Espresso Love
I have now departed with my ten year old Gaggia Paros espresso machine and bought a new ISOMAC Venus (recommended!). And buying the new machine has sparked my interest in making the best possible coffee. The image on the right shows a double espresso in the making.
One important parameter when making a good espresso is how much you make. When I bought the machine at Cortado in Oslo (hereby highly recommended), we had a little discussion about the volume of a single espresso.
The salesman claimed that a single Italian espresso is about 35-40 ml, which I found to be too much. But I didn’t have any idea of how much less it should be. (I am referring to Italian espresso here, not northern European which is larger - especially at restaurants, or American espresso which is even larger still).
I recently had the opportunity to measure it myself during a three weeks stay at a vineyard in Tuscany (also highly recommended and possibly the subject of a future post). The answer is that an Italian espresso (or “caffée normale”) ranges from about 10ml to about 25ml, where somewhere around 25ml seems to be the normal. The measurements were made in Siena and at Chianti Autogrill on Autostrada A1.
And did I get some strange looks as I did my measurements?
You bet 
May 25th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
More inspiration:
http://www.eirikso.com/2006/04/17/how-to-roast-your-own-coffee/
http://www.eirikso.com/2005/06/24/time-for-a-coffee-break/
May 25th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Thanks for the links! I will give the roasting a try some time.
And now I know the correct pantone colour for the crema
June 4th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
check out the online Bible for all that is coffee.
http://www.coffeegeek.com/
June 6th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
how did you make your measurements?
good blog, good works.
e saluti dall’italia! : )
June 6th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Ciao Andrea.
I went to a pharmacy to buy a measuring cup, but they only had a syringe that measured 10ml, so you can imagine that I fealt a bit strange in the snack bars. Anyway, you don’t get more precise measures than that… What one does to settle a discussion
Saluti anche a te!
June 7th, 2007 at 3:21 am
I’d like to recommend Sweetmarias.com to anyone interested in making great coffee. They sell primarily green beans and roasters, so you can learn to roast your own coffee. Also, each week they roast - offering a regular roast, espresso roast and a decaf. Different each week. I am not an owner or working, just a loyal customer. They have the best coffee ever, with extensive descriptions. I do the super easy popcorn popper roast. It’s not as great as their perfect roasts, but better than commercial coffee.
June 21st, 2007 at 4:49 pm
I second the sweetmarias vote.