Espresso Beverages

As I mentioned in my previous post about the delectable trade to humankind known as coffee, I promised I would talk a bit about espresso beverages and coffee mixed drinks. As such, here is a bit more information on exactly that.

First, we have the red eye and the blind eye. The red eye is a regular cup of coffee that has a shot of espresso thrown in it, and the blind eye has two or more shots of espresso.

The Red Eye, as illustrated by Mike Rohde.

Then, there is a beverage I once saw called a Code Red. This is coffee mixed in with 5 or more shots of espresso. I personally call this one suicide, but to each their own.

(Note: A regular cup of coffee usually has about 20 ground beans in it. 2 oz of espresso has about the same amount. So if you have 5 shots of espresso, which takes you to 10 oz of coffee with 100 beans in that, you will have 6 oz of regular coffee to make it to a pint of coffee, which would have around 15 beans. You would be getting 150 beans of coffee with this drink. and, if a shot of espresso contains 140 mg of caffeine, and 6 oz of coffee has about 140 mg of caffeine... You're getting over 800 mg of caffeine. That's just dangerous.)

Next, we have the Americano. This beverage was created as a love letter to Americans, when they discovered espresso in its truest form in World War 1. Americans weren't strong fans of coffee if it was extremely strong, so Europeans put their heads together and created the Americano, which is a shot of espresso that is diluted with hot water. To this day, most coffee in Europe continues to be made through an espresso machine, but the name "Americano" stuck.

Notice how with the Americano, the cream of the espresso shot is still present.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is the double shot, which is a beverage comprised of two espresso shots and not much room for anything else besides maybe some ice and half & half. Of course, after this, there is the triple and quadruple which goes exactly as you would expect.

There are other methods of brewing espresso, such as the Ristretto and Lungo. Lungo is twice the amount of water as a regular espresso shot, and Ristretto is half the amount of water.

A side by side analysis by Coffee of Day.

From here, we get into next beverages, which usually have a milk-based to them. On the hot Spectrum, we have is a latte and cappuccino. A latte has steamed milk and espresso, and the cappuccino is filmed milk and espresso. To the untrained taste buds, these are extremely similar, but the cappuccino, being more froth than liquid, has a much creamier texture.

The difference between a macchiato and the aforementioned is that a macchiato means "marked" in Italian. This Mark occurs because the steamed milk is added to the cup first, and then the espresso is poured on top, instead of the other way around. This creates more of a trickle-down effect, and more of the espresso is available throughout the drink instead of concentrated at the bottom. An Americanized macchiato is a full beverage with lots of milk and a little espresso, but a true European macchiato is just enough steamed milk foam (approximately one or two ounces) to contain the espresso shot.

The doppio, also known as a cortado, is a beverage that combines froth and steamed milk with espresso, having equal portions of each. These are not really sold in American stores unless specifically requested.

Next, there is the Frappuccino, or coffee frappe. This is shaved ice, cold milk or milk substitute, and espresso, blended into a frozen smoothie. these are very popular in the South Mediterranean and America. Greece also have their version, which combines sweetener, instant coffee powder, milk, and ice, and has a much more prominent taste.

Huffington Post released this glossary to help us out.

That essentially covers the basics of coffee. check out my other coffee related post here!