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What is Espresso Coffee?

Espresso coffee is a type of coffee beverage made from Italian coffee beans, water, milk, and other ingredients, using espresso machines and milk pitchers as equipment.

Foundation of All Espresso Drinks

All espresso-based drinks are formulated with espresso as the base:

• Espresso = Espresso
• Caffè Latte = Espresso + steamed milk + thin milk foam
• Caffè Mocha = Espresso + chocolate sauce + steamed milk (+ whipped cream)
• Cappuccino = Espresso + less steamed milk + more milk foam
• Caffè Americano = Espresso + hot water
• Espresso Macchiato = Espresso + a little milk foam
• Latte Macchiato = Espresso + steamed milk
• Caramel Macchiato = Espresso + steamed milk + caramel sauce
• Doppio = 2× Espresso

Espresso coffee without espresso is like beef noodle soup without beef.

Why is it Called "Espresso Coffee"?

It definitely comes from Italy!

"Weak" coffees like latte, cappuccino, caramel macchiato, and even mocha are far more popular in the United States than in Italy. It's not an exaggeration to say they were "invented" in America. Of course, they gained prominence riding on the coattails of a certain "big daddy" chain.

However, Italians prefer to drink pure coffee—espresso and its "close relatives": Ristretto, Lungo, etc., or Espresso Macchiato with a little milk. The portions are small and can be finished within a minute. Coffees like latte, cappuccino, mocha, and caramel macchiato that add large amounts of milk or flavorings are not considered very "authentic" Italian coffee. For Italians, Italian coffee ≈ espresso, and heavily diluted coffee is weak and tasteless.

Different Coffee Cultures

Although the menu items are roughly the same, the coffee cultures in America and Italy are truly quite different.

The most coffee-obsessed Italians mostly drink their coffee while standing.

Large cafés can set up some chairs and tables, but what about small corner cafés? Around the counter outside, there's a long bar with some high chairs that serve almost no purpose. During the morning rush, a customer will order an espresso, and within 20 seconds, tilt their head back, drink it clean, and leave.

An espresso is pushed over, the coffee money is handed over. This is Italian coffee culture.

Six cups a day—Italy is a nation with coffee flowing in its veins.

Italian Coffee Roasting

The impact of green bean roasting on coffee flavor is significant, and this is fully demonstrated in Italian coffee. Generally, we would tell beginners that Italian coffee is the darkest roasted, with coffee beans often appearing brownish-black and oily on the surface.

But in reality, this is very incomplete.

As a major coffee nation, summarizing Italian coffee with just one word "dark roast" is really biased, even an insult to the empire of Italian coffee. Since Italy's unification was only a matter of the last hundred years, the "styles" of coffee beans in different Italian regions are completely different.

Different blends and roasting methods create different Italian coffee beans. Some blends are suitable for milk-based coffees, some are good for espresso, and some roasters even incorporate Robusta beans into the blend to improve the quality of coffee crema. Some blends emphasize acidity, others focus on floral and fruity notes—truly a hundred schools of thought contending.

Key Variables in Italian Coffee

Blend, roast level, and roasting method—these three important variables determine the flavor of a cup of Italian coffee.

But!

The profound coffee culture has instead become shackles to innovation.

Specialty coffee? Never heard of it. Pour-over coffee? Too weak, don't drink it. Specialty bean blends? I drink coffee perfectly fine every day, don't chatter in my ear. Light roast beans? What kind of sissy beans are those to drink!

The Lifestyle of Coffee

The integration of coffee into daily life has both advantages and disadvantages.

Although it's regrettable that Italian people cannot taste the diverse terroir flavors found in specialty coffee, as long as everyone enjoys it, what coffee is doesn't seem too important anymore.

For the general public, as long as they enjoy drinking it, that's enough.

And for us specialty baristas, we certainly need to understand espresso coffee, organically integrating old-school traditional Italian coffee with new-stream specialty coffee concepts to create new and excellent coffees.

Recommended Italian Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee, a coffee roasting brand located at Dongshankou in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, offers freshly roasted Italian coffee beans with full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, the cost-performance ratio is extremely high. Taking their commercial recommendation—the Commercial Blend Coffee Beans—as an example, one 454-gram (1-pound) package costs only about 60 yuan. Calculating based on 10 grams of coffee powder per cup of espresso, one package can make 45 cups of coffee, with each cup costing less than 1.5 yuan. Even if using double shots for each coffee serving (20 grams of powder), the cost of one double espresso does not exceed 3 yuan. Compared to certain well-known brands that sell packages for hundreds of yuan, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online shop services: https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473