What is the difference between brewed coffee and espresso

Overly ground beans will create a super bitter espresso. No one wants that. An espresso machine is a key component in making espresso.

And it steams milk for your latte, to boot. Bonus: espresso is topped with a crema , or a layer of tiny bubbles that form at the surface of the drink. Some people consider this layer the best part of espresso. Espresso is often accused of containing more caffeine than brewed coffee, which is technically true.

A shot of espresso will contain more caffeine than a shot of coffee. But no one is out here drinking shots of coffee. See, if you take an equal amount of espresso and coffee , then yes, absolutely the espresso will have much more caffeine. But that should be no surprise, right? Especially since everyone and their mother knows that a tiny espresso shot is absolutely LOADED with all sorts of flavors and elements in a much more concentrated way than you get in coffee.

Now, as is the case with most culinary facts, the specific numbers can vary quite a bit here depending on the beans you use, the brewing method, the temperature of the water, extraction time, and so on. However, on average , a typical cup of coffee has between 80 and mg of caffeine. Some even put the higher end of the caffeine content up towards mg! On the other hand, your typical shot of espresso is going to yield right around 60mg of caffeine , with the higher estimates usually still being below that 80 mg lower threshold for a cup of the brewed stuff.

You can see a thorough breakdown of the caffeine concentration in some brewing methods here! You can even do an experiment using a good coffee refractometer. All coffee comes from the same source, the Coffea plant. Rather than the beans themselves, the difference between coffee and espresso derives from the way they are processed and brewed.

When coffee beans are harvested, they are pale green, and unfit for brewing. They need to be roasted to bring out their best qualities. Espresso beans are roasted until very dark, because this increases their capacity to withstand the high pressure under which they are brewed.

A dark roast also brings out a full body with low acidity, and is well suited for drinking with milk 3. Simply put, most roasters and consumers seem to prefer espresso to be roasted a little darker when it is to be consumed in milk rather than black. Lighter roasts are especially well suited for pour-overs, which tend to bring out the brighter, fruitier flavors of the coffee.

But it all boils down to your personal preferences. So get out there and experiment with some different beans! For a comprehensive and fun way to learn about coffee and espresso bean differences, watch our video below:. Espresso is probably the most unforgiving method of preparing coffee. Within these limits, even the smallest changes will have a significant impact on your cup. Grind size that is too fine will lead to bitter, over-extracted espresso, while coarse grounds will produce an acrid, under-extracted cup.

The grind size for espresso should be fine, between flour and table salt. There are however some important things to understand about these differences and how they can influence how a roaster roasts the coffee.

An espresso roast has no universal definition. The simple answer is that it is any coffee that the roaster thinks will perform well when prepared as an espresso. An espresso from a newer, third wave style roasting company will typically be a light or medium roast indicated by little or no oils on the surface and a light brown color whereas some companies still think that an espresso roast should be covered in oils and roasted very darkly.

The reason why there is such a difference between these two approaches is that each roaster has a different opinion about what coffee will taste best as an espresso. They may use techniques in the roasting process to reduce the acidity of the coffee or to make espresso shot flavors more balanced and palatable. We are going to explore if this is necessary or even desirable below, but first, the basics.

Espresso has some technical and practical definitions:. While brewing, the flow of espresso will appear to have the viscosity of warm honey and the resulting beverage will exhibit a thick, dark golden crema.

Espresso should be prepared specifically for and immediately served to its intended consumer. That bit of jargon needs an explainer all on its own, however, we can simplify it to mean:. A really small, strong and syrupy coffee drink that is brewed with pressure over a small period of time. A small, strong cup of coffee prepared with an espresso machine. Drip coffee refers to a coffee preparation method where hot water is added to the coffee grounds and allowed to drip through, resulting in a cup of coffee and water mixed together.

Many more explainers are needed for this one, but in the spirit of brevity we can simplify this to say: proper drip coffee should be brewed with a recipe. If you want to get a little more technical, you could say good drip coffee should be pretty strong and extract most of the tasty stuff from the coffee grounds through proper brewing technique.

You just need to have the barista skill to balance your flavor elements. Like most things it really depends. Darker roasted coffees up to a point are going to make it easier to produce an espresso that is balanced in flavor profile between sweetness, bitterness and acidity.

Lighter roasts are going to be harder to grind, meaning you need sharper, more expensive grinders to produce consistent results. Espresso roasts are usually medium in order to translate the challenges of the espresso brew technique into consistent shots. In contrast, many roasters roast drip coffees to feature acidity. You can save money and get more jacked by sticking with drip. We are super into questions here so lets answer with questions:.

Which method is always going to be fresh and ready in less than a minute? Which method is going to mix with steamed milk and foam and still taste creamy?