The Turkish proverb says: "Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death and sweet as love." In Italy, they would add that "coffee must be espresso."
Espresso coffee - what is it? Espresso in translation from Italian (espresso) has two meanings - quick and "squeezed out", that is, made under pressure. Actually, these are the two main characteristics of this method of making coffee: it is made quickly and under a certain pressure.
This is a purely Italian invention, which subsequently conquered the whole world. Making espresso coffee has one main feature - it cannot be brewed in a Turk, but only using a special coffee machine. The first such device was invented by an engineer from Italy Luigi Pezzer in 1901. At first, Italians were perplexed: "Espresso - what is it?" But then, having tried, they gave their hearts to this drink forever. And now in the local coffee shops it’s enough to ask for a café to bring you aromatic espresso coffee.
What is it, after all, and how to distinguish it from regular coffee? On the marvelous, elastic, beige-brown foam of the “cream”, gentlemen, as the Italians say. Well and in volume, of course. Classic espresso - 25-30, maximum 40 ml.
It is prepared under a pressure of 9 atmospheres, at a temperature of 88-92 ° C. The cooking time is 25 seconds, the permissible deviation in one direction or another is 3 seconds. And this is no coincidence. The fact is that during this time the drink receives all the beneficial substances contained in the coffee, and after 30 seconds only caffeine, tannins and water enter it.
The main ingredients for making this drink are roasted coffee, sugar, salt and water. The grains should be of medium grinding, sugar - ordinary white sand, water - filtered, salt like salt.
To make espresso coffee at home is possible only in a special espresso machine, which can now be bought at any household appliance store. All other recipes that offer to brew such coffee in Turk, in fact, make it possible to get coffee with foam, but not espresso.
Specialized coffee machines are carob, carob with automatic dispenser and automatic. You need to cook in them in different ways.
In a carob, you yourself pour 7-9 g of freshly ground coffee,
press the tamper, press the preparation button and make sure that 30 ml of the drink is poured into the cup for 25-30 seconds, then turn off the machine and quickly drink the drink until the foam tickles and melts on the tongue.
If you are not a big connoisseur of espresso, and you have less money than you would like, get a carob coffee machine with an automatic water dispenser . This device will save you from the last difficult manipulation - timely blocking the access of the drink to the cup. Everything else will still have to do yourself.
If time is running out, and finances allow, or you are generally a fan of the automation of any manual labor, then your choice is a machine that will do everything itself. You will only need to pour the grains into it, and it will grind them, and take the right amount, and compress, and pour it into the cup. It will also signal to you that everything is ready, you can drink. By the way, if you set a timer on such a device, it will turn on by itself - that’s where the progress has come.
In our country, this kind of fragrant drink came in the early nineties of the twentieth century. Then in restaurants for the first time appeared “espresso coffee”. "What it is?" - compatriots were surprised, not spoiled by foreign trips to Europe. Now this drink can be ordered in any cafe and even made at home.