Espresso is not just a beverage; it is a lifestyle shared by people all over the world! We have almost lost count of how many espressos coffee lovers around the globe drink every day, but have you ever wondered where espresso actually comes from? Who on earth invented this magical drink?

Today, let Front Street Coffee tell you the story of the origins of espresso!

The Hometown of Espresso: Italy

Perhaps everyone knows that espresso originated in Italy. Italy is the homeland of many kinds of coffee, including the latte and cappuccino we are familiar with today. About 100 years ago, in the early 20th century, Luigi Bezzera from Milan invented a whole new set of steam-driven coffee brewing equipment. Because the brewing time was extremely short, people decided to name it "Espresso," which means "Express" in Italian.

But not long after it was invented, due to problems with the raw coffee beans and operational limitations, the espresso produced tasted bitter and had a burnt flavor. It was not until the 1940s, with the technological innovation led by Gaggia, that the taste and quality of espresso were completely transformed and improved. The espresso brewed by the new system not only had a beautiful layer of golden crema, but also had a refined, rich flavor without any burnt taste. From then on, the improved espresso became the very symbol of Italian coffee culture.

Because of its extremely high concentration, after espresso spread around the world, people in different regions gradually added different ingredients according to local taste preferences, creating various globally renowned espresso-based coffee products, such as Americano, latte, cappuccino, mocha, and so on.

Today, espresso-making is far more refined than when it was first invented, and the quality of the coffee beans used for espresso is also constantly improving. As a result, many coffee shops' espresso products taste only bitter. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that a good espresso is intense and rich yet clean in mouthfeel, bitter without being burnt, with a strong sweet aftertaste.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses blended coffee beans to extract espresso in its daily store offerings, because compared with single-origin coffee beans, blended beans can better stabilize the taste and quality performance of every cup of espresso. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has also launched four blended coffee beans specifically for making espresso, based on the taste needs of general consumers.

"Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Front Street Specialty Blend Coffee Beans" uses Brazilian Arabica + Colombian Arabica. The extracted espresso shows notes of dark cocoa, roasted nuts, and a caramel-like finish, with a full body and a strong sweet aftertaste.

"Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Front Street Commercial Blend Coffee Beans" uses Brazilian Arabica + Colombian Arabica + Vietnamese Robusta. The extracted espresso shows notes of cocoa and nuts, with a full, intense body and a strong sweet aftertaste.

"Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend Coffee Beans" uses Yunnan Arabica + Brazilian Arabica. The extracted espresso shows slight fruity acidity, dark chocolate, and nuts, with a rich body and mild acidity.

"Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans" uses Ethiopian sun-dried Yirgacheffe + Honduras Sherry. The extracted espresso shows fermented wine aromas, berries, vanilla cream, and nutty caramel, with a rich, smooth body and a distinctive flavor.

Because of its intense and powerful taste, it is very suitable as a base for coffee products. Paired with different amounts of milk, milk foam, water, and so on, it can be used to make a great many espresso-based coffee products.

1. Latte (Caffe Latte)

Latte means milk in Italian. If you go to a coffee bar in Italy and tell the barista you want a "Latte," the barista may look at you with a puzzled expression and then give you a glass of milk. To get a coffee latte in Italy, you must say "Caffe Latte" to get the latte you want.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) baristas usually make a latte with a double espresso (40g) as the base, adding 240 ml of hot milk or iced milk frothed into smooth milk foam, and blending them evenly.

2. Cappuccino (Cappuccino)

Compared with a latte, a cappuccino has thicker and denser milk foam. This is because its appearance resembles the Franciscan friars of Italy, who wore a dark brown outer robe covered with a pure white hood. In Italian, Cappuccin refers to the Franciscan friars, and Cappuccino got its name from this.

To highlight the characteristics of a cappuccino, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) baristas generally only make hot cappuccinos, because this allows you to taste a richer coffee flavor. The method is not complicated: first use a double espresso (40g), add 150 ml of hot milk, and when frothing, create about 3 cm of dense milk foam. When you take the first sip, you are greeted with the rich mouthfeel of fragrant coffee crema blended with fluffy foam.

3.Mocha (Mocha)

Originally, the word mocha referred to a port in Yemen, namely the coffee beans exported from there to nearby countries and regions, which had a rich chocolate flavor. So mocha coffee was also broadly used to refer to special coffee bean varieties with a chocolate aroma. But later the port was demolished, and in order to drink coffee with the same flavor, Europeans came up with the idea of adding chocolate sauce or cocoa powder to milk coffee, and it became what we now know as espresso mocha.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) baristas usually make espresso mocha with a double espresso (40g) + 20–30g of chocolate sauce/cocoa powder. After stirring evenly, use 200 ml of fresh milk to froth smooth milk foam, keeping the temperature at 50–60°C. Finally, blend it with the chocolate espresso base, pour a heart pattern you like, and a cup of richly aromatic mocha coffee is complete.

4.Americano (Americano)

During World War II, when American soldiers came to Italy, they were not used to the coffee made by Italian espresso machines, so they added a large amount of hot water to the espresso to dilute the taste.

This behavior amazed the Italians, so they called this American-style way of drinking it "Americano," which means "American" in Italian. When Americans heard this slightly mocking name, they not only did not take offense, but actually felt rather pleased with it. Thus the name Americano spread and came to specifically refer to the way of drinking espresso diluted with hot water.

In fact, there is no strict rule for the amount and temperature of water in an Americano; everyone can adjust it according to their preferred strength. After many experiments, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) baristas settled on a ratio of 1:6, pouring 40g of double espresso into 180g of 80°C hot water, and the hot Americano is complete. If you prefer a refreshing, thirst-quenching iced Americano, simply replace the hot water with 90g of ice cubes + 150g of room-temperature water, and finally pour the double espresso over it in the same way.

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