It’s totally different, right? Espresso beans and ones that are not espresso? Like, recipe changing, can’t use regular coffee beans for Espresso, and can’t use Espresso beans for regular coffee…. Right??
Well! Let’s talk about it.
Widely Held Myths About Espresso Beans
(wildly simplified from a world’s worth of coffee facts!)
They’re a special bean that is “somehow different”
All coffee beans come from coffee plants! Before being a roast-able green coffee bean, coffee as we know it is the seed of a fruit, the Coffee Cherry. There are varieties of coffee plants, and “different blends” of beans may feature more of one kind than another. The main varietals of coffee grown for commercial consumption are Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (Coffea canephora), within which there are several other sub-varietals and cultivars, such as Bourbon, Typica, and Geisha/Gesha. Within large chain roasting, generally you’re more likely to see Robusta, Arabica, and blends of the two because they’re easier to grow at scale. Smaller, more delicate varieties are becoming more and more common in specialty roasting, and 100% single origin bean roasts are now relatively common in specialty shops. No one plant specifically grows “Espresso Beans”. Traditionally, espresso does tend to be a blend of Arabica with some Robusta, though many modern espressos contain 100% Arabica or even 100% specialty beans.
They need to be dark and oily to make good espresso
It’s true that classically, the flavour profile of espresso was quite dark, with predominantly roast-y flavour notes like caramel, chocolate, and roasty-nuts. Over time, more and more roasters are trying out lighter roasts to access different flavour profiles. Partially this is due to advances in roasting technology, partially due to the increase in “coffee culture” creating a market base of individuals interested in different flavours, partially due to closer cooperation between farmers and roasters allowing for more specialized varieties to be grown. As coffee is the seed of a fruit, when you dial back the roasting you’ll start to see more pronounced fruit notes such as cherry, plum, berries, and citrus. For some folks, this is a new delightful range of flavour to explore! For other folks, not so much. Wherever you land on the spectrum, so long as you’re able to drink coffee you like, you’re doing it right by our books.
Oil is part of the crema, using a not oily bean reduces crema
Crema is a very interesting part of espresso! Crema is a layer of very fine bubbles caused by dissolved carbon dioxide gas within roasted coffee beans being extracted through the pressurized brewing process, and doesn’t really have anything to do with whether or not the oil in the coffee beans has been drawn out by roasting or not. Moreso, as the CO2 is created during the roasting process, what matters is how fresh the coffee is, as it will de-gas over time. Ideal age for coffee is debatable, but generally minimum 2-5 days off roast, and max 30 days off roast (but it’ll still be lovely up to several months off roast, just slightly less crema full!)
My other fun fact here is that the inventor of espresso (Luigi Bezzera, 1901) had to convince folks crema was good at all, before pressure extracting it was never a thing, and iniotially it was seen as a flaw.
Espresso has more caffeine than drip coffee
This one can have some merit to it depending on the beans you use! As mentioned earlier, the two main types of beans are Robusta and Arabica, which are often blended in classic Italian roasts. Arabica has about 1.1%-1.7% caffeine, whereas Robusta is nearly double this at 2%-4.5%. Some may ask, why use Arabica at all if we are going for the caffeine kick? Caffeine is very bitter, and so Robusta beans are significantly more bitter than Arabica, as well as being quite earthy and monotone across harvests. Arabica brings acidity and fruity notes, which even in classic chocolaty blends is important for a balanced cup. Moreso, what this means is that espresso caffeine levels will inherently be related to levels of caffeine in the origin beans, and vary greatly cafe to cafe, and bag to bag. The inverse of this is that in brewing filter coffee, the grounds spend more time in contact with the water, and the caffeine has more time to dissolve into the coffee itself. This being the case, generally an 8 oz cup of drip or filter coffee has more caffeine than a 1oz shot of espresso.
And Honorable Mention Myth (from our Tech, George!)
It’s pronounced “Expresso”
Though it is derived from the Latin word “exprimere” meaning “to express”, it’s still generally accepted as being pronounced as espresso, no ‘x’!
