The Martlet

For many of us, enjoying espresso is a regular ritual. Fortunately for coffee connoisseurs with a discerning palate, a growing number of espresso bars are intent on delivering a delicious dose.

A shot of espresso should have good body that is complex and balanced. The coffee beans’ sweetness, bitterness, acidity and slight sourness must be harmonized. There should be flavours of dark chocolate, nuts and/or stone fruit, depending on the blend.

“Everything just melds together, so when you take a sip of [a good shot of espresso], it just rolls on your tongue,” said Brooke Blyth, manager of Caffé Artigiano.

Great espresso starts with a careful blend of several different kinds of high-quality coffee beans.

“Typically, an espresso blend will have Indonesian coffees for body, Ethiopian coffees for acidity and Central [American] coffees for sweetness,” said Ken Gordon, owner and operator of Street Level Espresso.

“You taste different things on different parts of your tongue,” he said. “You’ve got sweetness on the tip, bitter on the back, and acidity on the sides. You want to get all of those things in harmony to have body. Body is when you feel it all over your mouth at the same time, and it adds up to good.”

The coffee beans are ground into the portafilter, and then pressed by hand to form a puck. The portafilter is inserted into the espresso machine’s grouphead, then steam, under several atmospheres of pressure, passes through the puck in the portafilter and emerge in the form of espresso.

A good shot of espresso must have good crema, the layer of foam on the surface of the shot.

“You’re looking for persistent crema, for a reddish speckle that denotes caramelized sugars,” Gordon said. “When you part it with a spoon it should close itself over, which is called ‘healing’ — you should have self-healing crema.”

Gordon says crema is all about oil and water becoming a single liquid.

“Now, normally science will tell you oil and water don’t mix. But, with the magic of the espresso machine [it does],” said Gordon, who works with an Italian manufactured Nuova Simonelli.

Gordon’s espresso machine has nine atmospheres of pressure. When those nine atmospheres of pressure are pushing through the coffee puck, Gordon says, the oils in the coffee become tiny little bubbles. When it’s formed together, it’s referred to as “micro-bubble lattice,” because the micro bubbles fit together so perfectly they appear to be one liquid.

Climate has a big impact on the quality of the crema.

“Humidity makes for the best crema, which is why the major Meccas of coffee in North America are Victoria, Vancouver, Portland and Seattle,” said Gordon. “In mid-September when the rain starts pouring, I’m looking at the crema coming out of the machine going, ‘Oh my God. That’s beautiful!’”

Of course, getting a complex, balanced body and beautiful crema takes a good barista. And what makes a good barista?

“A lot of time, a lot of training,” said Blyth. And what she calls a “good palate.”

Gordon agrees.

“Espresso is like a magnifying glass for looking at coffee,” said Gordon. “I’ll make a small French press of my espresso blend at the beginning of the day and taste what kind of overall flavours I should be able to find in it in a more subtle way. And then when I pull a straight shot of espresso, I’m trying to get all those flavours that I was able to taste, but they’re a hell of a lot more intense in a shot of espresso.”