Why does espresso taste so bitter, and how should it be sipped?

Espresso is usually served as a base for lattes or a bitter americano, and few order it straight. The cup is tiny, around 50 milliliters with the crema, and the flavor is intense and bitter, so many first-time drinkers are startled. Its aroma, mouthfeel and aftertaste are still hard for other coffee styles to match.

Regular drinkers value the concentrated coffee aroma, the thick creamy body and the sweetness that lingers for up to 20 minutes after the last sip. Tasting advice: smell the crema first, take small sips, and let the coffee coat the tongue before swallowing. Freshly pulled shots show nutty, creamy notes rather than flat bitterness.

In China, Espresso mostly serves as the base for lattes or Americanos, and few people order it directly, mainly for two reasons: the cup size is extremely small, only around 50ml even including the crema; and the taste is too intense and bitter for most people. However, Espresso's aroma, mouthfeel, and aftertaste are difficult for other coffees to replicate. This article breaks down Espresso's charm one by one, from its flavor characteristics and the perspective of enthusiasts to the role of Crema and its aftertaste performance, and includes three practical tasting tips to help you understand this small cup of espresso more fully.

In China, Espresso mostly appears as the base for lattes and Americanos, and ordering a straight Espresso is quite rare. On the one hand, its serving size is really too small—even counting the crema, it's only about 50ml; on the other hand, its flavor is too powerful for ordinary people, often both intense and bitter. Front Street Coffee has encountered quite a few friends who learned about Espresso from books, came to try it out of admiration, and their reactions after drinking it are basically as follows:

It's perfectly normal to make this kind of face when tasting Espresso for the first time, because it is inherently intense and bitter, no less so than Chinese herbal medicine. Most people choose to drink Espresso for the cheapest, fastest caffeine boost and mental refreshment; as for how it tastes, that's actually not the primary consideration.

Of course, although true Espresso lovers are rare, Front Street Coffee still invited 3 customers who drink Espresso regularly to talk about why they prefer it.

Customer A says other coffees are too weak, you can't taste much coffee flavor; only Espresso has enough coffee flavor, and it feels satisfying to drink.

Customer B says, I like that rich vanilla flavor (Front Street Coffee uses the Warm Sun blend to make Espresso), and that thick, creamy mouthfeel.

Customer C says, I like that feeling of sweetness after bitterness; for 20 minutes after drinking Espresso, my whole mouth is filled with sweet coffee aroma.

Espresso's aroma, mouthfeel, and aftertaste are all difficult for other coffees to imitate. A freshly made Espresso is brought to you immediately; when you pick up the small cup and bring it close to your nose, you can instantly smell the rich nutty creamy aroma—that fragrance is very full.

The mouthfeel is also what Espresso is most proud of. To judge whether a cup of Espresso is up to standard, a thick and delicate Crema is one of the indispensable criteria. The presence of Crema provides Espresso with a rich, full-bodied mouthfeel. Down it in one gulp, and the Crema wraps around your mouth and tongue, like a creamy sensation.

Espresso's taste is indeed among the bitterest in the coffee category, but that doesn't mean all bitter coffee is unpleasant. In Front Street Coffee's articles on coffee sensory analysis, it has been said that bitterness is divided into flavors represented by dark chocolate and caramel, and unpleasant tastes represented by burnt bitterness. A good Espresso has the bitter flavor notes of dark chocolate and caramel.

Another highlight of Espresso is its long aftertaste. After swallowing the coffee, if you don't drink water or eat other foods, a rich coffee aroma will spread in your mouth.

Finally, there are 3 things to pay attention to when drinking Espresso, so the experience is better.

-Drink a sip of water to clean your palate before drinking the coffee; -Pick up the small spoon and gently stir the coffee; -Drink it within 2 minutes.

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