Understand the true meaning of espresso through crema

Just recently, a coffee magazine in Copenhagen published an article saying that coffee would taste better if the coffee fat from Italian espresso was skimmed off. Indeed, the coffee oil tastes extremely bitter, and if the oil is removed, the overall taste of the coffee will become sweeter. But traditional coffee makers don't think so. The Italian National espresso Association said that the coffee oil on standard Italian espresso should be "from hazelnut to dark brown, interspersed with a few strands of yellowish brown, and extremely delicate." It can be said that without fat, it is not Italian espresso.

So what is the significance of the existence of coffee fat? Craig Dixon, the chief barista of the Veneziano Cafe and president of the Australian Special Coffee Association, has been a judge of the Australian barista contest for 10 years. At the same time, he has also won the championship four times. "in the past, our criterion was that the color of the oil should be dark brown or hazelnut, but even the judgment of the referee has changed in recent years." He told us, "nowadays people use coffee beans that are less roasted, so the color of coffee oil is lighter, so now we don't ask the barista to predict the color of coffee oil before making coffee."

Coffee fat is made up of carbon dioxide, fat, vegetable oil and sugar. The texture of high-quality oil is extremely delicate and even elastic. In order to test the elasticity of the grease, the referee needs to lift the grease 45 degrees. The best grease should be able to reset immediately and cover the surface of the coffee evenly. Coffee oil is the key to the taste and taste of Italian espresso, even if milk is added, the role of oil can not be ignored. "most of the taste of coffee with milk comes from coffee fat." Dixon told us.

Some people think that dry-processed coffee beans contain more coffee oil than washed coffee beans, but Dixon believes it is impossible to tell how coffee beans are processed from coffee oil. Dixon stressed that the quality of coffee oil can tell us whether coffee beans are fresh or not. If the coffee is used to make coffee as soon as it is roasted out of the pot, the high content of nitrogen dioxide in the coffee beans will cause the coffee oil to dissipate too quickly; if the coffee beans are kept for too long, that is, more than 21 days of prime time, the coffee oil will become very thin.

So how can we make good coffee fat at home? First of all, you have to buy freshly roasted coffee from the local roaster instead of the supermarket. Secondly, only grind the powder amount of a single cup at a time, and ensure that there is no coffee bean residue in the bean grinder.

Speaking of which, do you still want to skim the coffee fat? "if you do, you might as well drink a drop of filtered coffee." "I think only a real coffee maniac would do that," Dixon said. "