What espresso is not Contrary to much old school coffee marketing, espresso is not a style of roast. Any coffee from any origin roasted with any range of profiles can be prepared as an espresso. Some coffees may fare better, and some styles or origins might prove to be more of an acquired taste, but fundamentally coffee is coffee and sweet, high-quality coffee will usually perform best. While coffees are often still marketed as “espresso roasts”, very little consensus exists about what that might actually mean. In general, roasters who create espresso blends are typically working to build good balance and attempting to craft an easy to hit target for the many machines that their blend will meet. Moka pot coffee, while having some similarities with espresso, is its own beverage. The steam pressure method doesn’t produce enough oomph to create the same quality of crema or the same speed of brewing. A vast number of cheaper home “espresso” machines exist that are simply moka pots made into mediocre appliances. But while this coffee is brewed strong, it is not quite the same thing as espresso. Nespresso capsules and their K-Cup cousins are not espresso. The exorbitant price tag notwithstanding, these silly machines and the stale proprietary capsules of old grounds they consume produce a much thinner beverage closer to instant coffee than any real brew. They offer a convenience that comes at astronomical cost and minimal quality. A waste of money that makes your kitchen counter look more like a cosmetics counter.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 05:39:56 +0000