Ask me for an espresso

“Good morning, coffee please” , the classic phrase we hear every morning in the coffee shop below our house; but what is the meaning of this request? Would you like a coffee plant? A drupe of coffee? A coffee bean? Some ground coffee? Or other. Let’s start with the offending subject; coffee.

What is coffee? coffee is a plant in the Rubiacae family that straddles the equator between the two tropics in the so-called Bean Belt. The two most widely used botanical species are Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora. These evergreen shrubs give, after flowering, a fruit called a coffee drupe, which once it reaches maturity will contain the two coffee seeds so desired by humans. These seeds, after the processing process to separate them from the fruit is finished, will be imported by roasters who, through the roasting process and subsequent marketing, will give the opportunity to enjoy this wonderful product.

Going back to our client presumably he will be asking us for espresso, so we learn to use the correct terminology.

Espresso is a method of extracting coffee, invented in Italy at the beginning of the 20th century, which allows, by means of a pressure of about 9 atm performed on a panel of ground and compacted coffee weighing about 7.1 gr, in a time that can vary from 20 to 30 seconds, to obtain a cup of dark liquid of about 14-15 gr with a compact hazelnut-colored cream on top.

It is now mistakenly common usage in Italy to juxtapose the term coffee with espresso preparation, but that would be like going into the butcher’s shop and asking,” buongiorno una carne per piacere”; the phrase makes no sense. The real challenge for the new generation of practitioners in the industry is to educate clients in the exact terminology to facilitate the work and elevate it to the social standing it deserves.

Enjoy your espresso!