Do you know a little about Italian condensed espresso?

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Why does Italian concentration come with a spoon?

When drinking espresso, most of them come with spoons, sugar and water.

Espresso is extracted with hot water and pressure, so in addition to the water-soluble components that will dissolve in water, some fat-soluble ingredients will also be extracted. The water-soluble ingredients are heavy, so they sink below in the form of coffee liquid, while the fat-soluble ingredients float on top in the form of foam. The ingredient of this foam type is crema, which dissolves many ingredients of aroma, consistency and texture. The water-soluble ingredients sunk below are mainly substances that make the tongue feel the taste. In short, crema is responsible for the aroma part, and the extract is responsible for the flavor part.

If you drink directly without stirring, the water-soluble and fat-soluble ingredients will be separated. Stir or shake the ingredients of espresso before drinking, so that you can feel the rich and harmonious flavor and aroma. So espresso must be served with a spoon.

Should sugar be added to espresso?

Whether or not to add sugar to espresso is a matter of personal preference. However, adding sugar to the abundant crema, watching the sugar slowly sink, while fantasizing about the rich taste of coffee, is also a happy experience.

Sugar can also be used to judge whether the crema is abundant or not: carefully put a spoonful of sugar on the crema so that the crema is not broken. If the sugar stays for 2-3 seconds before slowly getting wet and sinking from the edge, it means that the crema is abundant.

Because granulated sugar will reduce the bitterness of coffee, the sour taste that was originally masked by bitterness will be highlighted at this time, making the impression of coffee more advanced. And sugar can soften the texture of coffee, which can be said to be an excellent helper for coffee.

Is the more Crema the better?

The thickness and maintenance time of Crema have a lot to do with the freshness of coffee. The richer the Crema is, the fresher the coffee may be; the more gas the beans produce when roasted, the more crema will appear. Take the coffee not long after roasting to extract, you can find that there will be a lot of crema, but unfortunately, it will also disappear in a faster time. When you taste this kind of coffee, your tongue will feel the same way as when you drink carbonated water. Because the gas produced during baking dissolves in water, it will be bitter or astringent.

From this, it can be seen that even if it is fresh coffee, it cannot be said that it is all good coffee, and it still needs to be properly managed.

The ripening time of coffee beans varies depending on the baking method. Put the coffee in a state of isolation from light and oxygen for at least 3 to 4 days to more than 2 weeks, so that the gas produced during the internal baking of the coffee beans can be discharged naturally. With this kind of coffee, you can make a beautiful crema coffee.

In the stable state after extraction, the time is the best when crema does not exceed 3~5mm.

Does espresso have to be mixed with beans?

Italian concentration is just one of the methods of coffee extraction. No matter what kind of coffee is used, as long as it is made with an espresso machine, it can be called espresso. As long as it has a good taste, whether it's single coffee or mixed bean coffee, light-roasted coffee or deep-roasted coffee. There is no rule on what kind of coffee must be used.

The machine for extracting espresso has the best extraction conditions, so the best extraction can be made no matter what kind of coffee is used. But the so-called "good extraction" will not only extract the maximum value of the good ingredients in the coffee; similarly, the bad taste will also be extracted the maximum value, which must be noted. Therefore, it is necessary to use good coffee with no defects in the material. If the coffee bean has its own shortcomings, as mentioned earlier. Shortcomings are also extracted in large quantities and magnified to unbearable levels.

All coffees have advantages, but they also have disadvantages, so instead of using single coffee to make espresso, various items are often mixed to make special coffee for the sake of richness and harmony.