Espresso coffee is a precise art form of coffee making. There are several factors that must take place to make a quality cup of Espresso. First the fresh roasting of the coffee bean to bring out the truly gourmet coffee flavor that you expect. The grinding is the next procedure that must be done right in order to give you 20-25 seconds of extraction time. Espresso brewing requires the ground beans to be very fine in order to reach that perfect state for brewing. The next important step is the proper temperature of the filtered water that must be passed through the coffee at the specific pressure and timing that is critical to your espresso coffee.

The perfect espresso is created when:

Recipe directions: 1 ½ oz (45 ml) filtered water at the temperature of 195 oF (90oC) passes through ¼ - 1/3 oz (7-9 g) finely ground quality Espresso coffee. This water is forced through the fine coffee grounds by the espresso machine at 900 kilopascals atmospheric pressure (around 132 pounds/60kg per sq in/2.5cm2), with the water being in direct contact with the coffee for approximately 25 seconds.

What should your espresso taste like?

When you are ready to take a drink from your espresso cup, it should leave a pleasant not bitter aftertaste. The flavor should linger for about 10 minutes rolling into an almost nutty flavor.

The crown on your cup of Espresso

The topping on the espresso is know as "Crema", which is the floating dark golden cream free of any white or light brown patches. That is the crown of the perfect espresso coffee. The Crema is formed when the emulsified oils from the coffee are released (because of the high pressure that is put on the ground coffee beans) and mixed with the oxygen in the air. The resulting finish is perfect crema that floats on top of the espresso coffee.

Daryl Plaza is the owner of All About Coffee: http://www.all-about-coffee.com - a website focused on helping people to understand more about coffee. For tips and specialty coffee recipes, check out http://www.all-about-coffee.com/coffee-recipes.html

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