The name espresso, seeming to have been derived from the word express and its relation to squeezing the essence and flavor out of something, was coined in Italy in the early 20th century. Since then, it has taken the world by storm and has adopted by nearly every coffee drinking culture in some form. From lattes to cappuccinos and even the blended "frappuccino", espresso is the base that makes the working world go round.

But what makes it different from a regular cup of coffee made in your parents 10 year old Mr. Coffee 8-cup brewer? There is actually a surprising amount of differences that go into making an espresso when compared to a normal cup of Joe that few non-coffee-connoiseurs can tell you about. 

How To Make Espresso

Espresso, like all coffee, makes you start with the bean of the coffea arabica or coffea canephora plant. These beans are picked from the fruit of these trees, then separated from the fruit. Once they are cleaned and ready, the beans are roasted to produce the iconic coffee bean we are accustomed to.

Once the beans are roasted, you often have to wait several days for the degassing period to use them for espresso brewing. Though it certainly wouldn't make you sick to drink a coffee from beans that weren't properly rested, the coffee beans would release all the trapped CO2 into the drink, resulting in an  espresso with unbalanced flavor and texture.

To prepare espresso, you typically need to grind coffee beans much finer and more uniform than for other brew methods. This can either be achieved by using an expensive electrical burr grinder you see in cafes or by using a cheaper hand burr grinder which will also give you similar results while having the added benefit of a forearm workout.

The ground coffee is then placed in a portafilter, which is essentially just a handle and a metal filter basket that the espresso will be brewed in. And here is where the major differences between drip coffee and espresso come into play.

To brew espresso, you need very hot water and a lot of pressure. To make sure the coffee is extracted evenly, you must tamp down the ground coffee in the portafilter to 

   1)   create a type of seal that allows the espresso machine to create the          pressure needed to brew it correctly, and

   2)   give a flat surface for the water that comes in contact with the coffee to               ensure an even extraction.

Once the coffee is tamped, you place the portafilter into the espresso machine, underneath the brewing grouphead and you are almost there!

Finally, you turn the brewer on and watch as the espresso should (hopefully) start slowly dripping out into the cup over a period of 25-35 seconds. If done properly and with recently roasted beans, there will be a beautiful foam at the top of the espresso that is known as crema, which gives espresso its classic appearance. Now this may seem like a lot of work for such a tiny cup of coffee, but the difference in flavor and texture compared to regular coffee makes it worth it for those looking for something more dynamic.

How Does Espresso Taste

The powerful pressure and heat that is used to make espresso not only makes the tiny cup of liquid look cool (in my humble opinion), but it actually greatly influences the flavor of espresso.

By using such high pressure and heat, you are able to extract much more from the coffee grounds than from a traditional drip or pourover brewing method. By doing so while also using much less water than a regular cup of coffee, the resulting cup of espresso is much stronger and concentrated than the usual brown juice found in Denny's across the world.

Depending on the type of beans used, the flavors of espresso can range from nutty and caramel, to floral and citrusy. Though these flavors can be tasted in a normal cup of coffee, they are much more likely in espresso to kick you in the face and notice them. It may take people several times to drink espresso and get over the strong concentration, but once your tastebuds are adjusted it is truly worth the struggle.

Another thing that separates espresso from drip coffee is the consistency of the finished brew. While most cups of coffee have a decently watery, almost tea-like consistency, the high concentration of dissolved coffee solids in espresso makes the liquid quite thick. Some have described espresso as having a syrupy consistency that sits on your tongue, leaving a strong and pleasant aftertaste.

These aspects of espresso make it easy to see why so many popular coffee drinks incorporate it, rather than drip coffee. First, is that volume-wise it is much less than a typical serving of drip coffee, meaning that adding a ton of foamed milk for something like a cappuccino is much more possible in a smaller cup size. Next, it carries much higher caffeine per ounce than traditional coffee, meaning the strength of the coffee and flavor is less diluted in a drink like a latte. 

So if espresso is so much stronger than regular coffee, how come the graveyard shift crowd has not fully adopted it yet as their go-to caffeine source? Sadly, like many things in life, we have to look at our good friend math to explain why we may feel more of a kick from a cup of Joe than a double shot of espresso.

So Does Espresso Have More Caffeine Than Regular Coffee?

The answer to this question is somewhat frustrating being that it is yes. And no. 

A perfectly brewed shot of espresso is around 1 ounce but has about 65mg of caffeine. A normal 8 ounce cup of coffee typically yields around 120-200mg of caffeine. 

So though espressos have much more caffeine per ounce, their small serving size makes it so drip coffee usually has much more caffeine. The convenience factor also comes into play, making drinking one ounce of espresso as a mild pick-me-up much easier when rushing out the door to make your optometry appointment on time rather than chugging a mug full of coffee.

The nature of espresso's caffeine concentration has definitely lead to a shift in serving sizes, especially in America, where the typical serving of espresso is now a double shot. It also has the benefit of being able to add a shot or two in many espresso-based drinks without too much of a change in flavor because of its small volume. So if you are looking for an easy way to have a nice, frothy latte to start your morning, ask for a triple shot at your local coffee shop to really start your day in the right direction.

Though I could really right pages and pages about the beauties of espresso and the coffee world, truly the best way to learn about and embrace all the wonders it has to offer is to go to a local coffee shop/ roaster and ask them about their coffee. No descriptors or articles can substitute the exact way crema tastes on your tongue or how the wafting aromas of a coffee roastery lead you to realize that coffee and espresso is much more than just your morning routine.