Coffee Data Science
Why Italian Espresso is Good
Taking culture into consideration
You may be in the crowd that thinks Italian espresso is terrible. Many in specialty coffee frown upon the Italians almost with an attitude of “You invented it, but we perfected it.”
If you are in this group disappointed when having espresso in Italy, you may be missing critical cultural information. You might just have a bad perspective when judging their coffee.
Just a reminder, most espresso innovations occurred in Italy. The birthplace of espresso is in Italy, and it has been greatly adapted to multiple drinks outside of Italy when most Italians drink either espresso, macchiato, caffè freddo, or cappuccino (only before 10am). Americano, latte with cafe, and the rest of the variants especially with ice are not common in Italy.
Italian espresso matches the Italian taste palate. In Italy, you will find espresso to be bitter with a strong mouthfeel lacking acidity and sweetness. Many add sugar to make up for the lack of sweetness.
However, the bitterness is not the same bitterness as drinking espresso from most branded Italian roasts in America. Most of those roasts are just burnt beans. The real Italian roast is a blend of arabica and robusta. Typically, you will find 10% robusta. The robusta gives the mouthfeel much more than the arabica.
The roasts aren’t as dark as we would imagine in America. Usually, they are a medium-dark roast right around the second crack.
Look at Italian cuisine; you will find some bitter foods like broccoli rape (also called broccoli rabe or rapini), arugula, walnuts, olives, and dandelion. These flavors are preferred by many Italians.
Now look back at the espresso. The bitterness in espresso matches the level of bitterness in other foods they eat.
The Italians then standardized the espresso process in terms of pressure, water temperature, dose in, dose out, and time for the shot. The end result is that you can get espresso almost anywhere in Italy, and you will hit a certain level of quality at an affordable price.
I haven’t found many espresso shots that were extraordinary or terrible when traveling there. Most espresso shots had a consistent flavor with some variations.
Espresso was born in Italy, and they perfected it to their taste preference.
If you like, follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram where I post videos of espresso shots on different machines and espresso related stuff. You can also find me on LinkedIn. You can also follow me on Medium and Subscribe.
Further readings of mine:
My Second Book: Advanced Espresso
My First Book: Engineering Better Espresso
