Let’s talk coffee and specifically, crema!. The crema is the layer of light coloured ‘foam’ that you see on top of an espresso shot. So – how is it formed and what does it do to the flavour of your coffee?.
Keep in mind that a (usually double) shot of espresso is the basis of all of our coffee-based drinks at Cafe Allez!, whether it’s a caffe latte, a cappuccino, a mocha or a flat white… that’s why this matters!
Most obviously, the crema makes the coffee look gorgeous! I give you exhibit A: the Joetado! We were proud to have Joe on the team recently and he was looking for a slightly longer drink than a double espresso but still something with plenty of flavour and punch. So he created the Joetado – a small amount of hot water in a Cortado glass, with an espresso shot brewed on top. The result put us in mind of a miniature pint of Guinness and became a staff regular.
We make our Americanos this way too and they look beautiful as a result.
You won’t really find crema to the same extent from any brewing method other than espresso because it’s a by-product of pressure. When the water is forced through the coffee grinds at tremendous pressure (9 bar!), the carbon dioxide that was trapped in the coffee in the roasting process is released and that’s the ‘crema’.
The presence of crema indicates that your coffee was roasted quite recently because otherwise, carbon dioxide will naturally dissipate over time while the coffee is stored. In fact, always feel free to ask us when your coffee was roasted if you’re on the house blend.
Crema is also a fairly good sign that the barista has extracted the coffee with some skill and attention.
To taste, the crema in isolation is quite bitter. I well recall an experiment with Alex, our mentor at 200 Degrees, at the roast house. He asked us to close our eyes and then taste two different espressos. The second was noticeably less bitter and more balanced, but Alex explained that the only difference was that, with the 2nd, he’d swirled the coffee around to mix the crema in. So we do this as a default now for lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites and Cortados.
Enjoy your coffee the best you can until we see you again and when we do, if you order a Joetado, we’ll know you’ve been reading this!