Espresso

"Espresso" is an Italian coffee word that means "on the spur of the moment" and "for you" (cooked right away for you). Perhaps the translation of "espresso" is not appropriate, so in a later unit, Espresso will be directly referenced and the translated name will no longer be used.

What is Espresso? if you ask, you will get many different answers. Indeed, after 100 years of development, Espresso has become a kind of life and art.

There is a view that the birth time of espresso is about 1946; and this year is regarded as the official birth year of espresso. Since then, this unique coffee drink has been popular in Italy, Spain, Portugal and other southern European countries. But it wasn't until around 1986 that espresso was introduced around the world by Starbucks. Since then, people in the coffee industry around the world began to know and understand this kind of coffee. It was only about a decade earlier than the Chinese people came into contact with espresso. So the more popular and reasonable way to name it is espresso.

◎ Espresso is a kind of coffee brewing.

Espresso is a technological way of making coffee. According to the definition of "EspressoCoffee The Chemistry of Quality", it must meet the following conditions:

The weight of coffee powder (one cup) 6.5 ±1.58g

Temperature of water (℃) 90 °±5 °

Water pressure 9 ±2 Atmospheric pressure (bar)

Filtration time 30 ±5 seconds

Temperature of ■ water: if the water temperature is too low, it will cause insufficient extraction, and the substances inside the coffee can not be fully released, so that you can only cook a cup of Espresso; with insufficient flavor and sour taste. Once the water temperature is too high, excessive extraction will make the coffee bitter and astringent.

■ water pressure: the general hot water brewing method can only extract the water-soluble substances inside the coffee, while Espresso can further extract the water-insoluble substances by high pressure. These high pressures will completely emulsify the lipids (Lipophilic Substances) inside the coffee and dissolve into the water, which is the main source of "mellow taste" (body).

[P.S.] emulsification will make Espresso taste thicker, making people drink with a "velvety" feeling; and stickiness will form a lower surface tension, more able to invade the taste buds, so that mellow reverberate in the mouth for a long time.

■ filtration time: the length of filtration time will affect the amount of water output. Espresso uses high-pressure hot water to extract the flavor of coffee, which takes about 25 seconds to complete the task. (after this time, the liquid is no longer tasty and will only dilute Espresso). After the timeout, some people continue to let it out of the water and fill a cup to form a "Americano" or "Lungo", which tastes like charcoal-roasted coffee.

◎ Espresso is a life.

In Italy, Espresso is simply a local life concerto. In the morning, drink a latte (Latte); then, people like to drink Espresso in the store, everyone waits in front of the bar, and after getting the first-hand coffee, they drink it in three sips. The guests in the shop knew each other and talked to each other, and even the coffee maker (Barista) took part in the chat, so the cafe became a social place.

In the United States and Taiwan, Italian-style cafes are littered with places for young people to date and chat. Most of them don't drink Espresso, only cappuccino or latte with milk. Most of these young people don't know the delicacy of Espresso. They just come here to see the atmosphere of Espresso. Must, this is also a kind of Espresso life!

◎ Espresso is a mixed coffee.

Espresso is an art of integrated coffee that allows people to spend their whole lives studying its recipes. Because of the role of high-pressure hot water, it is easy to highlight the characteristics of a single coffee bean, resulting in taste imbalance of Espresso. Therefore, coffee companies are serious about developing their own recipes, even proud of it.

Generally speaking, sun-cured coffee beans are mellow, while water-washed beans are sweeter; 1-2-year-old new beans have lively acidity and taste, while old beans are steady and thick. As for the recipe, it is as difficult as writing a music concerto, which only depends on the old master's long-term experience and self-experiment. no wonder the coffee maker enjoys a high status in Italy.

◎ Espresso is a baking method.

Espresso is a baking method, and you can buy a bag of "Espresso" in the store, which refers to heavy-roasted coffee beans suitable for brewing into espresso. The importance of lipids has been discussed in the previous section. Emulsified lipids are the main source of alcoholic flavor, so Espresso often uses deeper baking to drive lipids to the outlet of the cell pores without spilling large amounts of coffee beans; by this time the baking temperature has exceeded 200 degrees Celsius, which may destroy the whole pot of beans in a few seconds. Therefore, the mastery of baking degree is undoubtedly an art.

◎ Espresso is a kind of cooking.

Due to the strong flavor of Espresso, adding milk or other drinks will not be diluted, so a variety of additives can be made into a variety of coffee, has become a kind of cuisine. For example, Espresso can be added to milk to make Cappuccino or caffe Latte; chocolate sauce is added to make coffee mocha (caffe Mocha); if only milk foam is added, it is Espresso Macchiato; in addition, whipped cream can be added to make Espresso ConPanna.