Coffee A Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Enjoying by Kenneth Davids

Author:Kenneth Davids
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Published: 2014-07-28T08:54:37+00:00

10 THE ESPRESSO SIDE OF IT

What makes espresso espresso

Espresso history

Classic, beatnik, and mall espresso

Espresso is several things at once. It is a unique method of brewing in which hot water is forced under pressure through tightly packed coffee, one or two servings at a time. It is a roast of coffee, darker brown than the traditional American roast but not extremely dark. In a larger sense, it is an entire approach to coffee cuisine, involving not only roast and brewing method, but grind and grinder, a technique of heating and frothing milk, and a traditional menu of drinks. In the largest sense of all, it is an atmosphere or mystique: The espresso brewing machine is the spiritual heart and aesthetic centerpiece of the great coffee places, the cafès, caffès, and coffeehouses of the world.

WHAT MAKES ESPRESSO ESPRESSO

The espresso system was developed in and for cafès and caffès. Despite advances in inexpensive home espresso systems, it is still difficult to duplicate the finest caffè espresso or cappuccino in your kitchen or dining room without spending several hundred dollars on equipment. Even those on a budget can come close, however, and I outline the strategy for that effort in Chapter 11. For now, I want to discuss the big, shiny, caffè machines.

Fundamentally, they make coffee as any other brewer does: by steeping ground coffee in hot water. The difference is the pressure applied to the hot water. In normal drip-brewing processes, the water seeps by gravity down through ground coffee, loosely spooned into a filter. In the espresso process, the water is forced under pressure through very finely ground coffee packed tightly over the filter.

A fast, yet thorough brewing makes the best coffee. If hot water and ground coffee stay in contact too long, the more unpleasant chemicals in the coffee are extracted and the more delicate, pleasant aroma and flavor components evaporate. Hence the superiority of the espresso system: the pressurized water makes almost instant contact with every grain of ground coffee and rapidly begins dribbling out into the cup. Another advantage of the espresso system is freshness. Every serving is brewed in front of you, a moment before you drink it; in most cases the coffee beans are also ground immediately before brewing. Other restaurant brewing methods make anywhere from a pot to an urn at a time from preground coffee, then let it sit, where it loses flavor and aroma to the detriment of the coffee and the advantage of the ambience.

EVOLUTION OF THE CAFFÈ MACHINE

The oldest caffè espresso machines and the smaller home espresso machines work on a simple principle. Water is heated to boiling inside a closed tank; a space is left at the top of the tank where steam gathers. When a valve is opened below the water line, the pressure of the steam trapped at the top of the tank forces hot water out of the valve and down through the coffee. The first European patents for the idea were filed between 1821 and 1824,

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