No, not lattes or cappuccinos -- espresso. I have been drinking espresso a lot lately, more than usual. Love it with a healthy dose of sugar.

What are your favorite espresso roasts?

I bought an espresso maker several months ago and when I am at home I drink it instead of coffee. I first tried espresso in Italy back in the 80s and really liked it.

First found out about expresso in some of the coffee houses/clubs before in different cities. But please...no sugar.

Also found out about cuban coffee when I was in Central America. With out milk it's kind of l ike expresso only more..

I LOVE espresso. Quick, tasty way to boost your energy level. Forget about red bull and other energy drinks, choose espresso, with -as already said- couple spoonfuls of sugar.

Cuban coffee is the only way to go IMHO....
...but you have to like your coffee sweet...

Very Strong, thick-almost chewy, and syrupy-sweet (one of my favorite places gives you a piece of sugar cane to stir with).

Nothing else quite like it....makes Espresso taste like Decaf.

I drink Espresso. I get Kimbo brand or Illy

rbihari and I are on the SAME page. Been drinking Cuban expresso every morning for years. Favorite roast is Bustelo Supremo. Add a ham croqueta to that and I'm in heaven.

quote:

Originally posted by andymiami:
rbihari and I are on the SAME page. Been drinking Cuban expresso every morning for years. Favorite roast is Bustelo Supremo. Add a ham croqueta to that and I'm in heaven.

Man, that sounds nice.

Everyone's posts sound nice. I think the sugar is necessary, though. Counters some of the harsher notes of the espresso, IMO.

For me, the sugar is crucial in the Cuban version. In this type, you have to take the first few drops of the expresso, mix it in with the sugar and whip it up so that when you add the rest of the coffee, it makes a kind of milk-less foam. With good Italian expresso I need much less sugar, but I love that with a great dessert, whereas for me a sweet dessert AND a Cuban cafecito would be too much.

I got a Bialetti stove-top espresso maker (the only way to make good espresso), add a healthy dose of Cubita or Serrano (but I prefer Cubita)then brew myself an entire cup full, I guess it's almost like a Cafe Americano but without the added hot water to dilute, just pure black gold, straight, no sugar or milk. Deeelicious.

I had one of those stove-top espresso makers about 20 years ago, loved it but the o-ring broke and I couldn't find another. Never thought to just buy a new maker.

I use two different coffees in my espresso machine depending on my taste that morning:

1. Alessi Caffe' Espresso imported from Italy.

2. Cafe' Bustelo is a Cuban style coffee.

Espresso - a little too weak for my tastes.

Nice Arabic coffee with a touch of cardoman and a shisha pipe (apple flavoured). Now that is a great drinking and smoking experience.

Best had in a souk in Cairo, or a coffee shop in Beirut or by the Indian ocean in Muscat.

quote:

Originally posted by Owen:
Espresso - a little too weak for my tastes.

Nice Arabic coffee with a touch of cardoman and a shisha pipe (apple flavoured). Now that is a great drinking and smoking experience.

Best had in a souk in Cairo, or a coffee shop in Beirut or by the Indian ocean in Muscat.

I own a couple of La Pavoni machines and cannot face the day without going through the ritual of producing a couple of espressos in the morning. The trouble with owning a decent machine and taking some interest in espresso is you realise how much rubbish we get served. And not just by Starbucks.

quote:

Originally posted by algernon:
I own a couple of La Pavoni machines and cannot face the day without going through the ritual of producing a couple of espressos in the morning. The trouble with owning a decent machine and taking some interest in espresso is you realise how much rubbish we get served. And not just by Starbucks.

Amen to that! At most coffee shops, the people working don't really care about what they're doing. They don't pack the coffee correctly, they burn the milk for lattes (note to Starbucks workers -- you cannot simply set down the milk while it steams. You have to keep it moving).

Just like steaks -- 9 out of ten times, I wish I had made my own.

Now, I have had some really excellent coffee in France, Italy and Cuba. They take pride in what they are serving most of the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Owen:
Espresso - a little too weak for my tastes.

Best had in a souk in Cairo, or a coffee shop in Beirut or by the Indian ocean in Muscat.

That's not the strength of the coffe. That was the sewer water they probably used to make it.
In cairo, did you happen to notice the falafel stands that use actual motor oil to cook with?


Sure arabic coffee is strong. But that's from boiling the hell out of beans that have been overground. You get a strong cup, but you can pretty much make the same cup from any beans since you missed all the real flavors by the crude preparation process. It's the equivalent of cooking a prime aged steak well done.

I was raised on Greek/turkish coffee. Good stuff but its really more like hightly caffienated mud than coffee. That stuff is almost a MUST-HAVE for drinking when you have greek pastries.

quote:

Originally posted by pmpimbura:
I was raised on Greek/turkish coffee. Good stuff but its really more like hightly caffienated mud than coffee. That stuff is almost a MUST-HAVE for drinking when you have greek pastries.

Pmpimbura,

When you talk of caffienated mud you remind me of some of the coffee I have had in the Army. LOL

Two things I don't understand about Starbucks, Seattle coffee, and the like. (Costa's is only a little better than them)
1) Why do they put so much coffee into the filter basket? (which is why their coffee is bitter)
2) Why do they think cappuccino is 1 part coffee and 10 parts bubbly white foam?

I think the answer to both is that some Non-Italy travelling (or Europe, for that matter) fool told them, "that is how the Italian's do it." Starbuck doesn't sound like an Italian name to me.

Espresso should be 7 grams of fine grinds, tamped into basket, brewed with 1-1.5 oz of hot, high pressure water to produce 1 oz of espresso.

The coffee grinds can only absorb and release, so much before the flavor is lost or unused. The grinds need to be finely ground, too. Starbuck's look like cracked peppercorns.

The foam on a cappuccino should be the consistancy of the head on a Guinness, it should only be about 1-2 cm thick, and it should be Brown.

FYI-Roasting coffee takes out the caffeine. Espresso is one of the longest roasting styles.
"The lighter the bean, the more caffeine."

For a while I was travelling with my Bialetti and a bag of ground coffee. I stopped because I was always being searched at the airports and that was what they would pull out and investigate.