Can you use plain coffee grounds with an espresso machine, specifically the Hamilton Beach 40729?
You can use it, but it won’t come out quite the same… the main thing that’s going to affect the quality of the espresso is the fact that the regular coffee grounds are alot more coarse than normal espresso grounds. This gives the grounds less surface area and will, as such, affect the flavour… if you have a grinder at home, you could always throw the regular coffee grounds into the grinder and grind them a bit finer… might give the espresso more flavour… but judging by the second part of your question, you don’t have one. A cheap, but decent grinder will run you about $40, if you go too cheap, then the consistency of the grinds will suffer which will affect your espresso. A bag of whole beans is cheap and most places will grind them for you perfectly at no additional charge. I’m not positive about your machine, but many can also accept espresso “pods”, kind of like a tea bag but filled with espresso grounds… this can save you some time and effort and the resulting espresso is
