I would not say that this is my top pet peeve as far as food service goes but it ranks up there.
What is that doing there with my cup of coffee?
So repeat after me, number 1 in the 10 commandments of espresso: thou shall not twist…
Here is a little coffee education for all of us from Illy (via 1st in Coffee):
Espresso Myths
Exposed
Espresso coffee, while apparently
a simple drink, is in reality a complex product. It is derived
from 1500 chemical substances (800 volatile and 700 soluble).
When prepared correctly it involves 13 independent chemical
and physical variables. There are many myths and
misconceptions surrounding espresso. We'd like to debunk a few
of them.
Myth #1:
Espresso carries more of a caffeine jolt than regular brewed
coffee.
FALSE: The
illycaffe blend is obtained by carefully selecting from
different sources the best Arabica beans, which have a richer
taste and a lower caffeine content than the lesser prized (and
less expensive) Robusta beans. Because a cup of espresso takes
no more than 30 seconds to brew, less caffeine is extracted
than in drip coffee—which takes anywhere from 5 to 7
minutes.
Myth #2: Lemon
peel is the proper garnish for a cup of espresso
FALSE: Lemon
peel is not traditional in Italy. It is used to counteract the
taste of over-roasted, bitter espresso. The oil in the peel
blocks the bitterness. There is no need for lemon peel in a
proper cup of espresso.
Myth #3: Bigger
is better
FALSE: Large
cups don't do espresso justice. The proper portion of espresso
is one ounce, and the cup should be very small so that it
holds the heat. Thick china cups are preferred. Large cups
dissipate the heat and the crema (foam) which carries the
aroma in a fine cup of espresso.
Myth #4: The
darker the roast, the better the espresso.
FALSE:
Over-roasted coffee loses all its complex flavors—they go up
the chimney and leave you only with bitterness. Illy carefully
roasts its coffee to the optimum level to bring out all the
flavors inherent in the bean. illycaffè purchases only
arabica beans for its blend and sorts the beans using
electronic instruments which evaluate the color and
automatically reject beans that are either too green or
overripe. About 50 coffee beans are needed to produce one cup
of espresso, and only one bad bean can ruin its flavor. In
order to better balance the aroma, illycaffè prepares the
blend from nine different lots of arabica before roasting and
uses an air-cooling system versus the more common
water-cooling system.
Myth #5: Put
your coffee for espresso in the freezer for freshness.
FALSE: Freezing
the coffee coagulates the natural oils contained in the bean.
In an espresso, those oils emulsify producing the wonderful
body and satisfying mouthful of this special cup of coffee.
Myth #6:
Espresso is hard to prepare.
TRUE AND FALSE:
Traditional espresso preparation is complicated unless you are
properly trained. That is why Dr. Ernesto Illy and his team
developed the E.S.E. system. Their objective was to find a way
to create a perfect cup of espresso—a happy outcome of that
quest was a method that was also convenient and simple. So
simple, in fact, that Dr. Illy's 4 year old granddaughter
proudly prepares her grandfather a perfect cup of espresso
when he comes to visit using the E.S.E. system.
Faith Willinger shares her up close and personal experience living in Italy via The Crema in my Coffee.
Should doing things without knowing why be considered ignorance?
I borrowed my illustration (the original Bezzera machine?) from the History of Espresso ( College of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign).