Espresso Versus Coffee: Let's Google it!

I recently discovered that our on-campus coffee vendors will give you coffee refills for only $1 if you bring in a reusable mug or thermos. This is an awesome deal that I have been fully taking advantage of the past 2 days. However, today, I was sipping my vanilla coffee with skim milk and 2 sugar packets, I realized that whatever particular "hit" of flavor my tongue was craving was not being satisfied in this regular ol' cup of joe. It was espresso I wanted. Not coffee.

I then realized that I had no idea what the difference was. Hopefully, neither do you, or else you probably think I'm an ignorant coffee connoisseur.

Regardless, here are the facts: (courtesy of wikipedia)


Caffè espresso or espresso (from Italian; sometimes erroneously pronounced or spelled in English expresso[1]) is a concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing hot water under pressure through finely ground coffee.



Espresso was developed in Milan, Italy, in the early 20th century, but up until the mid-1940s it was a beverage produced solely with steam pressure. The invention of the spring piston lever machine and its subsequent commercial success changed espresso into the beverage as it is known today. With some espresso machines, espresso can now be produced with 0.82–1.8 MPa (8.2–18 atm; 120–265 PSI) of pressure.



The defining characteristics of espresso include a thicker consistency than drip coffee, a higher amount of dissolved solids than drip coffee per relative volume, and a serving size that is usually measured in shots, which have traditionally been between 25 and 30 ml (around 1 fluid ounce) in size. Many of espresso's chemical components quickly degrade by oxidation[2]. The most distinguishing characteristic is "crema," a reddish-brown foam that floats on the surface and is composed of vegetable oils, proteins and sugars. Crema has elements of both emulsion and foam colloid.

As a result of the high-pressure brewing process, all of the flavors and chemicals in a typical cup of coffee are concentrated. For this reason, espresso lends itself to becoming the base for other drinks, such as lattes, cappuccino, macchiato and mochas.




While there can be significant variation, on a per-volume basis, espresso contains approximately three times the caffeine content of regular brewed coffee (1.700 g/l (50 mg per fluid ounce) of espresso versus 0.50–0.75 g/l (14–22 mg per ounce) for brewed coffee). Compared on the basis of usual serving sizes, a 30 ml (1 fluid ounce) shot of espresso has about half the caffeine of a standard 180 ml (6 fluid ounce) cup of American-style coffee, which varies from 80 to 130 mg.[3]


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Well there you have it, it's all about the type of bean and water pressure. Now if only I can convince Java city to give me 99 cent mocha lattes....