ESPRESSO FACT & FICTION
WITH ONE WORLD'S MASTER ROASTER
Yale University recently opened a worldly new cafe called “The Elm”—offering sushi, gelato, and a slew of artisan sandwiches, salads, and soups. To complement these bold flavors, they chose to offer Black Kat as their signature espresso. In honor of this occasion, OWR's Master Roster, Eric Ciolino, talks espresso fact and fiction in this month's blog. Let's dive in!
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The espresso I'll never forget...Espresso is very special to me—you might even say it's the reason I got into roasting in the first place. All it took was a remarkable espresso in a Roman cafe many years ago, and I was never the same.
The care and attention to detail the baristas showed in their preparation of that shot and the quality of its amazing taste and aroma moved me. I wanted to create my own version of that experience for customers, and I wanted to approach it with the same level of care. Nearly 100 espresso blends later, the Black Kat was born (though it might have just been a kitten at the time 😸). |
This long and involved process creating an espresso I was truly proud of, made me aware of just how nuanced and complex the art is—and also how much confusion and misinformation there is surrounding it. In this blog I want to take the opportunity to share with you what I've learned about espresso—and what true and what's a load of drip!
You think you know espresso ...What's myth and what's the real deal?
• You can only get a Good Crema using Robusta coffee beans (the frothy layer of goodness at the top of an espresso)
False! I’m willing to go as far as to say that this used to be the old thought—but some of the single origins out there now, like many Guatemalans and Brazilians for example (the latter of which we use in our Black Kat!), get tons of good crema. From trying so many different Arabica coffees, we’ve found out you can have good crema without having to introduce lower quality Robusta beans to the blend. It all comes down to using high quality coffees free of defects that are roasted at peak freshness—and not sitting in a store room for months. It’s a little more work, but it’s worth the effort! |
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•An espresso blend has to use a particular kind of coffee and roast level
False! Espresso is more like an approach to coffee, as opposed to a specific bean combination from certain countries or an exact roast level. Producing the shot of espresso we know and love comes down to creating a strong dark roast and pushing hot water at high pressure through it at a very fine ground and high coffee-to-water concentration. The bean origins and exact roast intensity is up to the roaster.
False! Espresso is more like an approach to coffee, as opposed to a specific bean combination from certain countries or an exact roast level. Producing the shot of espresso we know and love comes down to creating a strong dark roast and pushing hot water at high pressure through it at a very fine ground and high coffee-to-water concentration. The bean origins and exact roast intensity is up to the roaster.
,• You can’t taste the regional flavors of the beans in an espresso
It depends! It’s certainly not always the case—the Black Kat espresso is a good example of this, having sweet peppery notes and vanilla aroma from the dark roasted Brazilian beans, and honey aroma and ginger notes from the dark Ethiopian. I’m roasting just under a french roast for our espresso so it’s a tad bit under authentic Italian espresso roast. I find this works best.
It’s a balancing act getting the beans to the cusp of having that characteristic “espresso bite” without losing their identity. Different beans will also have different optimal roast levels, so roasting them separately and very carefully will also help ensure their flavors come through.
It depends! It’s certainly not always the case—the Black Kat espresso is a good example of this, having sweet peppery notes and vanilla aroma from the dark roasted Brazilian beans, and honey aroma and ginger notes from the dark Ethiopian. I’m roasting just under a french roast for our espresso so it’s a tad bit under authentic Italian espresso roast. I find this works best.
It’s a balancing act getting the beans to the cusp of having that characteristic “espresso bite” without losing their identity. Different beans will also have different optimal roast levels, so roasting them separately and very carefully will also help ensure their flavors come through.
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• "Flavor" and "Taste" mean the same thing when referring to espresso
Not so! In conversation, we often use the terms interchangeably, but when talking about espresso, “Taste” refers specifically to what you’re noticing on your tongue, while flavor is the experience of those tastes in your mouth along with the aroma. The overlap of taste and aroma in flavor is what makes an espresso incredible or ... just another espresso. It’s something we put a lot of thought into when creating the Black Kat flavor profile. • Espresso is an extremely precise and delicate process |
True, but it isn’t an inflexible one—it can’t be! Espresso drinkers are generally pretty discerning in their taste and expect to have a certain kind of experience and quality level when ordering their espresso of choice. On our end, this means keeping very meticulous records throughout the roast process and being able to reproduce that result countless times over. But it also means that if the beans we use from one region are different in a given season, we have to be adaptive and either make modifications to our roasting or substitute different beans to keep quality and flavor consistent.
However you roast it, an espresso is still only as good as the beans you’re working with.
However you roast it, an espresso is still only as good as the beans you’re working with.
Visit The Elm at 168 Grove St in New Haven, CT (in Schwartzman Hall)
And Order your bag of Black Kat now! (Or see how you can carry Black Kat in your cafe or shop on our Wholesale Page)
And Order your bag of Black Kat now! (Or see how you can carry Black Kat in your cafe or shop on our Wholesale Page)
