What's in a cup?

Author: | Updated: 2010-12-09 22:24:09

Was it only a decade ago that getting an excellent, memorable espresso in Melbourne was a rare event? Back then, only a handful of cafes really understood the humble bean and were able to deliver that extra-special something in the cup.

It?s thanks to those pioneers that Melbourne has a thriving coffee-house scene today.

These days, cafe owners and baristas are under a lot of pressure. Everyone?s a coffee critic. We know what we like, just how to order it and are bitterly disappointed if the result isn?t right.

But to appreciate how much work goes into a single cup of coffee, it helps to understand the process.

---Grind---
A quality espresso coffee begins with well-roasted, freshly ground coffee beans. Ideally, coffee should be ground immediately before it is used to create espresso. Grind size is critical to the extraction process and determines how quickly the water in an espresso machine passes through the coffee.

---Extraction---
The way a coffee is extracted will determine its flavour as well as its appearance. An espresso that is over-extracted has taken too long to run through the espresso machine. The coffee may have been too finely ground, there may be too much coffee in the filter basket, or the coffee may have been too firmly tamped (packed down). Water will struggle to pass through the coffee, which will ?burn?. The resulting drink will be bitter, unpleasant and oily. An under-extracted espresso is one that has been run too quickly through the machine. This usually means the coffee has been too coarsely ground, or that too little coffee has been used. It will taste sour and watery, with little flavour.

---Milk treatment---
A milk-based coffee that burns your mouth is too hot and will spoil the taste of its espresso foundation. If milk is overheated, the natural sugars in it burn. Milk should only be heated to around 65 degrees C while soy milk should reach only 55 degrees C, so a soy-based beverage should be cooler than a dairy-based one. Correctly heated and textured milk is thick, glossy and creamy, with tiny bubbles of air (microfoam). It should hold its body all the way to the end of your drink.