresso powder. The reason is that a bit of espresso powder significantly enhances the chocolate flavor in cakes, brownies, etc., without causing your treat to have a mocha flavor.
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: French
Author: Chula King
Ingredients
  • Used coffee grounds (the amount you use will determine how much espresso powder you end up with)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 170° F, or lowest setting if above 170°F
  2. Spread used coffee grounds on foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 2 to 3 hours until grounds are dry and slightly crunchy.

  3. Transfer to coffee grinder, and process to a fine powder.
  4. Store in airtight container.
  5. Yield: Depends on the amount of coffee grounds you start with.

Related

Filed Under: Sauces Tagged With: DIY espresso powder, espresso powder, homemade espresso powder, make your own espresso powder

Previous Post: « Grilled Baby Back Ribs with Bourbon Infused Grilling Sauce
Next Post: Elegant Chicken Kiev »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David says

    February 18, 2019 at 1:50 pm

    First! No, but seriously, great tip you've got here. I had to go through an accelerated educational process this morning as to what the heck 'espresso powder' really is. There's quite a bit of less than accurate information on the out there. I'd run into a DIY recipe almost identical to this one just before landing here, this one having a bit more detail. And yeah, 'sticker shock" is what I'd say, too. Holy #[email protected] It's $4.00/0z or more from what I found so far with the priciest batch at William Sonoma and the in-house brand priced at $7.14/oz. Being I purchase, roast and brew my own coffee beans as it is, seems your recipe here's a no-brainier. The real (taste) test will be when my first ever attempted fudgey, whole wheat brownies get created, Thanks for the money saving and hopefully flavor enhancing tip!
  2. PudgeFactor says

    February 18, 2019 at 3:12 pm

    Let me know how the fudgey whole wheat brownies turn out! I've had great success with my chocolate recipes using this technique.
  3. David says

    February 19, 2019 at 8:06 am

    Hi Chula, On second thought, this process here as it relates to and affects recipes, namely ones calling for 'Espresso Powder" is not ideal as I just found out. Espresso powder (I know only because I Googled it :) ) is not simply finely ground dark roasted coffee grounds, be they brewed or not. It has to do with a process by which the powder that's created is fully soluble and retains most of the beans original flavor and intensity; that's something 'used' coffee grounds can not duplicate on either count. That said however, your technique here still has to add a little something at a minimum I would think, right? In case your interested, here's where part of my 'enlightenment' was found : https://www.thekitchn.com/food-science-how-is-instant-co-69158 Yeah, it describes instant coffee but when it comes down to it, that's what that overly pricey 'espresso powder' is.
  4. PudgeFactor says

    February 20, 2019 at 7:31 am

    Thanks David! I agree that the real espresso powder is overly pricey especially when you just need a teaspoon here and there for a recipe.
  5. Cynthia says

    October 28, 2019 at 9:57 pm

    Hi. This is such a great idea. I put off a recipe because I didn’t want to pay the amount for such a small amount it called for. I was wondering with the powder in a air tight container, how long will it hold in there? Thank you Cynthia
  6. PudgeFactor says

    October 29, 2019 at 12:51 pm

    Cynthia, If the powder is in an airtight container and put in the refrigerator, it should be good for about a month. Chula
  7. Dawn Conklin says

    November 30, 2019 at 7:24 am

    My oven has a proof feature which is for proofing things with yeast. Maybe I can use that for it? I don't know the exact temperature, but do know it is very low as it doesn't cook the dough when I place it in there. It provides a draft free environment that is slightly warmer then the house is. I can grab the oven rack when it is in proof without it burning.
  8. PudgeFactor says

    November 30, 2019 at 4:17 pm

    Dawn, From what I understand, the maximum temperature that the proofing feature is likely to reach is around 95°F. I'm not sure that low a temperature would be able to thoroughly dry out the coffee grinds in a reasonable amount of time. Chula

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to Pudge Factor!

I'm Chula, the food blogger, award-winning photographer, and videographer behind PudgeFactor. PudgeFactor features amazing and well-tested recipes from my every day cooking. These recipes run the gamut from simple to sophisticated and everything in between. I not only present awesome recipes with tips and tricks that I've learned through the years, but also process photos from start to finish. For some of the recipes, I include videos detailing the actual making of the dish. Read More…

Subscribe to Pudge Factor

Categories

Most Popular Posts

Chocolate Covered Roasted Pecans
Make Your Own Espresso Powder
Twelve Days of Christmas Themed Recipes
Chocolate Christmas Mice
Chicken Schnitzel with Mustard Cream Sauce
Easy Cheesy Sausage Balls
Sites Featured In

© 2012–2019 · Pudge Factor™, LLC · Privacy Policy · Disclaimer