Espresso is the common foundation of drinks like Americano, latte, and cappuccino. Understanding its extraction principles and operating procedures is the key to making a good cup of espresso. This article will start with the definition and extraction principles of espresso, outline the origin and preparation ratios of Americano, introduce the flavor characteristics of Front Street Coffee's four espresso blend beans, and explain in detail extraction parameters such as dose, liquid weight, and time. Finally, it will provide the standard operating steps from wiping the portafilter basket to pressing the button for extraction, as well as simple methods for hot Americano, iced coffee, and hot latte, suitable for enthusiasts who want to systematically understand espresso.

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Although most customers who come to Front Street for pour-over coffee are in the majority, quite a few are also willing to order espresso. Everyone knows that espresso is the common foundation of all kinds of espresso drinks—Americano, latte, cappuccino, flat white, mocha, and so on all rely on it.

Front Street has learned that espresso is called "espresso" abroad, and its caffeine content per unit volume is also higher than most coffee drinks. It is extracted by an espresso machine. The principle is that under high pressure, hot water (usually at around 92°C) passes through a finely ground and compacted layer of coffee grounds. During this process, solids and soluble components are extracted, and the resulting liquid is espresso. Although espresso is the starting point of all coffee drinks, it is also a standalone coffee beverage in itself. Many people regard espresso as the representative of Italian coffee and compare it with Americano. So where exactly is the difference between espresso and Americano?

Americano can be made in two ways. One is a drink extracted with a drip coffee maker, and the other is made by adding water to espresso. The difference between the two can be traced back to the history of Americano. Drip coffee makers first became popular in American households, and Americans became accustomed to the taste of coffee made by drip machines—light flavor, thin body, and an obvious watery feel. During World War II, most of the coffee American officers drank in Europe was espresso, with a strong and stimulating taste.

In order to imitate the flavor of drip coffee, they added water to espresso, which made the coffee flavor much softer and much easier to drink. Since at that time no one else in Europe drank coffee this way, this beverage was called "Americano." In fact, this name carried a sarcastic undertone, a mockery by locals of Americans not being able to handle espresso. The French even privately called "Americano" "sock coffee" to describe how bad Americano tasted.

Front Street Coffee's Americano is actually just espresso with water added, and the vast majority of cafés on the market also make it this way. Generally speaking, the water-to-coffee ratio of Americano is between 1:4 and 1:9, and different cafés have different standards. Front Street's hot Americano uses a water-to-coffee ratio of 1:4.5, determined by combining the characteristics of the Sunflower Warm Sun blend espresso with the store's serving cup size. Front Street's iced Americano, however, has a water-to-coffee ratio of almost 1:9. Because it uses the store's house blend espresso beans, unlike other coffee shops that pursue nutty flavors, Front Street Coffee's Americano has a rich aroma of wine, abundant crema, an overall full-bodied character, a creamy texture, and a long chocolate finish. Compared with hot Americano, iced Americano is more refreshing. Using different espresso beans produces coffee drinks with different flavors. To meet various needs, Front Street has designed four kinds of espresso beans: Specialty Blend, Commercial Blend, the espresso beans recommended by many baristas—Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend—and Warm Sun Blend.

The espresso beans recommended by many baristas—Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend—uses commonly used bean varieties suitable for espresso from Brazil, Colombia, and Yunnan, with the aim of obtaining a better coffee flavor and mouthfeel at a lower cost. For cafés pursuing rich crema, Front Street's Commercial Blend adds 10% robusta beans, which improves the overall body while also making the coffee flavor richer and more aromatic. The nutty flavor stands out, and the chocolate flavor paired with the sweetness of milk is absolutely perfect. The Specialty Blend uses arabica coffee beans from Brazil and Colombia. All-American arabica can express a cleaner coffee taste, and the flavor performance of these two producing regions is nutty and chocolatey, very suitable for espresso output.

Sunflower Warm Sun Blend coffee beans were a new experiment by Front Street in 2019. At that time, the concept of specialty (single-origin) coffee was in vogue, and many SOEs selling flavor as their highlight had appeared, but Front Street planned to use high-quality single-origin beans for blending to make a blended coffee bean whose main purpose was flavor. In the end, Front Street decided to adopt the Sunflower Warm Sun Blend coffee bean formula made by combining Yirgacheffe Red Cherry and Honduras. Its rich vanilla cream and fermented wine aroma attracted a large audience.

If you like a richer and more aromatic coffee, Front Street Classic Espresso Blend is recommended. This is a formula combining three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It uses a deep roast, which can highlight the rich aroma of coffee to the greatest extent, and also allows everyone to easily extract rich and dense crema. It is very suitable whether for making Americano diluted with water or latte paired with milk. It can be purchased and ordered at Front Street's Taobao store or Front Street's Tmall flagship store.

Generally speaking, espresso extraction has certain standards. Depending on the portafilter basket, the weight of coffee grounds is usually between 18 and 22 grams. Make sure the weight of the coffee grounds is the amount you want, because a tiny difference can lead to a huge difference. The most common brewing ratio is twice the coffee grounds, which means that if you have 18 grams of coffee grounds, then it is best to extract 36 grams of espresso liquid, because once you exceed this value, the coffee is prone to an over-extracted taste.

Of course, this standard can also change according to everyone's different needs. For example, the espresso served at Front Street stores uses 20 grams of grounds to extract 36 grams of coffee liquid, in order to make the resulting Americano and latte more aromatic and richer in flavor. What needs to be reminded here is that the weight of the liquid coffee is best 1-3 times that of the dry coffee grounds, with 2 times being commonly used.

The brewing time is the time from pressing the button to the end of extraction, usually between 25 and 35 seconds. If the extraction time is longer or shorter than expected, the biggest reason lies in the coffee grind, and you can adjust it according to your own needs to optimize the extraction parameters.

Generally speaking, fast extraction makes the coffee's acidity stand out and reduces its sweetness. Slower extraction causes the coffee to develop bitter and dull flavors.

The most direct way to judge whether espresso is suitable for serving is to taste it. Taste is a very good method for judging the quality of espresso. However, because judging whether espresso is normal by taste is too subjective, some far-sighted baristas and roasters use refractometers to measure the total dissolved solids (TDS) in espresso. TDS measurement allows them to determine accurate brewing strength and extraction percentage, and to correlate the brewing parameters they like with numerical data. Measuring TDS also means we can calculate the extraction percentage with the following formula:

(%TDS x brewed coffee weight) / coffee grounds weight = extraction percentage

Many coffee enthusiasts who come to Front Street show admiration for the baristas operating the coffee machine at the bar, curious about how they operate the seemingly very complicated coffee machine. In fact, what baristas master is merely the detailed steps of making espresso. As for how the coffee machine operates, most baristas do not know. So today, Front Street will introduce the detailed production process of espresso! Taking Front Street Coffee's normal operating process as an example:

Step 1: Wipe the portafilter basket to ensure the coffee basket is dry and free of water

Step 2: Weigh the coffee grounds, use an electronic scale to weigh an appropriate amount of coffee grounds, and control the error to within plus or minus 0.1 grams

Step 3: Distribute the grounds

Step 4: Tamp the grounds

Step 5: Lock in the portafilter handle

Step 6: Press the button to extract

Step 7: Knock out the portafilter handle and clean the group head.

Front Street espresso extraction recipe recommendation: dose 20g, extract 40g coffee liquid, time 30 seconds

And just like that, one serving of espresso has finished extracting.

If you want to make other coffee drinks, it is nothing more than adding water, sugar, or milk to it. If you like Americano, Front Street will prepare a 200ml coffee cup, pour in 160ml of warm hot water, and finally pour in the espresso. A cup of hot Americano is ready.

Making iced coffee is also very simple. It is just adding hot espresso to cold milk. As for hot latte, the steam wand on the coffee machine is needed. As for how to steam milk foam, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has also written a dedicated article for teaching. If needed, everyone can look it up on their own. It is worth mentioning that many coffee chain brands now use fully automatic coffee machines, making the operation even simpler—just press a button.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.