Photo: HSwaff / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A true Italian espresso is pulled in about 25 seconds, filling a small cup with roughly 25 to 30 millilitres of liquid under nine bars of pressure — the weight of water nearly a hundred metres deep. That pressure is what forces out the crema, the hazelnut-coloured foam on top that a barista uses to judge whether the shot was pulled correctly. This is Guide № 003 in The Love Italy Guide series.
In this guide
- What Espresso Actually Is
- How Italians Actually Drink It
- The Cappuccino Rule
- Crema, Grind, and What Goes Wrong
- The Moka Pot at Home
- Myths Worth Retiring
- Frequently Asked Questions
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The Love Italy Guide is a numbered series — one tightly focused subject at a time, each with its own downloadable collectible edition.
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