Is More or Less Coffee Crema Better? Why Does Espresso Have No Crema? What Does Crema Mean?

Crema, this layer of golden foam, besides being a distinctive characteristic of pressurized coffee, can sometimes help us identify certain problems.

Many friends often encounter situations where extracted espresso lacks crema. As we all know, crema is primarily composed of carbon dioxide and coffee bean lipids. If the espresso extraction uses light roast coffee beans with less carbon dioxide content, then insufficient crema would be considered normal. However, if we use dark roast coffee beans rich in carbon dioxide and still experience a lack of crema, FrontStreet Coffee believes it's likely due to these two reasons!

1. The Grind is Too Coarse!

If the extracted espresso has little crema and the coffee flows extremely quickly during extraction, then we can basically determine that this situation is caused by too coarse a grind setting. Due to the large particle size of the coffee grounds, the gaps between the grounds increase, allowing hot water to pass through easily even when tamped firmly.

Due to low resistance, the coffee liquid permeates quickly, so the coffee machine naturally won't apply excessive pressure for extraction. Since pressure is the main factor that promotes crema formation, when pressure is lacking, the coffee naturally won't produce much crema. This is the most common situation because many friends use the same grind setting throughout their espresso extraction without making adjustments. The condition of coffee beans constantly changes every day and every hour, and these changes affect the flow rate during espresso extraction. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee used 20g of coffee to extract 40ml of espresso in 32 seconds one day, the next day the same amount of coffee only took 20 seconds to extract 40ml of coffee liquid.

Then many friends might be clever enough to add more coffee when the flow is fast and reduce it when the flow is slow. While this is certainly a good option, the capacity of the portafilter basket is ultimately limited. When the condition of coffee beans changes significantly, even adding more coffee can hardly increase the resistance of the coffee puck. Without resistance, the coffee machine won't provide pressure, ultimately failing to form rich crema. Therefore, in such situations, we need to adjust the grind to be finer! Taking FrontStreet Coffee as an example, FrontStreet Coffee's daily morning adjustments first follow a formula: using 20g of coffee to extract 40ml of coffee liquid in 28-32 seconds. If the time is below this range, grind adjustments will be made. For instance, in the case mentioned above where 20g of coffee extracted 40ml of coffee liquid in only 20 seconds, the grind needs to be adjusted 2-3 settings finer, then fine-tuned based on taste (the fine-tuning can target either liquid weight or coffee amount).

2. Coffee Beans Aren't Fresh Enough

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, carbon dioxide is the main component of crema. When coffee beans don't have sufficient carbon dioxide, it's naturally difficult to form rich crema. Therefore, generally speaking, the crema extracted from light roast coffee beans cannot compare to that from dark roast coffee beans. Additionally, the freshness of coffee beans also affects the richness of crema. When coffee beans are fresher, they contain more stored carbon dioxide, resulting in richer crema. As the storage time of coffee beans increases, the carbon dioxide gradually decreases, making the extracted crema thinner compared to when the beans were fresh.

Generally, coffee beans within two months of roasting can extract relatively rich crema (provided they are dark roast beans and stored properly). However, after two months, the thickness of extracted crema will decrease at a visibly noticeable rate. So we can understand that the freshness of coffee beans not only affects coffee flavor but also influences the richness of crema.

Finally

Finally, FrontStreet Coffee would like to add: Espresso crema is essentially a group of bubbles filled with carbon dioxide. Although it's mistakenly named "crema" (which literally means "cream" in Italian), its essence is not the type of fat we know in daily life. At the same time, more crema isn't always better. With proper extraction, the richness of crema is primarily determined by the coffee bean variety and its carbon dioxide content. Neither of these factors are key determinants of coffee quality, so crema should not be used as the standard for measuring espresso quality.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473