How Does Espresso Shape Cappuccino Wet or Dry Styles?

Espresso underpins americano, latte, cappuccino and flat white. Its machine was improved from pressurized designs in the early 20th century, after coffee beans from Africa and the Middle East reached Italy through Venice from 1580. Rome opened Europe's first coffee house in 1645, and espresso became part of daily Italian life.

For home brewing, the article breaks down dose, brew ratio, extraction time and grind size, then covers dosing, distribution, tamping and extraction. Front Street Coffee also gives dose, yield and time settings for single and double shots and recommends espresso blend coffee beans, which helps explain why cappuccino wet or dry styles differ in milk and foam balance.

Espresso is the foundation of many popular coffee drinks today—americano, latte, cappuccino, and flat white all rely on it. From the perspective of Front Street Coffee, this article traces the birth and evolution of Espresso in Italy, and breaks down the key parameters for extracting espresso one by one—dose, brew ratio, extraction time, and grind size—while providing the complete operating steps from dosing, distribution and tamping, to extraction. The article also draws on Front Street Coffee's actual store experience to explain the dose, yield, and time settings for single and double espressos, and recommends espresso blend coffee beans suitable for home replication, helping coffee enthusiasts understand and make stable espresso more systematically.

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In Italians' daily lives, espresso has long been more than just a beverage—it carries regional characteristics and cultural traditions, and has witnessed the acceleration of society's pace. The prototype of Italian coffee can be traced back to the late 19th century, while the brewing method we are familiar with today originates from the technology improved upon pressurized coffee machines in the early 20th century.

Americano, latte, cappuccino, flat white… what these drinks share in common is that they all use espresso as their base, then develop their own flavor expressions. So is espresso actually good? And how should it be made? In this article, Front Street takes you through the birth of the espresso machine and breaks down the Espresso extraction steps with illustrations.

Early Italian Coffee Culture

Italy has a very long history of coffee drinking. Since 1580, coffee beans native to Africa and the Middle East have flowed into Italy through the port of Venice, and initially only the upper class had the chance to taste them. Because coffee came from the Middle East and Turkey and was regarded as a "Muslim drink," many Christian Italians called it the "devil's drink."

By the early 17th century, Pope Clement VIII became fascinated by this black liquid and even held a baptism for coffee, officially declaring it a drink Christians could consume and naming it "the drink of God." In 1645, Rome opened Europe's first coffee house, which was also Italy's earliest shop dedicated to selling coffee, after which coffee spread rapidly throughout Italy.

Italians' contribution to coffee lies not only in taste, but also in the development of equipment

In the early days, people were used to brewing coffee with old-fashioned Turkish pots and then filtering it. After the Industrial Revolution arrived, everything emphasized efficiency, and Italians were no exception. In 1884, Angelo Moriondo registered a patent in Turin, Italy for a steam-powered coffee-making machine. But this device relied entirely on steam, making temperature difficult to control, and it often brewed coffee that was burnt and bitter, so it was later repeatedly modified by different people.

(Angelo Moriondo's Espresso Machine)

In the early 19th century, Milanese manufacturer Luigi Bezzara improved the patent and introduced the prototype of the world's first steam-pressure coffee machine. It featured a detachable handle and a separable group head, and could extract a cup of coffee in a short time at relatively high pressure.

(Luigi Bezzera's Espresso Machine)

As new machines appeared and were put into use, more and more Italians fell in love with this quickly extracted coffee. The word "espresso" was also first included in an Italian dictionary around 1920, defined as: concentrated coffee made using a pressurized machine or filter.

For people tasting this "quick coffee" for the first time at the time, the flavor was not appealing. But when they learned that it was a drink obtained quickly through steam pressure, Italians seemed ignited instead, constantly thinking about how to upgrade and modify this steam-powered coffee machine to make the output taste better.

For example, Milanese engineer Achille Gaggia managed in 1938 to add a lever to the coffee machine, which could suddenly raise water pressure from 1.5 bar to 9 bar. This not only produced a layer of dark brown "crema" on the surface of the coffee, but also made the volume of the liquid quantifiable, making coffee quality more stable.

Precisely because people continuously improved and promoted these machines, the way coffee was made underwent tremendous changes. High speed and convenience became the new standard of service in every coffee shop, and that small cup of espresso gradually evolved into the foundational core of the modern coffee system.

As espresso developed into its final form, coffee culture followed suit. Compared with many countries, Italian coffee shops emphasize an efficient, fast-paced atmosphere, which fits perfectly with the small cup size of espresso, making it convenient for people passing by to enjoy quickly and then leave after a few words of small talk with acquaintances. Using a brief break to go to a café and order an espresso can be said to be one of Italians' most deeply rooted habits.

When entering a café, they will directly tell the barista to make a single espresso. The vast majority are mainly bitter due to dark roasting, and robusta is usually added to make the crema richer. Some people add a little brown sugar and stir before tasting, then drink it in one go, which is very satisfying. A cup of espresso in Italy usually costs only 1 euro, about 7 RMB, making it a very popular drink.

How to Make Espresso?

Each extraction of espresso will have different dose limits depending on the size of the filter basket. When making a single espresso (1 shot), Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses 10-11 g of coffee grounds to extract 20-25 g of coffee liquid, with an extraction time of about 22 seconds; when making a double espresso, it uses 19-20 g of coffee grounds to produce 35-40 g of coffee liquid, with an extraction time of about 29 seconds.

The performance of every espresso machine and espresso grinder is different, and different coffee beans also have different conditions. It is not 100% guaranteed that you can extract delicious espresso under these data. The above are only the parameters for extracting espresso at Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) stores, using the Q18 grinder, Lelit coffee machine, and Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Sunflower Warm Sun blend coffee beans (a blend of 30% sun-dried Yirgacheffe coffee beans + 70% Sherry coffee beans).

Through extremely fine grinding, and in a vacuum environment of 9-10 bar, 94°C water is quickly passed through the coffee particles. The extracted espresso drips from the portafilter smoothly like honey, with color ranging from reddish brown to light golden yellow. After extraction is completed, the surface of the espresso is covered with a delicate golden layer of coffee crema (the oily foam produced by carbon dioxide in the coffee particles combining with coffee oils and emulsifying in a vacuum environment).

Important Factors Determining the Taste of Espresso

When making espresso, the most important things are dose, ratio, time, grind size, water temperature, and pressure. Each step will change the final expression of the coffee's taste. For water temperature and pressure, most machines have a preset scheme, and there is no need to change them unless necessary. So the parameters we ultimately need to determine are dose, ratio, time, and grind size.

"Dose" Depending on the size of the filter basket, there are different dose limits. When making a single espresso (1 shot), Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses 10-11 g of coffee grounds; when making a double espresso, it uses 19-20 g of coffee grounds.

"Brew Ratio" A relatively common espresso ratio is between 1:1.5 and 1:2.5. Front Street suggests starting with a 1:2 brew ratio for extraction, that is, 20 g of coffee grounds to extract 40 g of coffee liquid.

"Extraction Time" Controlling the extraction time within 20-30 seconds makes it easier to extract delicious espresso. Espresso that finishes extracting in less than 20 seconds will most likely taste thin and watery; espresso that finishes extracting in more than 30 seconds is prone to a burnt bitter taste. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses double espressos for daily output, with an extraction time of about 28-30 seconds.

"Grind Size" The settings on every grinder will differ, so you need to continuously extract and taste, sensing the changes in the coffee's flavor until it is balanced. The coffee machine is very sensitive to the inspection of coffee grind size: if the grind is slightly too coarse, it will cause the flow rate to be too fast, the extraction time to become shorter, and the coffee taste to be thin; if the grind is slightly too fine, it will cause the flow rate to be too slow, the extraction time to become longer, and the coffee taste to be burnt and bitter.

Espresso Extraction Steps

① Dosing

Before dosing, first wipe the coffee filter basket clean and keep it dry. Turn on the grinder switch, begin grinding the coffee beans, and catch the coffee grounds with the coffee filter basket.

② Distribution & Tamping

Use your fingers or a distribution tool to distribute the coffee grounds, with the purpose of ensuring the coffee grounds are evenly distributed and avoiding areas of inconsistent density during subsequent tamping. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) recommends using a distribution tool for distribution, which ensures stability and speed for beginners. Place the distribution tool flat on the coffee filter basket and rotate it several times before lifting it.

③ Confirmation Before Extraction

Before locking onto the group head, confirm two things: first, confirm whether the tamp is level; second, confirm there are no residual grounds around the filter basket. After that, press the brew button to wet the group head, then gently lock the portafilter onto the group head, making sure to confirm it is locked tightly to avoid water leakage.

④ Extraction

After locking onto the group head, quickly press the brew button to avoid the high-temperature group head scorching the surface of the coffee grounds. At about the 4th second after pressing the extraction button, the espresso drips from the portafilter smoothly like honey, with color ranging from reddish brown to light golden yellow. After extraction is completed, the surface of the espresso is covered with a delicate golden layer of coffee crema (the oily foam produced by carbon dioxide in the coffee particles combining with coffee oils and emulsifying in a vacuum environment).

Espresso Coffee Bean Recommendations

In order to give espresso a more stable flavor expression, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) recommends using blend coffee beans specially customized for espresso. The advantage of blended coffee beans lies in using beans from different origins in different proportions to complement each other's strengths, stabilizing and balancing the expression of coffee flavor, while dark roasting can enhance the coffee's richness.

The main flavor expression of espresso is determined by the coffee beans. Among the products currently sold by Front Street, many are espresso blend coffee beans. If you want to replicate the same effect as coffee shops at home, Front Street commercial blend coffee beans are recommended. This is a formula designed specifically for shop-opening contestants, allowing espresso to have rich coffee crema and a mellow mouthfeel, while also being suitable for common categories such as americano, latte, cappuccino, and flat white.

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