So What Is Espresso?
What is an espresso?
Well the firstly there is no X in the spelling, secondly it is the driving force of every coffee house around the world as the majority of drinks on the elaborate menu will have a base of double espresso.
The espresso is a coffee brewing method producing a highly concentrated coffee beverage of short measure, a small amount of nearly boiling water is forced under pressure through finely-ground coffee beans which creates a layer of foam on the surface called the “crema”.
Espresso is hard to make well due to the number of variables that all need to be controlled in order to produce a sweet tasting shot of coffee, the trickiness of this process is what drives enthusiasts desire to master the process & produce consistently a beautifully balanced shot of espresso.
Making an Espresso.
Without going to in depth & believe me the rabbit hole is deep, I will briefly talk about the main variables that are tweaked to create a balanced drink these are collectively called a brew ratio which is a generic recipe for most specialty coffees used for espresso.
The Yield - This is the amount of coffee you wish to end up in your cup, now this varies across the world but this is generally broken down into 3 sizes each with different ratios of coffee to water:
Ristretto - A restricted coffee with a ratio of 1 gram of coffee to 1/1.5 mils of water or 1:1/1.5
Normale - A normal coffee with a ratio of 1 gram of coffee to 1.5/2.5 mils of water or 1:1.5/2.5
Lungo - A long coffee with a ratio of 1 gram of coffee to 2.5/3.5 mils of water or 1:2.5/3.5
The Dose - This is the amount of coffee ground into you portafilter usually measured in grams.
Single - 7 grams of coffee
Double - 18 grams of coffee
Triple - 21 grams of coffee
The Time - This is a range usually in seconds in which it should take for the coffee to finish the drink & this is controlled by adjusting the grind setting.
So as an example, you use 18grams (double shot) of coffee for a Normale espresso (1 part coffee to 1.5/2.5 parts water) so your hoping for 36mils of coffee in your cup at the end of extraction & the process to take between 22 & 28 seconds.
If this over runs & takes 40 seconds in total it is known as over extraction that typical produces a bitter drink & if the shot pours to fast it is known as under extraction that will taste sour.
The Grind - To change the time of extraction you will need to adjust the grinder blades to speed up or slow down the rate in which the brew water is passing through the coffee.
To make the extraction slow down you need to bring the blades closer together which will slow the rate in which water is flown through the coffee because the grind is much finer.
To speed up the extraction you need to increase the gap between the blades making it coarser which allows the brew water to pass through much faster.
Summary - This is a very basic explanation of espresso & the variables that change how it tastes, we can talk all day about temperature, water quality or puck preparation but I will save that for another post.
As always if you have any questions or would like to learn more then get in touch.
contact@thecoffeelobby.co.uk - 01225436171
