Wikipedia says about the standard of espresso. What kind of espresso tastes good?

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Italian coffee (Espresso) is a beverage made by forcing near-boiling high-pressure water through coffee ground into fine powder. Espresso coffee is generally thicker than other methods and contains higher concentrations of suspended solids and dissolved solids, such as coffee fat (a creamy foam) on the surface. Because of its pressurized production process, espresso has a strong taste and a very high concentration of chemicals. It is often used as a base for other drinks, such as latte, cappuccino, macchiato, mocha, and American coffee. Italian espresso coffee contains more caffeine per unit volume than other coffee drinks, but because it is smaller per serving and the contact time between hot water and coffee powder is very short, usually only about 20 to 30 seconds, so the total caffeine content is lower. Although the actual caffeine content of coffee drinks is affected by volume, source of beans, roasting methods and other factors, a "typical" Italian espresso coffee contains about 80 milligrams of caffeine, while a dripping coffee contains 95 to 200 milligrams of caffeine.

Manufacturing process

Espresso coffee is made from very fine or slightly ground coffee powder forcibly with high heat and high pressure water. The key point is that the finely ground coffee powder can ensure that the ingredients of the coffee are quickly extracted and evenly passed through by high-pressure hot water. This process produces a drink close to syrup by extracting solid and soluble ingredients from coffee. Coffee fat ("crema") is produced by emulsifying the oil in coffee powder into colloids, which does not happen in other coffee making processes. There is no uniform standard for the production process of espresso coffee, but some publications try to regulate the baking degree, powder weight, extraction water temperature, extraction speed and even the weight of the ground coffee powder, so that the production process of espresso varies greatly from country to region. Generally speaking, espresso coffee is made through an espresso coffee machine. Making an espresso coffee is commonly known as "pulling a shot", a term from the early leveraged espresso coffee machine because it required the handle on the spring piston to be pulled down, forcing hot water to pass through the coffee powder at high pressure. Today, the average espresso coffee machine uses an electric device to generate pressure.

The technical parameters for the production of certified Italian coffee (espresso) designated by the Italian National Coffee Institute are as follows:

Composition

Parameters.

Weight of coffee powder

7 ±0.5g (0.25 ±0.02oz)

Hot water temperature of the equipment

88 ±2 °C (190 ±4 °F)

Coffee temperature after extraction

67 ±3 °C (153 ±5 °F)

Extraction pressure

9 ±1 bar (131 ±15 psi)

Percolation time

25 seconds ±5

Volume of coffee in the cup (including foam)

25 ±2.5 mL (0.85 ±0.08 US fl oz)

Mixed coffee beans

Espresso is a coffee drink and its preparation method, rather than a specific coffee bean, coffee bean mixing method or roasting degree. Not any variety of roasted coffee beans can be used to make authentic Italian coffee.

Italian coffee roasting manufacturers have added many coffee beans with different flavors to their own comprehensive coffee beans, and there are at least five kinds of beans before they can be called comprehensive beans. The integrated coffee beans imported from Italy have been roasted and processed in the original baking plant before they are packaged and exported to the world, with a preservation period of 2 to 3 years.

Some books or courses often say that Italian coffee in southern Italy uses very deep-roasted coffee beans to make espresso; or northern Italy, which is popular for deep-roasted coffee beans (relatively shallow).

In fact, these are misunderstandings about Italian coffee and Italian culture. Italian coffee beans are not roasted to very deep roasting, but most of them are roasted to medium-deep roasting.

Generally speaking, the comprehensive coffee beans launched by the baking plants in different regions have their own flavor, the comprehensive bean flavor is different, and the proportion of species and varieties is also different. it is impossible to describe which comprehensive bean is Beiyi flavor or which bean is Nanyi flavor.

However, in terms of Italian culture and eating habits, residents of South Italy, Central Italy, South Italy and East Italy do have different tastes. So the flavor preferences of coffee beans will be different.

In southern Italy, coffee beans are only roasted to medium-deep roasting, and the flavor is very strong, but still retains the tail flavor of caramel cocoa. The most important thing is to add more high-quality and roasted robusta coffee beans from southern Italy to add mellow and smooth taste.

In northern Italy, the roasting degree of coffee beans is similar to that of coffee beans in Nanyi, but also medium to deep roasting, with a small proportion of Robusta coffee beans added. But the flavor is different from Nanyi, with fine sour taste and sweet and sour balanced taste, but in the mellow thickness (Body) relative to Nanyi coffee beans, it is not so rich, it is an elegant espresso.

Popular

Espresso has been popular all over the world since 1980s. In the United States, coffee shops offer various types of espresso, which can be added with syrup, whipped cream, concentrated flavor, soy milk, and spices. The Pacific coast of the northwestern United States is believed to be the birthplace of this trend. As coffee shops everywhere began to offer such drinks, and cheap household kitchen equipment became popular, espresso became popular in other parts of the United States. In other parts of the world, espresso has also become a common method of making coffee in restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

History

Angelo Moriondo applied for a patent for "steam-operated equipment for rapid production of coffee beverages" in Turin, Italy in 1884 (No. 33 and 256). Author Ian Bersten discovered Moriondo's patent for the first time in his book on the history of coffee machines. Bersten describes the device as "... It is almost certainly the first Italian bar machine that can independently control the way steam and hot water pass through coffee, "and called Moriondo". Must be one of the inventors, if not the earliest, of the espresso coffee machine. Unlike today's espresso machine, this is actually a mass production device, rather than being used to quickly make coffee for individual customers.

Seventeen years later, in 1901, Milan man Luigi Bezzera made a series of improvements to the espresso coffee machine. He patented some of these improvements, the first of which was filed on December 19, 1901. Its title is "improvements to the Machine for Rapid preparation of Coffee drinks" (Patent No. No. 153 to 94, 61707, approved on June 5, 1902).

In 1905, the patent was purchased by Desiderio Pavoni, who founded the "La Pavoni" company and began industrial production of the machine (one per day) in a small workshop on Via Parini Street in Milan.

Espresso has become popular in many different ways; it is described in detail in (Morris 2007), which is the source of many of the following statements.

In Italy, the rise of espresso consumption is closely related to urbanization, and espresso cafes provide a place to socialize. In addition, the price of coffee is also controlled by local governments because coffee is consumed standing up and is intended to promote a culture of "standing in a coffee shop".

In English-speaking countries, espresso became popular mainly in the form of cappuccinos, where coffee is traditionally drunk with milk, and the exotic nature of foam attracts many consumers; in the United States, espresso is mainly in the form of lattes, which can also be added with syrup. The latte is said to have been invented by Italian-American Lino Meiorin at the Mediterranean Cafe in Berkeley, California, in the 1950s as a long version of the cappuccino, which became popular in Seattle and eventually spread nationwide and around the world by Seattle-based Starbucks in the late 1980s and 1990s.

In Britain, espresso became popular among young people in the 1950s, who found coffee shops more hospitable than bars (pubs).

In Germany, espresso began to be popular among people of Italian descent, and later became known to other people because of the development of Italian tourism, and later iced coffee invented by the Italians was popular in Germany.

In the Middle East, espresso has also become popular with the opening of western coffee chains.

At first, the espresso Coffee Bar outside Italy only served the Italian working class in the market, which provided a subcultural / counter-cultural appeal; to this day, it can still be seen in Italian-American communities in the United States, such as the North end of Boston, Little Italy in New York, and North Beach in San Francisco. As a specialty coffee developed in the 1980s (continuing the development of the 1970s and 1960s), it created a native craft coffee culture, and espresso was positioned as a high-end drink.

Today, coffee culture commentators define the coffee of large chains and mid-market as "the second wave of coffee" and the craft coffee of the high-end market as "the third wave of coffee".

Coffee shop and home production

The main difference between Espresso and brewing coffee is that espresso is closely related to coffee shops because of the special equipment and skills it requires. As a result, espresso consumption has become a social experience.

Home espresso coffee machines have become popular with the increase in public interest in espresso. Today, you can find a variety of household strong espresso coffee makers in kitchen and appliance stores, online stores and department stores. The earliest espresso coffee machine used in the home is the Gaggia Gilda. Soon, similar machines appeared, such as Faema Faemina, FE-AR La Peppina and VAM Caravel, all in the same shape and operation. These machines still have a small group of loyal fans to this day. Until the advent of the first espresso coffee maker based on a small electric pump, such as the Gaggia Baby or Quickmill 810, home machines were not widely accepted. In recent years, with the emergence of fully automatic household espresso coffee machines and automatic devices based on coffee powder pods (pod), the number of espresso consumed at home has begun to increase.

The growth of household espresso coffee production keeps pace with the growth of household coffee roasting. Some amateurs bake coffee beans and make espresso at the same time.

See: Espresso machine

The use of etymology and terminology

The origin of the word "espresso" is controversial. Some Anglo-American dictionaries call it "pressed-out". "espresso" is like the English word "express", which expresses the meaning of "specially for you" and "fast" and is related to the production process of espresso.

The words "express", "expres" and "espresso" have their own meanings in English, French and Italian. The first meaning has to do with "expressing", which means to squeeze flavor out of coffee under the pressure of steam. The second meaning is related to speed, just like the express of a train. The last layer is about "expressly" doing something for someone; the earliest Bezzera and Pavoni espresso coffee machines in 1906 took 45 seconds to make a cup of coffee, one cup at a time, just for you. [1]

The spelling of "espresso" is generally considered correct, while the spelling of "expresso" is relatively rare. Italy uses the term "espresso" to replace the x in the Latin root with the fact that the x is not part of the standard Italian alphabet. Italians generally call it "caff è" because espresso is the most common coffee; in Spain, "expreso" is a formal name, and "solo" (meaning alone, without milk) is the usual way to order a drink in a coffee bar.

The modern strong espresso coffee made from high-pressure hot water, which was pioneered by Gaggia in the 1940s, was originally called "crema caff è", or "cream coffee". The term can still be seen on old Gaggia machines, named after the coffee fat (crema, meaning cream) on top of the coffee. The term is no longer in use today, although "crema caff è" or its variant "caff è crema", "caf è crema" can still be seen occasionally in trademarks.

Although "expresso" is considered to be the mainstream usage in some American dictionaries, its inclusion process is controversial, and many people propose that the x variant is wrong. The online Oxford Dictionary points out that "the spelling 'expresso'' is not used in its place of origin in Italy. It is strictly wrong, although it is very common."

Variable factors of Shot

The main variables in an Espresso (a shot) are "size" and "length". The term has been standardized, but the exact number has changed a lot.

Each coffee shop may have standardized shot (size and length), such as "triple ristretto". In espresso-based drinks (such as lattes), there is only a change in the number of shot, but no change in the extraction process-the change between double and triple shot only needs to change the size of the filter bowl, but the change between "ristretto", "normale" and "lungo" requires a change in coffee grinding, which is difficult to achieve in busy coffee shops. Because the precise adjustment of the coffee grinder is the key to the stable and high quality production of espresso.

Dimensions (size)

The size of the Espresso can be single (single), double (double) and triple (triple), corresponding to 25, 50, and 75 ml of standard (normale) shot, and proportionally ground coffee powder is about 7, 14, and 21 grams; also use a filter bowl of the corresponding size. The Italian term doppio is often used to mean double, while solo and tripio are less used to mean single and triple. The single shot is the traditional shot size, and it is also the maximum size that the original leveraged machine can pull (pull). Today, double is the standard shot size.

The bottom of the single filter bowl is much smaller than that of the double filter bowl, showing an inverted cone, but of the same depth, so as to provide sufficient resistance to high-pressure hot water. Most double filter bowls have only weak necks ("Faema" type), while others, such as La Marzocco, have vertical walls. Triple filter bowls usually have vertical walls.

Filter bowl handles (portafilter) usually have two outlets, close together, and a double filter bowl-coffee can flow through each outlet into a separate cup to make two double coffees (but double concentration), or into a cup (so the outlet should be very close). Real single-fold coffee shot is rare, and the single-fold shot in coffee shops is generally half that of doppio (double) shot.

In espresso-based drinks, especially larger milk-based drinks, drinks with three or four times the shot of espresso are called triple or quad, respectively.

Length (length)

The length (i.e. strength) of a shot can be ristretto (reduced), normale (standard) or lungo (long): this can also refer to smaller or larger beverages with the same amount of ground coffee and the same level of extraction, or different lengths of extraction time. The presence of coffee fat (crema) makes volume-based comparisons very difficult because of the different proportions (depending on the weight of the drink to be exact), but it is common to refer to ristretto,normale and lungo with a ratio of 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 to 4, corresponding to a double shot of 30, 60 and 90 milligrams of 120 milliliters. Ristretto is the most commonly used of these terms, and double and triple ristretto are usually associated with craft coffee.

Ristrtto, normale, and lungo may not refer to the same shot-- that ends extraction at different times, which may result in insufficient extraction (too short time) or over extraction (too long time). Instead, adjust the fineness of the coffee grinding (finer for ristretto and thicker for lungo) to get the right volume at the right end of the extraction.

A very long shot called caff è crema, which is longer than a lungo, is usually 120ml to 240ml, and is made using thicker coffee powder in the same way.

Adding hot water to the production process can produce coffee with a lighter taste than the original, forcing more water to add other flavors to espresso through coffee powder, but some people don't like it.

Espresso-based beverage

In addition to drinking alone, espresso is often mixed with other drinks, the most common of which are milk (which can be steam-heated, wet (micro-foam) or dry) and water. The most common milk-based espresso drinks are sorted by size, including: macchiato, cappuccino, plain white coffee (flat white), and latte. Espresso and water are mixed to make American coffee and long black coffee (long black). Other drinks include red-eye coffee (red eye) and latte macchiato. Cortado and Gal ã o are made from foam-free milk heated by steam.

Sorted by size, there are the following coffee drinks:

Traditional Maggialto: 35-40ml, 1 serving (shot) espresso (30ml) with a small amount of milk (usually steam heating with a small amount of foam to leave a mark)

Modern Marchiato: 60ml or 120ml, 1 or 2 servings of espresso (30 or 60ml), 1:1 with milk

Cortado:60 ml, 1 espresso (30 ml) with 1:1 milk, a small amount of foam

Piccolo latte: 90ml, 1 espresso (30ml) with 1:2 milk, a small amount of foam

Galao:120 ml, 1 espresso (30 ml) with 1:3 milk, a small amount of foam

Plain white coffee (Flat white): 150ml, one or two servings of espresso (30 or 60ml) with 1:4 or 2:3 milk

Cappuccino: 150ml 180ml, 1 or 2 parts espresso (30 or 60ml) with wet foam

Latte: 240Mel 600ml, more than 2 servings of espresso (60ml), with 1:3 to 1:9 milk

The following table helps to visually understand the combination of coffee drinks:

Mix with it

Soak milk

Hot water

Espresso in

Upper layer

Latte Maggialdo

Long black (long black)

Lower layer

Latte

Cafe Americano

Different baristas make coffee differently. In the process of making macchiato, cappuccino, plain white coffee and smaller lattes and American coffee, espresso flows directly into the coffee cup, and then milk and water are added to it. For larger drinks, the higher cup cannot be placed under the exit of the coffee machine, so espresso flows into the small cup first and then into the large beverage cup; a special small coffee cup (demitasse) or a special espresso coffee maker (also known as a small foam pot) can be used for this purpose. Small pots generally have a capacity of 3 liquid ounces, enough to hold all espresso below a large lungo, but there are also small pots of 5 ounces or even 8 ounces.

The Espresso coffee maker is generally used to make a multi-layered latte macchiato because it requires precise control of coffee dumping. Small espresso coffee cups are used in other drinks because the coffee in them needs to be poured quickly rather than slowly.