“Cappuccino” by kalebdf is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
It is no secret that coffee is a staple in college life. In an attempt to balance classes, activities, social events and all the other chaos of college, students often find themselves running on fumes… and a ton of caffeine. Plus, now more than ever, coffee is associated with social gatherings, status, tastes and, ultimately, “the aesthetic.” Coffee drinking is about so much more than just the beverage, college students love everything the bean juice scene embodies.
As a college student, I know how much I rely on coffee myself. As a barista, I have the opportunity to be behind the bar and behind the scenes in the coffee world. It is an amazing perspective to see what goes into making all the café drinks that are so popular. From coffee secrets and hacks, to personal favorites, I will be offering my expertise here in the café corner.
Welcome back to the café corner! Last time, we looked into the addition of different shots of espresso into various drinks. What exactly is espresso? How does it differ from just coffee? This week, let us get to know our espresso drinks, and what makes them different from one another.
Espresso differs from typical coffee— not by what it is made of— by how it is made. Both espresso and coffee are made from coffee beans, however, it is how they are prepared that defines them. As opposed to brewing ground beans in a coffee maker, which takes around five minutes, the process of making espresso is a mere 30 seconds. When making espresso, a small amount of high pressure water quickly shoots through finely ground and compacted coffee beans, creating a “shot.” Espresso is highly concentrated in caffeine due to the high pressure of the water and the density of the coffee grinds.
Although you can drink espresso as just a straight shot, it is usually the starting point of other delicious coffee drinks. First, let us start off with the classic latte. The latte is basically the standard espresso-based drink, as it consists of just espresso and milk. The latte can be served either hot with steamed milk, or iced with cold milk, which makes it a go-to beverage no matter the weather. Plus, you can add different sauces or syrups to lattes — caramel, vanilla and mocha are all popular — making the latte a versatile drink.
Now, let us talk about the cappuccino. The cappuccino is practically the same as the latte, however the two differ with the milk. Cappuccinos are known for having a generous amount of foam on top, which is created from steaming the milk more to create extra bubbles and foam. It is important to note that cappuccinos cannot be made iced, because otherwise iced espresso with cold milk is just an iced latte.
Finally, the last drink we will cover is the americano. It is rumored to have originated from WWII, when American soldiers in Italy would order their espresso drinks diluted with water because the straight espresso was too strong. Thus, the americano was born, espresso shots with water. Even diluted, however, americanos are fairly strong, and the espresso taste is very distinguishable. And like lattes, americanos can be served hot or iced!
Make sure to check out these espresso drinks and others at your next coffee shop stop!
From, your barista.
Claudia Cava us a third year finance and economics major. CC887936@wcupa.edu