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EspressoOriginating in Italy, it comes from the Italian word Express, meaning "pressed out." Through the steam pressure in the boiler of an espresso machine, water is forced through a very finely ground and manually tamped layer of coffee grounds, extracting a highly concentrated coffee liquid.

Because this method can sustain the coffee crema for a long time, with a rich and full-bodied taste and a balance between acidity and bitterness, it is called the artwork of coffee. In addition, espresso is often used as the base for other coffee types, such as latte, cappuccino, macchiato, and mocha, all of which are made with espresso as the base.

Espresso's flavor and taste characteristics

Front Street Coffee believes that a good cup of espresso can be judged from the appearance and color of the golden crema on the coffee surface. First, good crema has a mirror-like glossy sheen (there is another saying it's tiger stripes, but if the amount of coffee powder is too little and causes over-extraction, white spots will appear), and its thickness should be around 3mm.In terms of taste, it usually presents a strong and full-bodied, smooth mouthfeel without grittiness, and finally has a perfect sweet aftertaste, with obvious sweetness in the throat and tongue.

A single shot of espresso is usually not large in volume, generally around 25-35ml, allowing everyone to finish it in two or three sips. In Italy's industrial era, the pressurized espresso machine and espresso were invented for speed — workers could quickly get a cup of coffee and drink it quickly, then boost their energy for work.

This habit has been preserved to this day. Italians usually go into a coffee shop before work in the morning for an espresso, drinking it all in one go on the spot, without even needing time to sit down. Of course, this is just the Italian habit of drinking espresso. In our daily lives, when we drink espresso, we can feel the charm of espresso (of course, it's still recommended to finish it in two or three sips, since the taste and flavor will deteriorate if left for too long).

Espressois divided into three parts

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Crema is one of the most iconic components of espresso. The golden to reddish-brown foam layer on the surface of espresso that we refer to is crema. It is mainly composed of oils and carbon dioxide extracted from ground coffee beans. When hot water contacts the ground coffee under the high pressure of the espresso machine, the hot water emulsifies the soluble oils in the coffee, which are then supersaturated with carbon dioxide, creating many tiny bubbles that form a foam layer.

Body has the richest, most delicious flavor and aroma in espresso. You will taste the soft part of the coffee. The softness of a cup of espresso is the sum of the tactile characteristics we perceive: roundness, smoothness, viscosity, and fluidity.

Heart is the layer below the body of the espresso, and its color is close to black. The heart of espresso is bitterness, which balances the sweetness and aroma of the two layers above.

With the promotion of specialty coffee culture, the quality of coffee beans used to make espresso has improved today. Most specialty coffee beans have more pursuit in the flavor expression of espresso, so we don't need to face it with the mindset that espresso must be very bitter.

As long as the barista can understand the coffee beans from a professional perspective, use freshly roasted coffee beans, and adjust and calibrate the espresso extraction parameters every day, espresso can also present different flavor and taste performances across the front, middle, and finish.

For example, Front Street Coffee's daily espresso offering uses a house blend called "Sunflower Warm Sun Espresso Coffee Beans," available both online and in physical stores. This coffee bean blend consists of Ethiopian natural Red Cherry coffee beans (30%) + Honduran Sherry Barrel coffee beans (70%). After extraction, it has a rich wine aroma, vanilla cream, berry-like sweet and sour notes, and roasted nut flavors.

For those who enjoy rich and aromatic coffee, Front Street Classic Espresso Blend is recommended. This is a blend composed of beans from three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It uses a dark roast, which maximizes the rich aroma of the coffee and allows everyone to easily extract rich and creamy crema. It is very suitable for making Americano with added water or latte with milk.

How to drink espresso?

Before tasting, we first take a sip of ice water to clean the palate and slightly contract the tongue muscles. After the barista serves the espresso, you can stir the coffee with a spoon to make it more uniform. Then taste it in three sips. The first sip is to taste the flavors, the second sip to feel the body, and the third sip to feel the sweet aftertaste and lingering finish.

Tasting the espresso extracted from "Sunflower Warm Sun Espresso Coffee Beans," the first sip reveals berry-like sweet and sour notes and fermented wine aromas, the second sip reveals vanilla cream-like aromas and a smooth mouthfeel, and the third sip reveals caramel-like sweet aftertaste and hazelnut-like lingering finish.

How to extract espresso?

According to the Specialty Coffee Association SCA standards, a single shot of espresso uses 7-9 grams, a double shot uses 14-18 grams of coffee powder to extract 25-35g of coffee liquid in 20-30 seconds, with extraction pressure at 9-10 bar and water temperature at 90-96°C.

However, different espresso machines, grinders, and different roast levels or coffee beans from different origins will produce different extraction flavors. So at this point, we need to fine-tune the parameters to calibrate the taste of the espresso. Generally, we adjust the water-to-coffee ratio first, then the grind size. Therefore, each coffee shop will make adjustments up or down according to the coffee beans and equipment they use.

For Front Street Coffee's store offerings, making a single shot of espresso uses 10-11g of coffee powder to extract 20-25g of coffee liquid, with an extraction time of about 22 seconds; making a double shot of espresso uses 19-20g of coffee powder to produce 35-40g of coffee liquid, with an extraction time of about 29 seconds.

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