Espresso
Considering the fact that millions of people drink espresso each day, it’s a bit surprising that most of them really don’t know what espresso means. We will clarify it all in this article.
We are Madres Espresso, serving the Greater Olympia area with two outstanding coffee stands, one located in West Olympia on Cooper Point Road, and one on the East side on Pacific Avenue. Come visit us today, tell us what your favorite coffee drink is, and our barista will serve it up for you with a smile.
What is espresso?
Espresso is a concentrated type of coffee made with specially roasted beans and an espresso machine.
Finely ground beans are packed into a portafilter, which is then locked into the base of the espresso machine. Very high pressure (a necessity for espresso) forces water through the packed grounds to pull one- or two-ounce shots of creamy, thick espresso.
How, then, does espresso differ from coffee?
The difference is in the beans and the brewing method. Espresso, as mentioned above, is brewed using high water pressure and finely ground espresso beans. Coffee is brewed a bit slower, with much less pressure and with lighter roasted beans.
Espresso beans are very dark and, as we stated earlier, they are roasted longer than regular coffee beans. The long roasting ensures that oils are released from the coffee beans, and this results in the thick, full texture you recognize in an espresso shot. Conversely, beans that are roasted for shorter time periods create light, medium and dark roast coffee beans. Those are the beans used to brew classic coffee roasted for centuries prior to espresso.
For a quick example, even if you brewed espresso-roasted beans in your drip coffeemaker, it wouldn’t be espresso. The coffee would taste very strong because of the extra dark roast, but without high pressure brewing it will never be espresso and offer the taste of espresso.
The history of espresso?
Angelo Moriondo is thought to have the first espresso machine patent, dating back to 1884; his machine could only brew larger quantities of coffee. Luigi Bezzera invented the single-serve espresso machine in 1903 and then sold his patent to Desiderio Pavoni. Bezzera and Pavoni worked together to create a machine much like the ones we see today, and after the 1906 Milan Fair, the espresso machine became more commercially available.
In other words we owe thanks to a small coffee shop in Italy for being the birthplace of our favorite way to wake up, our afternoon pick-me-ups and our post-dinner delights, and probably more thanks to Ethiopia for starting this whole wild journey into coffee in the first place.
Varieties galore.
Regular espresso comes from darkly roasted beans as we mentioned above. The resulting beverage will be bitter and heavy. Blonde espresso is more of a trendy marketing term, but it’s essentially an espresso bean on the lighter end of the roasting scale. Because it goes through a shorter roasting period, blonde espresso will be less bitter and a bit lighter on the palate.
The easiest and fastest way to drink espresso is to sip it black. No milk to froth or syrups to mix—black espresso is as classic as it gets. The flavor will be strong and bitter, though, so sip slowly. If the flavor is too bitter for you, you can always make a latte by adding steamed milk or make a cappuccino by adding frothed milk.
A final word about Madres Espresso.
Madres Espresso is locally owned and operated, Olympia born and raised, with thirteen baristas standing by to make your favorite beverage. Stop by at either of our two locations for outstanding customer service and the best drinks in town.
