It's espresso, straight up, couple shots at least. Sometimes sugar, sometimes a ribbon of lemon skin, but most of the time not. Fresh ground beans of course. Doesn't have to be espresso roast. Faster than a pot of coffee and a good way to avoid drinking the whole pot of coffee, as we tend to do in Portland.
In case you're not familiar with the rituals of espresso making, it is basically concentrated coffee brewed by forcing a small amount of very hot water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. When you go to Starbucks and order any of the fancy drinks, they are mostly made with shots of espresso rather than brewed coffee.
There is more than one way to make espresso. I use a Starbucks Barista home espresso machine. It's small and easy to maintain. To use it, finely ground coffee is put in a metal filter, which fits snugly inside a holder. The filter holder fits over the water source, which is similar to a small shower head covered with a fine metal filter. Once the water is hot enough and the green light goes on, just push a button and brewed espresso comes out through two holes in the bottom of the filter holder. You can also make espresso on the stovetop using a pot that works more like a percolator.
Espresso is thicker than brewed coffee. It contains a higher concentration of suspended and dissolved solids, and it has crema on top. Crema is the creamy foam on the surface of the drink, and at many of the small, fancy coffee shops the baristas will give your drink an artistic touch with drawings made of crema and the froth of steamed milk.
In case you can't tell, we take our coffee very seriously in Portland! It's part of what makes this place such a foodie town. Starbucks is OK if you're not in the Northwest, but there's nothing like a drive-thru espresso hut in the middle of nowhere, an oasis of warm, sweet, creamy goodness. And at home, there's nothing like hot espresso, crema on top, made from freshly ground beans. That's my perfect cuppa joe.
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