See you Latte!

Part 2 in the journey of coffee.

The resurgence of coffee houses in the US during the late 80s and throughout the 90s up until today meant not only more exotic brands of coffee, but also more exotic ways to prepare them.

In particular, espresso (not expresso) became quite popular. Making espresso requires a dark roasted coffee, which means the beans are roasted darker than your average bean, almost to the point of charring the bean. The result is, in fact, almost like drinking burnt coffee.

The beans are then ground extremely fine, and placed in an espresso machine. You put the grounds in a metal cup like device, and install it in the machine. The machine then heats up water until it is steaming and forces the steam through the fine coffee grounds, which then makes a shotglass worth of concentrated coffee.

Espresso is not really new. Apparently, it's been in Italy for a long time. However, it was rare to see espresso in the US. With the proliferation of Starbucks and Starbuck clones (Seattle's Best, and even local coffeehouses), anyone can get espresso.

Interestingly enough, a shot of espresso has less caffeine than a cup of coffee. However, people think it has more because a shot of espresso is like 1/8 of a cup of coffee, and one shot of espresso is considered about a cup of coffee.

While some prefer espresso straight-up, much as some prefer taking shots of liquor, others don't want their coffee so concentrated. They want to drink a cup (or more) as they would their coffee.

To that extent, you can add milk, in particular, steamed milk, to espresso to make two other kinds of espresso drinks. If you make 1/3 cup of espresso, to 2/3 cup of steamed milk and you have cafe latte. To make steamed milk, you fill a small metal pitcher with milk (whole or skim), insert a steel nozzle, usually from the espresso machine, then turn on the steam. By moving the nozzle throughout the milk, it causes the milk to thicken a bit, and create a frothy top.

You then pour the espresso in the cup, followed by a the steamed milk, then put the froth on top.

For a strong tasting espresso drink, you can put 1/3 cup espresso, 1/3 cup steamed milk, and 1/3 cup froth. The froth does nothing except fill up the cup. Essentially, you are changing the ratio of espresso to steamed milk, using less milk for a stronger taste.

You can also make cafe au lait, which is regular (good) coffee, with steamed milk, or even cafe americano, which I believe is espresso diluted with water.

Alas, lattes and cappucinos are likely to run $3 or more. Some lattes are served in cups that are extremely large, holding roughly 2 to 3 cups worth, for the truly caffeine addicted.

I've since gone back to regular coffee since I want to save money and felt the caffeine was just fine in a regular cup. By regular coffee, I still mean good coffe, but not espresso.

And that, boys and girls, is my summary of coffee.