Italian style vs. hand brewing | Coffee Science Classroom

Yes, there are thousands of types of coffee, but I only want to classify them into two categories - one is called Italian coffee, and the other is called non-Italian coffee. What? Instant? We don't drink that stuff.

Why is it classified like this? When we drink a cup of coffee, we need to know how it comes from. Then a magical thing happened. The two types of coffee making equipment are different in principle! ! ! Today we will help you sort out these two major categories of coffee from the perspective of brewing equipment .

♢ What is Italian coffee♢

First of all, Italian coffee. Italian coffee is made from an Italian coffee machine. Whoever hits me, calm down, don't... Ah...

Let's get back to the point. Italian coffee refers to all the deformed coffee drinks based on Espresso/Italian espresso made by Italian coffee machines. For example, the cappuccino, latte, mocha, and Americano we usually drink are all coffee drinks made by adding milk or water to Espresso.

The proportions shown in the above figure can be slightly adjusted according to personal preferences and regional differences

So how mysterious is this mastermind, no, driving force behind the espresso machine?

High temperature (about 92 degrees), high pressure (about 9 atmospheres), and high coffee powder to water ratio (about 1:2) are the basic characteristics of espresso machine brewing. Of course, different espresso machines basically have different brewing head temperatures and different brewing head pressures. Under such parameters, what characteristics should espresso have? The first is espresso, which has a high body at a high concentration. Because of the high temperature and high pressure, coupled with a high coffee powder to water ratio, and the unique flavor based on the heating and whipping of milk, a good espresso must be a harmonious coexistence of coffee and milk flavors . Do you usually drink these?

♢ Non-Italian coffee represented by hand-brewed coffee ♢

Next, let’s talk briefly about non-Italian coffee. Non-Italian coffee means the general term for coffee that is not called Italian coffee! Ah, don’t hit me…

Although the previous introduction to Italian coffee is brief, I believe everyone has a preliminary understanding of Italian coffee makers and Italian coffee ash. Then let's focus on the black coffee that is not made with Italian coffee ash machines. Who makes black coffee ash? People + utensils. Different black coffee utensils have different advantages and characteristics, but because there are too many types, we will only take hand brewing as an example today.

The hand brewing equipment basically includes: a filter cup, a bottom pot, a hand brewing pot, and filter paper .

The method of making hand-brewed coffee is also very simple, basically according to the coffee powder to water ratio of 1:15, the water temperature is preferably 90-93 degrees, first wash the filter paper, then spread the coffee powder, and finally brew, drip filter, and serve. In addition to being simple and convenient, compared to Italian coffee machines that cost thousands of dollars, hand-brewed coffee equipment is not comparable in price.

Compared to the rich and mellow Italian coffee, the high tolerance rate of hand-brewed coffee can better reflect the taste of the coffee beans themselves, and without the influence of other additives, we can more intuitively feel the unique flavor of the coffee beans themselves . For example, the Yirgacheffe that can be found everywhere, the hand-brewed Yirgacheffe will basically perfectly present its own floral characteristics and citrus flavor!

After instant coffee and chain store blended coffee, we have entered the third wave of coffee drinking - specialty coffee, and hand brewed coffee is the most common method in this wave. This delicious and inexpensive production equipment and method is simply amazing, please don't fall behind!

In fact, there are many other black coffee equipment, such as French Press, AeroPress, Smart Cup, etc. We will not go into details today. In future articles, we will open various topics to popularize more knowledge about the combination of beans and equipment! There will also be various creative coffee methods.

Don’t go away, keep paying attention to the Penguin Food and Drink Guide, and you will find that, wow, coffee is so fun!

Classified Notes

Different people have different tastes

☞Italian coffee

＊Based on Espresso made by Italian coffee machine,

Coffee drinks that are transformed by adding milk, water, etc.

* High temperature: 92 degrees

＊High pressure: 9 atmospheres

＊High powder-water ratio: 1:2

＊Rich and solid, harmonious coexistence of coffee and milk flavors

☞Hand-brewed coffee

* Simple equipment/affordable price: filter cup, bottom pot, hand pour pot, filter paper

＊Temperature: 90-93 degrees

＊Powder to water ratio: 1:15

＊High tolerance/no additives: better reflect the flavor of the coffee beans’ origin

＊The most common techniques for making specialty coffee

Author: Charles Huang Junhao

• Won the runner-up in the Taiwan Barista Competition in 2010

• He is also the designated roaster for the Taiwan representative of the World Barista Championship (WBC).

• Obtained the highest level of Q-GRADER certification from SCAA/CQI in 2011

• China's first COE international referee

Charles will occasionally explain his understanding of specialty coffee in the Penguin Food and Drink Guide and share practical knowledge about specialty coffee with everyone through interesting original videos. Please stay tuned!

Q&A time ~ Please post your questions in the comments section and look forward to Teacher Charles’ occasional appearances!

Welcome to follow our WeChat public account

Penguin Food and Drink Guide

A group of food and wine with logic, pictures and content!