Espresso Basics
Espresso may sound like an up class, sophisticated beverage, but it is fairly similar to traditional coffee. An espresso is made using the same beans as traditional coffee, the only difference being in the brewing process. Instead of drip brewing, espresso coffee is made by using pressure to push the water through the coffee grounds.
This process results in a more concentrated beverage, giving a richer, truer coffee flavor. Since the beverage is has more of the grounds in the final product, it also has a thicker consistency than a standard cup of coffee. People drink espresso as is and it is used in a variety of other beverages, such as cappuccinos.
How many of us having just finished our thanksgiving meal has vowed never to over do it again next year, over eating that is. It’s hard to do, the joy of family, friends the festive holiday we can’t help our selves, and why should we.
This year have your guest talking not so much about the meal instead more about the coffee you served. Here are a simple and easy to make coffee recipe that is sure to do just that.
Café Disaronno
¾ ounce Amaretto Disaronno liqueur
5 oz brewed coffee
1 oz whipped cream
1 tsp brown sugar (white will do)
Garnish with an Espresso bean
Add the liqueur and sugar into a coffee mug. Add the fresh brewed coffee. Put a dollop on the whipped cream on top and garnish with the Espresso bean.
Serve with a heart felt warm smile.
1 part Kahlua
1part dark crème de cacao
1 part Grand Marnier orange liqueur
5 ounces fresh brewed coffee
Whipped cream
Maraschino cherry
Pour liqueurs into a clear glass mug. Add freshly brewed coffee. Top with heavy scoop of whipped cream and garnish with a cherry.
Serve with a heart felt warm smile.
‘C’ in Coffee Part 1 of 3
CAFÉ au LAIT: A French breakfast drink made up about one third strong brewed coffee, as in coffee for a café filter or Napolitana pot or the stovetop moka brewer, and two-thirds scalded or steamed milk. Virtually identical to the Italian family version of a caffé latte.
CAFÉ FILTER: The metal flip-drip pot not more commonly called by its Italian name, Neapolitana, used in French households. The Italians like to claim credit for it, but in fact the French invented the device I the early nineteenth century.
CAFÉ AMERICANO: In Italy, usually a thin drink made with instant coffee. In America, an espresso lengthened with plain hot water after brewing (not by brewing for a long time), so that the body is the same as that of a filter brewed coffee, A good way to spread out the taste of espresso over a longer sipping time without adding cups of milk.
CAFFÉ LATTÉ: In Italy (where it is spelled caffe latte), this is a family drink made in the morning with coffee brewed in the napoletana or moka and milk scalded on the stove, in proportion of 1 part coffee to 3 parts milk. Italian espresso bars use genuine espresso and sometimes add more steamed milk, but not as much as is used in the United States. Also, Italians don’t add foamed milk, as Americans usually do. The drink served as a “latte” in American coffee bars is really giant sized cappuccino.
CAFFÉ MACCHIATO: An espresso “stained” with about two tablespoons of foamed milk.
What’s the ‘B’ in Coffee
BARISTA: The Italian name for the master of the espresso machine.
BITTERNESS: A catchall term used to express displeasure with the taste of coffee. Coffee is naturally bitter, but should not be unpleasantly so. When the natural bitterness of caffeine is removed in decaffeinated coffee, the flavour balance is thrown off, bitterness becomes unpleasant when coffee is under-roasted, highlighting its chlorogenic acid, or when it is overheated on a burner.
BLEND: A mixture of beans from different parts of the world and sometime at different roasts, as opposed to a straight coffee, which is coffee from one region. A roaster usually has secret recipes for signature house blends.
BODY: a tasting tem to describe the weight of coffee on the palate. Paper filtered coffee is typically light in body; coffee brewed through a metal screen, as in a plunger pot and in all espresso, typically has more viscous and at sometime syrupy body. Beans themselves have different degrees of body depending on where they are grown and on their species, Arabica beans have lower body than robusta beans.
BOILER: The small tank in an espresso machine used to heat water and steam milk. Room temperature water for espresso is drawn by pump directly from the reservoir through a copper pipe that travels through the boiler before delivering the hot water to the filter holder.
BOURBON: A hallowed variety of the Arabica species, named for the French island colony off Africa (today Reunion) where it once grew. Bourbon, the basis of the Latin American trade for hundreds of years, is an impractical choice for a farmer, today, because its yield is one-third to one-half that of many newer Arabica varieties. Because connoisseurs prize its flavours and willing to pay more for bourbon trees where they were torn out or abandoned.
BRICK PACK: Coffee beans or, more frequently, ground coffee that has , in effect, been shrink wrapped in thin plastic bags. Brick packs, which save both the price mental for cans and storage space, were developed in Germany the 1950’s but only decades later came into wide use in the United States. They are no better than a can for preserving flavour, because both storage methods require that the coffee first be degassed.
How to Brew Espresso
Brewing the Perfect Shot
Contributor
Espresso is like regular coffee in that it is brewed from coffee beans, but making the perfect shot of espresso requires much more than a regular coffee maker. Espresso is brewed by forcing a small amount of hot water under high pressure through a finely ground selection of espresso beans.
When brewing or “pulling” a shot of espresso, the steady stream of brewed espresso should come out evenly, hot and without any grounds. If you brew a shot of espresso correctly, light and creamy froth should float just on the top. Espresso is used in many coffee drinks including Americano, macchiato, latte and cappuccino.