Coffee Glossary
04/01/2021
Bellevue, WA
I've been wanting to learn more about espresso, a very intimidating topic to dive deep into. Most recently I'm making manual espressos on my Flair manual press, but other than grind and temp, I've just winged it. Time to figure some things out.
Note:I have long since sold the Flair and am now making my daily caffiene from a Gaggia Classica Pro
So I got Scott Rao's book on Espresso for a birthday present, and there are a lot of terminology that I don't really know, so here is what I've learned so far.
New to me words
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ristretto | (Italian for "shortened, narrow") A short shot of a more highly concentrated espresso coffee. Short could mean 30ml extracted from a double basket. In French it is called "café serré" |
| Double Basket | Anywhere from 14 grams to 21 grams of coffee ground capacity |
| Double Ristretto | Anywhere from 14 grams to 21 grams of coffee ground capacity |
| Lungo | (Italian for "long") A "short black" (a single espresso shot) with more water (generally twice as much), resulting in a larger coffee, a lungo. In French it is called "café allongé" |
| Affogato | Delicious espresso shot on vanilla icecream. Please use vanilla! |
| Americano | Watered-down espresso. The way the "americans" liked it when they first had espresso in post WWII Italy. |
| Cappuccino | Shot of espresso, layer of steamed milk, topped with milk froth |
| Crema | That layer of light brown coffee oil on top of an espresso, result of the carbon dioxide mixing into the coffee at high heat and pressure. |