Esspresso coffee, which has always been popular in Southern Europe and Latin America, is now gaining in popularity in other parts of the world too, particularly in the USA and UK.
It is made with a specially designed machine, which forces high pressure hot water or steam through very finely ground coffee beans. The resulting drink is delicious, but strong! Much thicker than a traditional coffee, and a little foamy because of the way the water/steam has been forced through, espresso is a very different drink to a traditional cup of coffee. It’s almost like “coffee on steroids”. Because of the strength of espresso, it is generally drunk in much smaller quantities than other types of coffee. Espresso cups are tiny, which is why a cup of espresso is often called an “espresso shot”.
Espresso shots can be consumed as they come, or they can form the basis for other coffee drinks, for example latte (where hot milk is added) or cappuccino (where frothed milk is added, with a sprinkling of cocoa powder on top). Many people labour under that an espresso is a particular brand or flavour of coffee, or a particular type of bean. It’s not. It is basically the way the coffee is prepared. You can actually make espresso for all sorts of different coffee beans.
As far as espresso machines are concerned, there is now a wide variety available from retailers, hether you are looking for a machine for your home or a commercial espresso machine.
Espresso coffee was “invented” in Milan in 1901 by a gentleman named Luigi Bezzara, who patented the design of the first espresso machine.
Good espresso is very distinctive. It’s aroma is very strong, the flavour is similar to freshly ground coffee but much more intense, and in Southern Europe they usually drink it sweet, with plenty of sugar.
If prepared properly, it will have a couple of millimeters of brown froth on the top, and when you drink it, the aftertaste should stay with you for a good few minutes.
You can now buy coffee pod machines that make single espressos when you insert a plastic pod with a foil lid containing the ground coffee. They way they work is by piercing the foil lid and forcing the steam through the plastic pod. These are proving popular because they are so convenient and easy to use.