It is the best way to obtain from knowledgeably roasted coffee beans all the pleasure that they are able to give.
More practically, espresso is the drink-in-a-cup obtained by forcing adequately pressurised hot water through a packed layer of precisely ground coffee to extract a thick, flavorful essence in a concentrated form.
Enough theory!
Just watch the video below. We made this video in a friend's house listening to fine music. The machine used is the famous Vibiemme Dobomar.
espresso extraction video #1
If you want to get really delicious and fresh espresso coffee visit our online store to check out our latest offers.
What characteristics in technical detail are required to obtain Espresso (according to the Italian Espresso National Institute)?
The following are some important conditions to obtain Espresso though these alone would not be adequate to fulfil the quality requirements:
Necessary portion of ground coffee = 7 g 0,5 Exit temperature of water from the unit = 88C 2C Temperature of the drink in the cup = 67C 3C Entry water pressure = 9 bar 1 Percolation time = 25 seconds 2.5 seconds Viscosity at = 45C > 1.5 mPa s Total fat = > 2 mg/ml Caffeine = 100 mg/cup Millilitres in the cup (including foam) = 25 ml 2.5
From a descriptive profile standpoint, what are the sensory characteristics of an Espresso?
On sight, Espresso has a hazel-brown to dark-brown foam - characterised by tawny reflexes with a very fine texture (absence of large mesh and larger or smaller bubbles). The nose reveals an intense scent with notes of flowers, fruits, toasted bread and chocolate. All of these sensations are felt also after swallowing the coffee in the long lasting aroma that remains for several seconds, sometimes even for minutes. Its taste is round, substantial and velvet-like. Sour and bitter tastes are well balanced and neither one prevails over the other. There is no, or a barely perceptible, astringent taste.
espresso extraction video #2
Should the type of coffee used in the preparation of espresso be better in quality than the types used for other preparations? Coffee is a fine pleasure and as such it should always be prepared from good raw materials, but if espresso is prepared according to the guidelines, it produces a remarkably higher extraction of both good and bad coffee components. This is why the quality of the coffee used for espresso should be totally faultless.
What is the milestone for the quality of espresso? A person, with his/her knowledge, capabilities and motivation. It is indeed the operator who selects and manages the equipment and the blend, adjusts the equipment to the properties of the blend, and controls every step of the preparation process to make excellent espresso. This is why the barista is so important.
What happens if an espresso is obtained in 15 or in 35 seconds? The blend design generally ensures that, after duly grinding the blend, it yields 25 millilitres of coffee, by taking the best part of the substances present in a coffee bean (glucides, proteins, fat and aromatic components) and by leaving the less noble substances in the exhaust cake. If the extraction time lasts no longer than 15 seconds, it means that the hot water has not taken the right treasure with it and a part of precious substances has remained in the powder. In addition, the beverage is going to be unbalanced from a sensory standpoint. The espresso will be under-extracted, poor in body, more sour than expected with a faint aroma. If it lasts 35 seconds the opposite is going to occur: the woody, unpleasant and pungent components will be extracted from the coffee powder, and it will be bitter.
What is the ideal cup for Espresso? The ideal container is a white china cup, free of any inside decoration, elliptical in shape, truncated inside while it may or may not be bell-shaped outside, with 50-60 millilitre approximate capacity. This is the only cup whereby it is possible to fully appreciate the look of the excellent espresso crema, the precious smell and the warm and smooth taste of espresso. The fresher the coffee the more the crema.
What is the Espresso Roast? There is no such thing called espresso roast, although some companies want you to believe it. The roast for espresso is different from country to country and even from area to area, if we're talking about the USA or Italy. The lightest of the roasts used for espresso is full city roast. Full city roast is the darkest brown that a coffee bean can be roasted without oils developing on the surface of the bean (SCAA). By most people this is recognised as the ideal roast, because more flavour is preserved, and it's easier to show off the varietal characteristics of every coffee. The overall taste is better balanced than darker roasts. The espresso crema is richer. The quality of the beans is not covered by the roast. Use of high quality beans is imperative. In a lot of European countries it is quite common to include 5-10% high quality robusta beans in the espresso blends. A darker roast than full city roast, is the so called Vienna roast or light french. In the finished cup of espresso, the more subtle of the coffee flavours are lost, having been replaced by the dominance of the roast, which is beginning to take on burnt overtones. In this style the bite of the roasting flavour is more present in the espresso. Also, a little less flavour is available because the flavour oils, having been extruded on to the surface of the bean, are lost more quickly from exposure to the air. Roasting darker than this gives the French roast or Italian roast (although a wrong term). The sugars of the coffee bean are completely caramelized, the oils which carry the flavour get out of the bean, and create a very shiny look. Oils exposed to air stale quickly and give a bad taste. The burned overtones are intense. The roast taste characteristics cover the beans varietal characteristics, and so it's easy to use lower quality beans. The espresso taste is quite sharp and bitter.
Arabic coffee (Arabian coffee) is according to some specialists the second coffee making method after the invention of coffee making in Ethiopia. The green coffee beans get dark roasted, and then they get ground with the addition of cardamom. Other spices like coriander are also used sometimes.
Cardamom is a quite expensive spice, used in Arabic coffee, with a rather strong aromatic fragrance. It is used for cooking, coffee and also in traditional medicine!
Arabic Coffee Preparation
Arabic coffee is prepared with the exact same way as Turkish coffee. You will need ground Arabic coffee, a Turkish coffee pot (ibrik), water and a heating source. Ibriks are made in different sizes and usually from 1-cup size to 5-cup size. You can find traditional copper or brass ibriks, or the newer stainless-steel ones.
First fill the ibrik with 3oz of water. After adding the water, add sugar to taste (if you like your coffee that way) and top it with a heaping teaspoon of finely ground coffee. Stir the coffee a bit. The coffee seals the narrow top creating an oven-like effect.
Put the coffee on LOW FIRE (you can also use your stove or even better the traditional HOVOLI, which uses sand to heat the coffee slower). As the coffee heats it will start forming a foam layer, on top, which looks like a ring. As soon as the crema-foam ring increases its width, and fills the top layer turn off the fire and lift the ibrik. Pour the coffee slowly into a small demitasse cup and it's ready for savoring .
Pay special attention to the foaming. If you fail to remove the coffee pot from fire on time, the coffee mixture will foam up quickly and it will get spilled everywhere! Be careful to not let this happen!
Serve Arabic coffee along with a glass of fresh water and a small desert for your friends. The turkish delight desert is perfect for pairing!
Advanced: There is an advanced method of lifting and lowering the ibrik continuously while it starts boiling, to increase the amount of crema/foam. Just don't overdo it or you'll get bitter over-extracted coffee!
If you want more cups just multiply dosage ie for 2 cups use 6oz water and 2 teaspoonfuls of Arabian coffee.
Arabic Coffee Making Video
Here is a special video showing how to make Arabian and Turkish coffee. Arabic coffee is almost always sold ground, so you can skip the grinding part.
You can find Arabic coffee and other related products in our store: Arabic coffee
Last Updated on Friday, 27 March 2009 20:41
Greek coffee
Greek coffee ("Ellinikos Kafes") is one of the simplest ways to make coffee. It is also known as Turkish coffee. Coffee has a very old history...
It travelled to Turkey from Yemen and from Turkey it became known in Greece. It became so popular that people started calling it "Greek coffee" instead of Turkish (or Arabic) coffee.
Usually Greek coffee gets roasted lighter than traditional Turkish coffee. Another difference is that Greeks rarely add spices to their coffee.
How to make Greek coffee
The basic ingredient needed for a delicious Greek coffee is fresh roasted coffee ground to an extra fine coffee powder (finer than espresso). You can also grind you own coffee beans using a traditional Greek coffee grinder or a modern high quality burr grinder.
Like Turkish coffee in order to make Greek coffee you basically bring a mixture of water and ground coffee almost to boil. Although Turkish people boil their coffee usually 3-4 times Greeks prefer boiling it 1-3 times.
The blends used to make Turkish coffee have usually a high percentage of Brazilian coffees, and also some Robusta or a "secret" ingredient to add some more flavour (Colombian coffee, Ethiopia Harrar or Yemen Mocha).
In order to make Greek coffee we need a coffee pot known as briki in Greece. This special Greek coffee pot has a characteristic narrow top which facilitates the correct slow brewing of Turkish coffee and the forming of infamous crema-froth on top ("kaimaki").
Traditionally these pots were made of copper or brass, but nowadays they are mass produced using stainless steel which is more durable. (I still prefer the brass ibriks for lots of reasons...). Use the proper size coffee pot to make better coffee and better froth. If you are going to make two demitasse cups of coffee use a 2-cups size coffee pot. If you use a much larger sized pot, crema forming will be much harder.
For one cup of coffee, fill the coffee pot with one demitasse cup of cold water, 1-2 teaspoons of Greek coffee, sugar to taste, and then put the pot on low fire. It is very important to use low fire and cold water to extract more flavour from the coffee. Use a gas stove-top or preferably a traditional tabletop burner.
Once the mixture comes almost to a boil and the foam covers the top, pour it into a demitasse cup slowly. You must do this slowly in order to retain the crema layer (froth) on top. If you fail to remove the coffee pot from fire on time, the coffee mixture will foam up quickly and it will get spilled everywhere! Be careful to not let this happen!
Small tip if you want to make two cups or more
There is an old trick used to maximize the froth on top of every demitasse cup, which basically involves taking the froth with a teaspoon from the coffee pot and then adding it to each demitasse cup, before pouring the coffee.
Traditionally the coffee is served using discs like the one in the photograph, in small demitasse cups made of fine porcelain. You can also pair Greek coffee with a nice desert like cookies ("koulourakia"), "halva" or "baklava".
Things to notice
Some people bring the coffee to boil only once. Other people prefer twice and there are also some people who argue that bringing the coffee to boil three times is the absolute minimum.
Another point of argument is the stirring. Some people stir coffee, water and sugar only in the beginning and some other stir continuously till the end to make more froth.
Personal opinion
I prefer to stir the coffee continuously till the end and I also let it foam up twice. "Why?" you may ask. It is just my taste! You can experiment and find what you like best. What is most important is the freshness and quality of your Greek coffee.
You can find everything you need to make Greek coffe in our store: Greek coffee
Greek Coffee Making Video
Below you can watch a video tutorial I created to show you how to make Greek coffee at home. Enjoy this video and email me for your feedback! (or visit our Forum)
(You can download a detailed guide showing how to make Turkish coffee by clicking this link : Turkish Coffee Guide)
Turkish coffee is the oldest method used to make coffee from roasted beans. Once roasted the coffee gets ground to an extra fine coffee powder (finer than espresso). You can also grind you own coffee beans using a traditional Turkish coffee grinder or a modern burr grinder.
In order to make Turkish coffee you basically bring a mixture of water and ground coffee to boil. This special preparation had an almost ceremonial character for people living in Africa or the Middle East. The blends used to make Turkish coffee have usually a high percentage of Brazilian coffees, and also some Robusta or a "secret" ingredient to add some more flavour (Colombian coffee, Ethiopia Harrar or Yemen Mocha).
It is common throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Balkan countries. Turkish coffee is known as Türk kahvesi in Turkey. In Armenian it is called surj and in Greek it is called "Ellinikos Kafes" which means Greek coffee. In Greece it is the coffee most regularly consumed (and the second one is "Frappe" which is basically iced instant coffee).
In order to make Turkish coffee we need a Turkish coffee pot known as ibrik, cezve or briki. This special pot has a characteristic narrow top which facilitates the correct slow brewing of Turkish coffee and the forming of crema on top (almost like the espresso crema). Traditionally the ibriks were made of copper or brass. Nowadays ibriks are mass produced using stainless steel which is more durable. (I still prefer the brass ibriks for lots of reasons...). Use the proper size of the ibrik coffee pot. If you are going to make two demitasse cups of coffee don't use a 5-cups size coffee pot. If you use a much larger sized pot, crema forming will be much harder.
For one cup of coffee, fill the coffee pot with one demitasse cup of cold water, 1-2 teaspoons of Turkish coffee, sugar to taste, and then put the pot on low fire. It is imperative to use low fire and cold water to extract more flavour from the Turkish coffee. Use a gas stove-top or preferably a traditional tabletop burner.
Once the mixture comes almost to a boil, and the coffee forms a foam ring on top, pour it in a demitasse cup slowly in order to retain the crema layer on top (this is similar to the espresso crema but not the same). If you fail to remove the coffee pot from fire on time, the coffee mixture will foam up quickly and it will get spilled everywhere! It will also get burnt and bitter!
Be careful to not let this happen! There is an old trick used to maximize the crema layer on top of every demitasse cup, which basically involves taking the crema with a teaspoon and adding it to each demitasse cup, before pouring the coffee.
Traditional Turkish coffee cups have brass or copper saucers with really beautiful design. Usually the coffee is served using discs like the one in the photograph, paired with a nice desert!
Some people prefer to bring the coffee almost to boil several times to create a more intense flavour with stronger body. Experiment and find the method you like. The blend and roast level of the coffee used also affects the coffee making method. I never bring a dark roasted Turkish coffee to almost boil more than once. It creates a very strong flavour somewhat bitter which I don't like.
You can find everything you need to make Turkish coffe in our store.
Turkish Coffee Making Video
Below you watch a video tutorial I created to show you how to make Turkish coffee at home. Enjoy this video and email me for your feedback!
You can pair your Turkish coffee with authentic Turkish coffee delights, or another traditional Turkish desert like baklava! Enjoy delicious Turkish coffee with your friends and share your thoughts in our coffee forum.
(You can download a detailed guide showing how to make Turkish coffee by clicking this link : Turkish Coffee Guide)
(You can download a detailed guide showing how to make Turkish coffee by clicking this link : Turkish Coffee Guide)
Last Updated on Saturday, 28 March 2009 15:58
Coffee Brewing Methods
Coffee Brewing Methods
There are a lot of ways to prepare coffee. The most common way is filter coffee, also known as American coffee. Another popular method is espresso. Each method has its unique characteristics, and brings out different elements of the coffee being brewed. For example taste a Kenya AA coffee as filter coffee and then as espresso. The difference is huge!
For more information about brewing methods, choose the one you like from the menu.
Brewing Methods
It is the best way to obtain from knowledgeably roasted coffee beans all the pleasure that they are able to give.
Turkish coffee is the oldest method used to make coffee from roasted beans. Once roasted the coffee gets ground to an extra fine coffee powder (finer than espresso). You can also grind you own coffee beans using a traditional Turkish coffee grinder or a modern burr grinder.
