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Most coffee bar concoctions and coffee
drinks made at home require a strong cup of coffee, and the best
candidate for that purpose is espresso.
Deep, rich and full of pure coffee
flavor, espresso is many coffee experts' preferred brew. Made in an
electric machine, espresso is a compacted six to seven gram dose of
dark-roasted, very finely ground coffee through which pressurized
hot water at 93oC-96oC is forced for at least
20 seconds. The resulting brew, of about 40-50ml, is served in a
60ml pre-heated demitasse cup. Other standard forms of espresso
include:
Espresso ristretto
"Restricted" in volume to about a
30ml shot, this is less diluted than a regular espresso, and so is
very strong. Toss it back and wait for the caffeine jolt.
Espresso lungo, espresso or
caffe Americano
A serving of espresso, which is
then lengthened with hot water from the machine, to produce a
regular and larger cup of smooth coffee.
Espresso doppio
A double espresso of about
75-100ml, brewed through a two-cup holder into a 150ml cup. In other
words, this is not one dose of espresso diluted into a longer drink;
but the equivalent of two individual cups of espresso.
Espresso macchiato
A single cup of espresso "marked" or "stained" with about half a
tablespoon of foamy milk.
Espresso con panna or espresso
tazza d'oro
Espresso with a bit of whipped cream on the top. (Commercial machine
manufacturers use the word crème to describe the surface on a fresh
cup of espresso - nothing to do with ordinary cream.)
Espresso Romano
Espresso served with a bit of lemon peel on the saucer, slightly
reminiscent of the way Brazilians take their cafezinho, a small cup
of strong, dark-roasted coffee.
Espresso coretto
Espresso laced with a spirit or liqueur. Espresso and grappa is a
combination that constitutes breakfast for many Italians, especially
in the north.
Cappuccino
Equal parts of espresso, steamed milk, and frothed milk, served in a
150ml cup: North American "dry" cappuccino is one-third espresso,
two-thirds frothed milk. The word itself, undoubtedly the most often
misspelled Italian word, probably alludes to the Capuchin monks
whose white hoods (cappuccio, in the singular) gave their name to
the order. In a bar, when an Italian asks for "un'cappuccio'" or "un'capucc'",
he is not ordering a hood, but rather simply omitting a couple of
syllables as is typical of Italian slang or dialect.
Caffe mocha or moccacino
Espresso, steamed milk, chocolate syrup or hot chocolate, topped
with frothed milk or whipped cream. Recipes vary, but here mocha
means chocolate, and has nothing to do with either the coffee from
Ethiopia or Yemen, or the ancient port-city for which the coffee was
named. |
