The Deception of Espresso Crema: Is Thicker Better? Is Crema Just Foam?

Introduction

As we all know, espresso is crowned with a beautiful golden crema. This layer isn't just a distinctive feature of pressurized extraction; it's also a major contributor to enhancing the aroma and flavor of espresso. However, many of us have likely come across this headline online: "Espresso crema is a scam!"

"What's wrong with crema! Who exactly has it deceived! Could this 'scam' refer to how crema looks so delicious that it tempts many people to drink espresso?" This is a question many people might have when seeing this headline (I made this up!). So what's the truth? Excellent! Today, Holmes-FrontStreet Coffee will reveal who exactly is being deceived by crema, our "main character"!

Crema "Scam" #1: It's Not Actually Cream

Although this golden substance has been called crema for a very long time, in reality, this substance isn't actually cream!

With the birth of pressurized coffee machines, coffee gained a new "skin" like characters in video games. Under the pressurized extraction of coffee machines, carbon dioxide is forced into the lipid substances seeping from the coffee, forming countless tiny bubbles. These bubbles, after permeating to the surface, become a thick, dense layer—what we now call crema.

But in reality, this is merely an image created by countless bubbles together, not cream in the true sense. Because this layer of bubbles behaves remarkably like cream whether it's sitting still or being swirled, people at the time gave it the name "Crema." In Spanish, Crema means cream, so the meaning of this name at the time was: coffee cream.

However, due to cultural differences, this term was mistakenly interpreted as: oily substance with a cream-like texture, so this layer of bubbles was dubbed "grease" or "oil" and continues to be called so today. And because of this term, many people have developed certain misconceptions about it, which constitutes the first "scam" of crema.

Although everyone now knows that this substance is made of bubbles and its name is Crema, after years of潜移默化, "grease" or "oil" has become its representative name, so we don't need to specifically change it—we just need to briefly understand its origin story, and that's enough~

Crema "Scam" #2: More Crema is Better

Because crema contains fine particles and aromatic compounds from coffee, its presence allows coffee to have a richer aroma and a mellower mouthfeel. From this perspective, crema brings certain benefits to coffee, making it a positive presence.

Since it's positive, some friends naturally think that more is better! For example: the thicker the coffee crema, the greater the enhancement it provides, so the coffee will naturally taste better; or, thick crema makes latte art look more beautiful, and so on.

But in reality, more crema is not necessarily better! And this, my friends, is the second "scam" brought by crema.

Extracting richer crema is actually quite simple! The main components of crema are carbon dioxide and coffee lipids. When there's more carbon dioxide in the beans, the extracted coffee crema will be richer. We can achieve this by deepening the roast level of coffee beans or by using freshly roasted coffee beans! Because they both contain quite a lot of carbon dioxide (dark-roasted beans also have other substances that can increase crema thickness, but it's mainly carbon dioxide).

Another factor that can increase coffee crema thickness is changing the coffee bean variety for extraction, switching from Arabica to Robusta, because Robusta has less lipid content than Arabica! Yes, that's right—because it has less. Although coffee bean lipids are an important component of crema, too much of them can actually make it difficult for crema to form.

So although Robusta has less lipid content, it can actually extract richer coffee crema.

However, as mentioned earlier, more crema doesn't necessarily mean the coffee will taste better. Using very fresh coffee beans can make coffee taste harsh; dark-roasted coffee will have more bitterness (not to mention dark-roasted Robusta)! These are some of the negative effects that come with increasing crema.

Additionally, while the fine particles in crema can give coffee a mellower mouthfeel, this is only true when they're in appropriate amounts. Fine particles themselves have a certain bitterness, and when there are too many of them, they can cause the coffee to have noticeable bitterness.

And when there's too much crema, it will also dissipate more quickly, creating certain obstacles for latte art. So every point illustrates that: more crema is not necessarily better.

Conclusion

To sum up, we now understand why espresso crema is called a "scam" by some people—because the misconceptions it brings are just! Too! Many!!

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