Why Do Few People Drink Espresso in Coffee Shops? How Strong Is Espresso Concentration?

Recently, a friend would come to FrontStreet Coffee whenever feeling drowsy to order an espresso. After drinking it all in one go, his brows would first furrow tightly, then he'd hold a sip of water to quietly wait for the bitterness to dissipate, soon becoming completely revitalized, and couldn't help but exclaim:

"Ah~ it's definitely refreshing, but this stuff is really bitter!"

As Italy's national beverage, locals believe only Espresso's rich, caramelized aroma, even its slightly bitter taste, truly embodies what coffee should be. In China, unless you're a barista who adjusts parameters daily or a few enthusiasts seeking stimulating flavors, most people would immediately think of "bitterness" when mentioning the taste of espresso. Whether it's a complex, multi-layered bitterness or an unforgettable bitterness depends on whether the extraction is proper and the taster's threshold for bitterness.

FrontStreet Coffee has mentioned when sharing Italian coffee culture that an espresso is quick to make and quick to drink, with the entire process emphasizing high efficiency and fast pace, especially suitable for working people who need a quick caffeine intake, forming a stark contrast with slow extraction methods like pour-over coffee. Therefore, the main reason why espresso became the most popular single item in European cafes wasn't its coffee flavor, but rather its speed.

Besides speed, the most significant characteristic of espresso is its high concentration. Compared to the SCA Golden Cup extraction standard of 1.15%-1.35%, espresso's TDS concentration typically reaches 7%-12%, making it the most intense and bitter among all coffee categories. However, it's important to know that bitter coffee doesn't necessarily mean bad-tasting coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee once mentioned in the article "Light Roast for Fruit Acidity, What About Dark Roast?" that compared to floral and fruity coffee categories, bitter coffee possesses many unique deep aromas, such as caramel, dark chocolate, butter cookies, roasted nuts, toasted bread, spices, and more. These aromas not only make everyone fall in love with coffee but also provide us with key indicators for judging the quality of an espresso.

For example, when FrontStreet Coffee makes espresso using a classic dark roast blend composed of Brazil+Mandheling+Robusta beans with a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio, thanks to the three key elements of fresh roasting, grinding on demand, and pressurized extraction, the coffee not only naturally has rich crema but also exudes various volatile aromas. When bringing freshly made espresso close to your nose for a gentle sniff, you can immediately detect baked aromas like caramel biscuits, aromatic spices, and dark chocolate, just like entering a bakery.

Even when taking the first sip, our taste buds are immediately stimulated by the bitterness from the upper crema layer and the overly intense flavor. However, when you close your mouth and breathe through your nose after swallowing, the bitterness dissipates, and soon the mouth returns with faint coffee aromas and a touch of pleasant sweet aftertaste.

For this reason, people who love drinking espresso don't just seek the stimulating intense bitterness, but rather hope to enjoy the coffee aromas behind the bitterness in this small cup of high-concentration liquid, as well as the viscous texture brought by high concentration and crema.

Although for most Chinese people, espresso leaves an impression prioritizing bitterness, perhaps even more bitter than traditional Chinese medicine. But in recent years, with the development and innovation of specialty coffee, increasingly high-quality coffee beans have been gradually applied to espresso machines, presenting flavor profiles different from traditional bitterness under the assistance of high temperature, high pressure, fine grinding, and other conditions. The most representative example is SOE.

It's not difficult to find that SOE, which advocates for single-origin coffee, often uses lighter-roasted, fruit-acidity-focused beans, aiming to produce an espresso with lighter aromas and higher flavor recognition. To achieve more ideal extraction results, we adjust parameters based on experience and actual conditions. However, with the influence of factors like high temperature, high pressure, fine grinding, fast speed, crema, and high concentration, some distinct characteristics in pour-over coffee (delicate floral aromas, refreshing juice sensation, bright fruit acidity, rich layers) produce varying degrees of flavor differences in espresso.

For example, when FrontStreet Coffee typically brews Mirasu Strawberry Candy as pour-over, it displays obvious notes of raisins, strawberry candy, and light floral aromas. When made into espresso, it instead presents characteristics of rich red berry jam and orange-flavored chocolate.

Another example is the Finca La Divisa Sidra, which prioritizes passion fruit, grape juice, and almond flavors in pour-over. When extracted with an espresso machine, the refreshing juice sensation actually transforms into wine-like fermented flavors, with the aftertaste accompanied by the mellow sweetness of dried apricots.

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