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Espresso Coffee
Espresso is a coffee beverage that was created in the early 20th century in Milan, Italy. Espresso is a concentrated form of coffee that is brewed by forcing hot water through finely ground coffee beans. Espresso is notably thicker and richer than drip coffee and is generally served in much smaller quantities, a serving is usually only one ounce.
Because of the brewing process all of the typical aspects of a cup of coffee are concentrated this makes espresso an ideal base for other coffee based drinks such as the latte and cappuccino. These drinks are made by combining brewed espresso with steamed or warmed milk and occasionally even flavored syrupy liquors. Espresso has a much higher amount of caffeine then percolated coffee typically around 40 milligrams per ounce. That is nearly twice the amount in brewed coffee.
One of the more distinctive characteristics of espresso is the crema which is a red brown foam that sits on the surface of the espresso. Crema is made up of proteins, vegetable oils and sugars. There is no particular roast of bean required to brew espresso although most North American chains prefer to use a darker roast of bean. However anything from a light roast to a very dark roast can be used. Brewing espresso requires that you have an espresso machine because it is the brewing that makes espresso what it is.
The ground coffee beans are loaded into a basket and compressed to form a puck, the basket gets loaded onto the espresso machine, then heated, pressurized water is forced through the beans this is best if the water is 90C and after it is brewed it needs to be used immediately as cooling will allow the quality to degrade and dioxide. Typically espresso only takes seconds to brew on a professional grade machine it is around 22. Espresso is growing in popularity thanks to the opening of many large coffee chains. How ever it is widely popular in European countries and has been for many years.
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