The difference between Italian Coffee and American Coffee excellent and bad extraction of espresso

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A cup of espresso (espresso), which looks like a small cup but retains the flavor of coffee, is called American coffee (Americano) of daily life by modern people, and it is a boutique hand-made coffee that teases taste buds and strikes five senses.

Throughout the coffee tide in recent years, after the emergence of instant coffee, espresso has risen. It has not only spread the coffee spirit of Italy to the whole of Europe, but also spread all over the world with the prosperity of chain coffee, and has become an important basis for the follow-up development of coffee!

What is espresso?

A cup of pure, strong espresso (espresso) is the main role of the second wave of coffee. According to legend, coffee was introduced into Italy from the east with fruit and was loved by Italians. after a great improvement in brewing equipment at the beginning of the 20th century, coffee became close to the appearance of espresso today. Drinking espresso has become a daily routine for Italians. Then, with the continuous improvement of the espresso machine, espresso expanded from Italy, so that the whole Europe is surrounded by the aroma of coffee, and the most popular coffee has spread all over the world.

Espresso's es, which actually means ex in English, has the meaning of speed and convenience. In the past, traditional Italian coffee drinks used to drink coffee quickly in just a few minutes to ensure that the flavor of the coffee would not be lost. At that time, it set off a trend of standing up to drink coffee, and the price was more friendly to the people than take-out coffee.

Authentic espresso (espresso) is a drink about 30ml made by boiling high-pressure water (about 92-94 degrees Celsius, 9bar atmospheric pressure) for 20-30 seconds through finely ground, flat-packed coffee pressed powder, with a thick layer of coffee oil foam on the surface, called Crema, and the color of the oil tends to gold and brown. Now there are differences in color depending on the roasting degree of the coffee. Because the taste is very rich, many people also add sugar or milk to reconcile the bitter taste. Starbucks, a well-known coffee chain, was founded in 1971, bringing with it new espresso changes based on espresso (espresso) and mixed with syrup, cream, spices and other seasonings, such as Herbalife blue, macchiato, caramel macchiato, cappuccino, latte, mocha, Italian American coffee. Wait, they are all members of the espresso family!

What is American coffee?

In fact, there is no American coffee in the United States. American coffee (Americano) was originally transformed from Italian coffee to → espresso (espresso) diluted with hot water, that is, Italian American coffee (Americano). During World War II, the US military was not accustomed to drinking espresso in Europe, so hot water was added to the coffee to dilute it, thus giving rise to the name American coffee (Americano)! In the world of espresso, American coffee (Americano) is one of the changes in espresso!

Strictly speaking, American coffee (Americano) can also be subdivided into Americano, Long Black and Lungo/Long Shot:

Add hot water to Americano │ espresso and the coffee grease (Crema) on espresso will be diluted.

Long Black │ hot water is added to espresso, because coffee oil (Crema) is the last to be poured in, so the oil can be retained for a long time and can better maintain the remaining aroma of coffee in the mouth.

Lungo │ does not add additional water, but lengthens the extraction time and speeds up the flow of water. The extraction time is about 30 to 60 seconds, which can probably reach the amount of coffee in 60ml. It is a coffee with a mellow flavor but lower concentration than Americano.

Authentic American coffee (Americano) must be a blend of (espresso and hot water).

Extraction steps of espresso

Powder filling (Dosing)

Put the coffee powder into the brewing handle and fill it with powder. be careful not to sprinkle the coffee powder out of the handle and fill it with quantitative coffee powder.

Whole powder (Leveling)

Whole powder refers to the use of fingers or palms to flatten the coffee powder. Even in a high-end coffee machine, when the coffee powder falls from the coffee machine, it is difficult to show a completely flat state, so it is necessary to adjust the amount of coffee powder at this stage.

In order to ensure a stable amount of filled coffee powder, the practice should be placed on the scale to measure. The Double of coffee is about 18-22 grams of coffee powder, and will be fine-tuned according to the type and state of the beans.

Packing pressure (Tamping)

After putting the coffee powder into the brewing handle, you need to use a special prop (filler) to apply pressure from the top to press the coffee powder. This operation is called filling. The focus of the filling is to apply pressure as vertically as possible and flatten the coffee powder evenly.

Before inserting the brewing handle into the espresso machine, be sure to let the equipment flow out for 2-3 seconds. Only in this way can the coffee powder attached to the equipment extraction port fall off during the last extraction, and the water temperature can be adjusted to the most suitable temperature for coffee extraction.

Extraction

After filling the powder and pressing, immediately insert the brewing handle into the coffee machine to extract the coffee liquid.

Good extraction and bad extraction

Then the extraction will have excellent extraction and bad extraction, the excellent extraction time is about 20-30 seconds, including foam oil, when the amount of extraction reaches 30ml, the supply of hot water will be stopped. Espresso in good condition, the coffee liquid will flow slowly like honey. This emulsifies the oil and moisture of the coffee through a high pressure called 9 atmospheric pressure (9bar), bringing out the viscosity of the liquid.

Bad extraction, extraction time is too short. Due to the rapid passage of hot water through the coffee powder, the coffee liquid is not fully emulsified and the coffee liquid is partial to water. It may be because the size of the coffee powder filled in the brewing handle is too thick, or the amount of coffee powder is too small. However, if the extraction time is prolonged, it is easy to bring out excess odor, so special attention should be paid to it.

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