Complete Coffee Recipe Guide: Creative Coffee Making Methods and Preparation Techniques

Introduction to Italian Coffee

Coffee shop menus always feature incredibly rich options. Within the Italian coffee category alone, there are dozens of different products. Many people may already understand their flavors through tasting, but most are unfamiliar with their origins! Today, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share how these commonly appearing Italian coffees were born, named, and prepared.

Espresso: The Foundation

Espresso is the first Italian coffee we must understand because it's the base of all Italian coffees! Without it, famous beverages like lattes, Americanos, and flat whites cannot be made.

In Italian, "Espresso" means fast. Before the 20th century, coffee preparation was extremely time-consuming. To get energized from coffee, one had to endure the lengthy preparation time.

Obviously, some people couldn't tolerate this. So in the early 20th century, driven by the European Industrial Revolution, the espresso machine was invented. People experienced for the first time that coffee preparation could be so rapid. Of course, the precision of coffee machines and the pressure used for extraction were far inferior to modern coffee machines, but at that time, it was as fast as a cheetah. Therefore, people named this quickly prepared coffee "Espresso," meaning extremely fast.

After the coffee machine was invented, espresso consumption quickly became popular, and cafes opened throughout Italy for people to enjoy espresso's delicious taste. The preparation method is also simple: we just need to use the recommended amount of coffee grounds to extract twice its weight in liquid within a certain time range! For example, FrontStreet Coffee's recommended amount is 20g, so use 20g of coffee grounds to extract 40ml of coffee liquid within 28-35 seconds.

Americano: Diluted Espresso

Time came to World War II, when American soldiers went to an Italian cafe to drink coffee. Unexpectedly, the espresso served was too strong and completely different from the instant coffee concentration they usually drank, making it completely unacceptable to them.

So they asked the cafe to pour espresso into water to dilute its concentration. The diluted coffee was loved by the American soldiers - much better than instant coffee! Gradually, more and more American soldiers wanted espresso with water, so cafes named this water-diluted espresso "Americano." Americano preparation only requires espresso and water in a 1:4 ratio! For example, FrontStreet Coffee uses 40ml of espresso and adds 160ml of 70°C hot water.

Cappuccino: The Hooded Coffee

Cappuccino and latte both belong to milk coffees with espresso and milk, but because latte is so famous, people often mistakenly think latte came first, then cappuccino. In fact, cappuccino was born first.

Cappuccino comes directly from the Italian word "Cappuccino," which means hood. When people first tried adding steamed milk to coffee, they found that the mixed color was very similar to the robe color of the Franciscan order, and the way milk foam stood on coffee resembled a hood. So people named this coffee with steamed milk "Cappuccino" after the hood. Cappuccino preparation is also simple, with a coffee-to-milk ratio of 1:4. First use 40ml of espresso as base, then prepare 160ml of steamed milk with thick foam, then combine for latte art.

Latte: The Milk Coffee

Latte is arguably the most popular milk coffee, without exception. "Latte" means milk in Italian. Because it contains a lot of milk, Italian people called this coffee with large amounts of milk "Coffee Latte"! However, people outside Italy wanted convenience, so they shortened it to "Latte," and this name has been passed down to this day! But know that if you go to an Italian cafe and want to order a latte by calling it "Latte," you're very likely to receive just a glass of milk.

Latte preparation is even simpler. For example, FrontStreet Coffee uses 40ml of espresso, then pours 200ml of 65°C steamed milk with thin foam.

Mocha: The Chocolate Port

Initially, Mocha referred to the port city of "Mocha Port" in Yemen. For over 300 years from the 17th century, Mocha Port served as an important hub for coffee trade. Almost all coffee worldwide had to pass through Mocha Port for trade. To prove that these were legitimate coffee beans from Mocha Port, every bag exported from here was stamped with "Mocha" to prove its origin!

But gradually, as coffee cultivation began worldwide, Mocha Port gradually lost its dominance in coffee trade. Coupled with Ottoman Empire rule, coffee beans from Mocha became scarce, and people could no longer easily drink Mocha coffee. So, to taste that memorable flavor again, people used chocolate to imitate the chocolate notes of Mocha coffee, and thus "Mocha Cafe" was born.

FrontStreet Coffee's mocha parameters are 40ml espresso, 10g chocolate sauce, and 190ml of 65°C steamed milk with thin foam.

Macchiato: The Marked Coffee

"Macchiato" means "mark" or "stain." Before specialty coffee became common, coffee didn't taste as high-quality as we know it today, which made many people bitter after drinking! So someone suggested adding a little milk to neutralize the bitterness. But a little milk didn't create much visual change, making it hard for baristas to tell if espresso had milk added. So to prevent confusion, baristas would add a small amount of milk foam on top of this espresso with a little milk, using the foam as a mark, which is how Macchiato got its name!

Macchiato preparation is also very simple: first extract an espresso, then add a little milk, finally top with milk foam. FrontStreet Coffee's parameters are 40ml espresso, 10ml of 65°C hot milk, with milk foam garnish. But as coffee gradually became more specialty, coffee flavor was no longer "consistently bitter" - high-quality coffee covered bitterness with "aroma, sweetness, and richness." Therefore, people gradually no longer needed to add milk to neutralize bitterness, and Macchiato faded from view!

Caramel Macchiato: The Sweet Mark

Years later, a coffee called "Caramel Macchiato" appeared on the market! But it's not a derivative of Macchiato, but a completely new fancy coffee. It's made by adding caramel, vanilla syrup, and other ingredients to a latte base! So we can see it only borrowed Macchiato's meaning, not its preparation method! After adding various syrups, the entire coffee became very sweet, and its meaning changed to "sweet mark" (Caramel Macchiato)!

Caramel Macchiato preparation is more difficult, so FrontStreet Coffee will explain in detail here! First, we use 10ml of vanilla syrup as base, then pour 180ml of 65°C steamed milk (with relatively thick foam), pour 40ml of espresso at the cup's center, and finally drizzle caramel syrup on top to garnish.

Flat White: The Australian Creation

Australians prefer stronger coffee flavors, but traditional Italian coffee dilutes concentration too much, clearly unable to satisfy their "heavy" taste needs. So they developed their own concentrated coffee products to meet their needs. Like FrontStreet Coffee often shares, "Long Black" is the concentrated version of Americano. And "Flat White" is the concentrated version of milk coffee.

Although traditional Italian coffee already had rich milk coffee like cappuccino, for Australians, the overly thick, dense foam wasn't the texture they wanted. So, after increasing concentration and flattening the foam, "Flat White" was born! For flat white preparation, we follow traditional Italian method: 40ml espresso, then combine with 160ml of 65°C steamed milk with thin foam.

Dirty: The Layered Coffee

Dirty can be said to be the only coffee product in this article that was iced from its birth. It was created by Mr. Katsuyuki Tanaka from Japan. According to Mr. Tanaka's introduction in his book, the core of Dirty coffee lies in the combination of iced milk and hot espresso. Iced milk has a very distinct sweet sensation, paired with the extremely rich texture and intense coffee flavor of hot espresso. Although the contrast between the two is significant, it's not abrupt!

When iced milk completely catches the hot espresso, the gradual descent of espresso resembles tear tracks left by an angel. So Mr. Tanaka named it "Angel Stain," but when it spread to China, it gradually evolved into "Dirty" (dirty coffee)!

Dirty coffee preparation requires preparing 200ml of iced milk before extracting espresso! Then during espresso extraction, place the container with iced milk under the espresso outlet to catch the espresso! When 40ml of espresso extraction is complete, you can remove the cup and enjoy delicious dirty coffee.

Conclusion

So these are some common Italian coffees you'll find on coffee shop menus! When we understand their origins, we can better appreciate their wonderful qualities when drinking them.

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