What is the difference between espresso and espresso? What does Ristretto mean? What is the basis of Australian White Coffee?

As we all know, the Italians invented a method of coffee extraction in the 19th century, through high temperature and high pressure, so that coffee can be extracted quickly in a short time. Because coffee is made much faster than before, and it takes a short time to present to guests, people use the Italian word "Espresso" to name it, which is what we often call "espresso". Yes, it is not only a way of making coffee, but also the name of a kind of coffee. But recently, a friend found an option called "essence and concentration" in addition to espresso in the menu of a chain brand. So the question of Qianjie comes up: what is essence and concentration?

What is essence and concentration? In fact, the so-called essence and concentration is the "Ristretto" that is often mentioned when sharing Australian white coffee in Qianjie. Ristretto means "restricted". It is also a kind of espresso, but because of different practices, the taste and concentration of Ristretto are somewhat different from those of regular espresso.

The specific method is to increase the concentration of coffee and reduce the release of bitter substances by increasing the ratio of powder to water on the basis of the original amount of powder. So the meaning of "limitation" of this cup of coffee can be understood in terms of the amount of coffee liquid extracted. And "essence and concentration" is the alias given to it by the chain brand in order to facilitate guests to understand! In addition, it also has a short extract, espresso espresso, Ristow and other names. But many friends can not make a cup of Ristretto, because most people think that the production of Ristretto is just to reduce the amount of liquid extracted on the original concentration parameters. Although it is right to do so, the concentration of coffee will be increased, but at the same time, it is also easy to make the coffee astringent. The reason is very simple, because the parameters we use to extract espresso are set according to the concentration of the whole stage of the extraction!

Coffee beans contain only 30% of the soluble matter, while the remaining 70% are insoluble wood fibers. According to the golden cup theory, there are only 2/3 of the substances with pleasing flavor. Therefore, if we want to make a cup of coffee taste good, we need to limit the amount of soluble matter released to around 2/3. This is closely related to each parameter, such as powder quantity, grinding, proportion and time. In the past, for example, the parameters used in front street extraction of espresso were usually 20g powder. It took 30 seconds to extract 40ml liquid weight, that is, the ratio of powder to water was 1:2, and the time was about 30 seconds. Such a parameter can ensure that the coffee extracted with so much liquid has a good performance in terms of taste and concentration.

Under the same amount of powder, the weight of the coffee liquid extracted by Ristretto was only 2/3 of that of the original (for example, 40ml only extracted 26ml). If we directly reduce the weight of the extraction liquid by 1/3 on the original basis, then the extraction rate of coffee will be reduced because of the reduction of hot water. Because the liquid weight is closely related to time, when we reduce the liquid weight, it is tantamount to reducing the contact time between water and powder. So naturally, this small amount of hot water will be very difficult to extract a more complete extraction rate of espresso! Therefore, directly adjusting the powder-to-water ratio will easily lead to an imbalance in the taste of coffee due to the lack of released substances.

How should it be extracted? If we want to re-extract a more complete coffee liquid with less liquid, then what we need to do is to increase the extraction time so that hot water and coffee powder have longer contact time. Such a small amount of hot water can also dissolve a lot of flavor substances. The practice is very simple, that is, fine grinding.

Through fine grinding, the particle size of coffee powder will be reduced. As a result, we can increase the density of pressed powder and make it more difficult for hot water to pass through. It takes more time to extract to the target liquid weight, so naturally, the coffee can get a more complete extraction rate. The refined concentration made in this way not only has a higher concentration, but also has a very high sweetness because of the abundant extraction rate, which is very suitable for making Australian white coffee.

But it is not without shortcomings! The disadvantage is that you need to prepare an extra bean grinder or set an extra parameter to meet the operation of the store. This is also the biggest disadvantage, because for many stores, Australia White's sales are not enough to support these additional material costs. So now many stores of Ristretto are using the original parameters, in the original parameters to add coffee powder or directly reduce the weight of the liquid to make. Or, just like Qianjie, espresso is used as the base of Australia White.

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