Smells Like Coffee

Well, I've been thinking..
I have been sharing about coffee here and there many times, but never share about the details (yet). So I decided to make some posts that contains of some information about coffee like their kinds and differences. Hope this could help you know more about coffee.. ^^

Anyway, let me start with the espresso.
The French word is actually "expresso". The Americans call it that way. Some sources believed that it came from the fact that it is a concentrated beverage, brewed by forcing the hot water under pressure through finely ground coffee, that is why they named it after "espresso". Espresso is used for the base of other coffee-based (espresso-based) drinks because it is rich on the flavors.

Some Espressos

In addition to being served alone, espresso is frequently blended with some other ingredients. The most common blends are with hot water and milk. The milk itself, could be steamed, wet foamed, or dry foamed. Dry foamed milk or macrofoam has visibly large bubbles while wet foamed milk has smaller bubbles.

The most popular espresso-based coffee drinks are "caffè latte" and "cappuccino". Some people might have confused about their differences. The easy way to know the difference is that cappuccino usually made in 1/3 proportion of espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, and 1/3 of dry foam, while caffè latte contains 1/3 espresso, 2/3 steamed milk, and a thin layer of wet foam on the top of it.

Cappuccino is one of the Italian coffee drink that contains of espresso, steamed milk, and topped with foam that looks like a cup on it. A dry cappuccino contains more foam and creates a more intense espresso flavor, and a wet cappuccino has more steamed milk and taste creamer. The proportion of dry cappuccino is 1:3 between the espresso, steamed milk and foam.

Some other ingredient is often sprinkled onto the top of the foam like cinnamon or shaved chocolate. Other barista may obtain artistic shapes on the top of it.

Some Cappuccinos

Caffè Latte means "coffee and milk". We can say that it is a milkier cappuccino. Different countries have different names, "café au lait" in France, "café con leche" in Spain, "kawa biała" in Poland, "milchkaffee" in Germany, and "kopi susu" in Indonesia (except in Indonesia, they don't use a coffee machine to make it, and with no foam on the top).  Caffè latte contains more steamed milk and less foam than cappuccino, with the proportion of 1/3 espresso, 2/3 steamed milk and a thin layer of foam. If you like a stronger espresso flavor, you could ask the barista to add 2 shots of espresso to your latte.

Caffè latte is usually served for breakfast. Some experienced barista may make latte art on their caffè latte. Latte art is kind of a style of art by creating a pattern when pouring the steamed milk into the espresso (free pouring), or design on the surface of the caffè latte foam (etching).

Caffè Latte with Latte Art

Well, I guess that's it for today. I will tell you another kind of blended coffee later. It's good to know more about your favorite coffee.. ;)