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Thứ Bảy, 30 tháng 4, 2016

The History of Italian Espresso: How Well Do You Know your Coffee History?

The espresso shot: the base of every non-filter coffee. The purest form of the drink. And the key to understanding Italy’s coffee culture.
In giving us the espresso, Italy is the progenitor of both the second and third wave. She redefined what coffee meant.
Yet drinking coffee in Italy is different to in the rest of the world: specialty has struggled to take hold and big chain cafés have failed to gain a foothold. And to understand why, we need to look at how the modern espresso came into being – and how that shaped Italy’s culture and identity.

The Espresso Machine: A Coffee Groundbreaker

Around 1901, thanks to the innovations of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the first version of espresso came into being – although the machine that created it certainly didn’t look like a La Marzocco.
The original concept of an espresso was something that could be prepared quickly; translated literally, “espresso” means express. Luigi Bezzara, a Milanese inventor, registered a patent for a machine with recognisable groupheads onto which portafilters with compressed coffee could be clamped. This was the first time coffee had been preparedexpressly for the customer.
By 1905, the patent had been purchased by Desidero Pavoni, who put into production the first commercial espresso machine: the Ideale
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1910 Ideale espresso machine
The very first commercial espresso machine by La Pavoni.
It still bore little relation to our modern machines; the Ideale groupheads reached temps of up to 140°C, at a much lower 1.5 bar of pressure than our modern-day 9-bar machines. And its shots, extracted in 45 seconds, had a consistency and taste that resembles modern filter coffee more closely than modern espressos.
                                                                    
The Faema E61 Legend
The Faema E61 Legend: Modern espresso machines look very different to the first models.

An Early Espresso Culture

As a result of these new machines, the term “espresso” first entered the Italian lexicon around 1920, in Alfredo Panzini’s Italian dictionary: “Caffè espresso, made using a pressurised machine or a filter, now commonplace.”
Panzini remarked that nineteenth-century coffee houses were tranquil places; by the 1935 edition, he noted that they had rapidly become bars for workers. As the strength of the brew grew, evidently this encouraged working men to frequent them in search of that strong caffeine hit.
In 1938, the first record of the word “barista” emerged (no, it wasn’t invented in the ‘90s by Starbucks). Before that time, the term “barman” appears to have been the fashionable word. However, with the success of Mussolini and the Fascist movement came a nationalist campaign to “Italianise” common words. Barman, considered too American, was substituted for barista, a more Italian-sounding word. In that way, espresso was further entwined with the Italian identity.
                                                                               
barista at bar termini
Barman or Barista? In Bar Termini, Soho.

Refining the Modern Espresso Machine

In the ‘30s and ‘40s, Italian coffee consumption declined (at first due to restrictive policies on importation, and then due to wartime scarcity), yet the Ideale espresso machine saw several improvements by big coffee names, such as Francisco Illy and Achille Gaggia.
Then in 1947, the next great development was made: Gaggia’s hand-pumped machine. With these machines, far more pressure could be exerted over the coffee puck, meaning that essential oils and colloids were squeezed through. The result? Crema, an essential part of the modern espresso.
By 1948, Gaggia’s invention had been bought by Ernesto Valente, head of Faema, a company whose machines are synonymous with cafés to this day. Gaggia and Valente fundamentally disagreed on the market for these high-pressure machines. Gaggia saw his invention as a luxury item, to be enjoyed in high-end establishments only. Valente, however, had other ideas; he worked to produce cheaper machines. And then, in 1961, he released the now world-renowned Faema E61.
The Faema E61 is the father of modern espresso. It was the first semi-automatic machine that required no elbow grease yet allowed the barista to manage the parameters of extraction. The internal boiler was set horizontally instead of vertically, instantly converting the café bar into a social space where customer and barista could chat while espresso shot was pulled. And the explosion of neighbourhood espresso bars and cafés in Italy was phenomenal.
                                                          
The Faema E61 Legend
The Faema E61 Legend, a homage to the original E61, in Bar Termini, Soho.

Italian Caffeine Culture Today

The Italian coffee culture created in the ‘40s remains fairly consistent to this day, despite increasing levels of globalisation. Italians go to their local café, order an espresso (refusing to pay a high price for it), and then head to their next appointment.
Unwashed Brazilian naturals have dominated the roasting scene for decades and, by 1990, 44% of coffee imports were Robusta. High-quality service and rapport with proprietors have always been considered important, perhaps more so than the coffee profile, allowing brands to maximise on their reputation. Even today, the top four roasters (such as Lavazza and Illy) dominate, having a 75% market share.
For many of us, drinking espresso means tasting excellent coffees with a complex flavour profile, often unobscured by milk or sugar. But for a lot of Italians, it may conjure up fond memories sitting on the small neighbourhood piazza, sipping a cafe latte on a hazy afternoon in southern Italy. Or walking into a neighbourhood bar, grabbing an adrenaline-pumping, robusta-lined shot before heading to work on a cool morning in central Milano. That sense of place, of localness, is an important part of the Italian espresso.
                                                                         
Marco Arrigo, Head of Quality at Illy and proprietor of Bar Termini
Marco Arrigo, Head of Quality at Illy and proprietor of Bar Termini in Soho.

Italy’s Relationship with a Global Coffee Culture

Yet while Italian coffee culture remains unaffected by globalisation, it’s safe to say that global coffee culture has been very affected by Italian coffees. The exportation of the espresso has been an astonishing success: from Seattle to Sydney, this Italian-style extraction forms the basis of the majority of coffee drinks.
Yet that doesn’t mean that all these espresso-based coffees are strictly Italian. In fact, the variations are enormous. Take an American cappuccino: compared to its Italian equivalent, it often contains double the quantity of milk but the same amount of coffee.
Italy is aware of this distortion of what they perceive to be almost a national drink – and attempts have been made to reappropriate the concept. At one point, the Italian government appealed to the World Trade Organisation in an attempt to restrict the use of the phrase “Italian espresso”. There have also been several attempts in US courts to restrict the term to coffee made by Italian roasting companies. And the Italian Parliament now sends inspectors around the world to “certify” whether coffee produced in various locations matches Italian quality standards.
These attempts to control the concept, while understandable (just imagine how much money there is to be earned by controlling the intellectual property of an espresso!), have all failed. Simply, while Italy invented the first modern espresso machine, they have been found to not have enough cultural hegemony over coffee; it is a beverage that exists all over the world in many different formats. Or put it this way: espresso may be a crucial part of Italian culture, but an Italian heritage is not a crucial part of an espresso. 
These attempts do, however, show a fiercely proud and defensive attitude from Italians for their coffee. The failure of big café brands and specialty coffee alike to penetrate the Italian scene comes down to an ironclad, decades-old coffee culture: one that values sociability, service, and affordability above all.

Written by E. Greaves and edited by T. Newton.
Perfect Daily Grind.
Nguồn:
http://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2016/04/history-italian-espresso-well-know-coffee-history/

Chủ Nhật, 24 tháng 4, 2016

Red Espresso: The Tea You Can Drink as Espresso?

The espresso: an emulsified, syrupy, all-encompassing marvel that forms the basis of nearly every drink served in a café—providing it’s a coffee.
Rooibos: tea.
Put rooibos in your espresso machine instead of your coffee, and what do you get? A red espresso.
Yes, a red espresso is 100% pure rooibos tea. There’s no coffee involved at all.
The first time I heard of this drink, my curiosity was piqued. I had to discover more.  


 What’s Rooibos?
Rooibos (pronounced roy-boos, meaning red bush in Afrikaans) is the national drink of the Rainbow Nation. An indigenous shrub plant that grows exclusively in the Cederberg region of the Western Cape, the rooibos plant is grown at higher altitudes and is harvested seasonally. The needle-like leaves of the plant are harvested, graded and then fermented. 
 Harvesting Rooibos. Credit: www.redespresso.com
Culturally, rooibos has always been an integral part of South African life. Imitating British tea culture, it’s sipped and savoured throughout the day by locals.
But here’s where it gets interesting: rooibos tea is 100% caffeine-free. This adds an extra dimension to the rooibos tea culture, because you can now drink it at any time of the day without worrying about the sleepless night that might otherwise follow. It also means that South African children are usually introduced to rooibos at an early age, particularly if they’re suffering from colic or tummy aches.

Rooibos: All Grown Up

When a product beloved by children is remarketed for adults, it’s typically a booming success. Think alcoholic gummy bears or amped-up grilled cheese sandwiches. Anything that induces feelings of familiarity and nostalgia is a recipe for popularity.
Red espresso is so successful in South Africa because it brings consumers back to the time when their mom made them rooibos tea as a kid—except this time, they can drink it at business meetings or get it to go at a trendy café.

Red Espresso vs. Espresso

Despite tea being a readily available product in every café, drinking it is a very different experience to drinking coffee. Tea is a lighter tasting drink made to be drunk slowly. It invokes feelings of serenity and calm (ask anyone on tumblr); it’s almost zen. The flavors are often subtle, light and aromatic. It’s a drink that tenderly whispers to you.
Espresso-based drinks, on the other hand, assault your senses (and we mean that in a good way). They’re meant to be drunk quickly; milk is always steamed at a lower temperature so there isn’t a “wait-for-it-to-cool” lag period, and espresso is, as it’s name suggests, made for express. The flavours are powerful and hit you hard. Acidity! Wham! Bitterness! Pow! COFFEE! Kablam!
Red espresso serves as the combination of the two very different drinking cultures. You get the hard-hitting flavours that are so awesome in coffee-based drinks but all the health benefits and antioxidants you get from tea.
I really need to mention that red espresso really doesn’t taste anything like espresso. In fact, it just tastes like incredibly strong aromatic tea. But the idea of concentrating a tea to emulate the strength of espresso gives it a new dimension; it’s a completely different drinking experience.
The pressurised rooibos actually pulls just like its coffee counterpart and forms a lovely, rich crema that can be stretched with steamed milk. 
Red espresso shot and red espresso cappuccino. Credit: www.redespresso.com

Rooibos: a Growing Trend

Because of its healthy properties and delicious taste, rooibos has recently taken off in several trend-setting cities. Tokyo, in particular, has taken a strong liking to it, with the drink appearing on the menu of nearly every trendy café in Japan’s capital.
Having red espresso on a café menu as a decaf alternative could become a major phenomenon because it is a genuinely good product that caters to a genuine need—that of drinking something without caffeine that would give you the feel of drinking coffee, but with a better taste and quality than decaf.

My Thoughts on Red Espresso

Coming from sunny Singapore (which is only 2 continents away from South Africa), I was introduced to the product by a South African regular customer who insisted that I try whipping something up with the stuff.
I made him a red cappuccino as per the instructions on the red espresso site and served it with a little drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon. The result? Delicious with a capital D.
Since then, I’ve been serving red espresso as a special off-menu item for customers who ask for decaf. It’s been a resounding success so far, and having it as a permanent menu item seems like a viable option for me at this point.
How awesome would it be to be able to give customers the option of getting their latte black or red? And, even more awesome, to be able to give South African expats a little taste of home?
Written byC. Seah & S. Aupiais and edited by T. Newton.
Special thanks to contributions by: Red Espresso and Dylan J Goddard.
Feature Photo Credit: http://www.redespresso.com/
Perfect Daily Grind.
Nguồn:
http://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2015/09/red-espresso-the-tea-you-can-drink-as-espresso/