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What does it mean to add a shot in Italian coffee?

Published: 2026-08-25 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/08/25, I believe that friends who often stay in cafes will hear "Boss, give a shot" or "add a shot" from time to time. This can not help but arouse everyone's curiosity, this "shot", obviously not written on the menu, is it like Flat white or Drity

I believe that friends who often wait for cafes will hear alternative orders such as "boss, have a shot" or "add a shot" from time to time. This can't help but arouse everyone's curiosity. Is this "shot", obviously not written on the menu, something new like Flat white or Drity?

What is "shot"? The application of shot is not only in coffee shops, but also in bars. It is also a common term! Usually, in a bar, shot means a small glass of spirits.

The drinking term was popular in the mid-20th century, when you ordered a shot, the bar owner would present a shot glass the size of a gourd, filled with spirits, and guests would quickly finish the small glass of spirits and then leave. The aim is to enjoy the thrill of alcohol faster and cheaper: a shot cup in a bar refers to a cup with a demagogue capacity, but the amount of demagogic units in Britain and the United States is different, for example, one ounce in the British system is 28.41ml and one ounce in the United States is 29.57ml. Then, since "milliliters" are used to represent capacity in international units, 30ml is used to replace the original Ishiji. In other words, Yigusi is about equal to 30ml. The shot in coffee actually refers to espresso, a shot equals an espresso! Come to think of it, espresso will also have a "effect" similar to spirits, and coincidentally, the initial orientation of Italian concentration is to consume caffeine quickly and cheaply, which coincides with it.

So we can know that the term shot acts not only as a noun, but also as a unit of liquid volume. But you know, shot in coffee doesn't just refer to capacity and nouns.

So, how much concentration is a shot? For a long time in the past, a shot in coffee also referred to the standard extraction formula at that time, such as extracting 30ml espresso with 7g of coffee powder. In addition to this "one shot", there is another word-"Double shot", which means double espresso. If the guest orders Double shot, the store will switch the powder bowl, replace the original single powder bowl with a double powder bowl, and then use 14g of coffee powder to extract 60ml's espresso.

Qianjie mentioned in a previous article that nowadays coffee shops generally use double powder bowls as the production standard, and there are almost no stores that use single powder bowls; in addition, the proportion of powder to liquid has also been greatly reduced, for example, the weight of coffee liquid extracted from 14g was 60ml, but now it is common to use 1920g coffee powder to extract about 40ml (something to do with pressure).

Then, this will lead to a more embarrassing scene: if the powder bowl is used as the calculation unit of shot, then the powder bowl used for production is double, and the concentration extracted is Double shot. If the guest orders a shot, in the case of reasonable extraction, it is about 20ml up and down, which makes the original concentration even less pitifully!

If it is measured by the amount of liquid, 30ml is a single shot,60ml and double shot, then the customer who orders a single shot will discard some of it from the concentration and present it to the guest; if he or she orders Double shot, he or she needs to extract it twice and concentrate it twice, then remove most of it and release it to the guest. Either way, it's too troublesome for people to call. So, everyone began to reach a consensus! No longer apply the past metering method to the current extraction. When the guest orders a shot, he will directly present a complete espresso extracted in a double powder bowl. If Double shot is ordered, two espresso will be directly extracted and given to the guest.

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