Espresso

The espresso drink was almost unheard of in the United States until the expansion of the Starbucks revolution.  Primarily the drink of Italians and only seen in coffee shops in major cities of the US until then, the espresso drink has taken over the coffee shop as the drink of choice but with a requirement that it be mixed with something else, mainly steamed and foamed milk with some other condiments such as chocolate or whipped cream.  Only a small fraction of espresso is served in this country straight up.  A well prepared shot of espresso made from fine espresso beans is a wonderful mixture of coffee flavoring and an emulsion of coffee oils and aromatic gasses captured in the crema. An espresso shot is not brewed like coffee but is a rather quickly extracted shot, less than 30 seconds, and is about five times as strong as coffee. The fast extraction tends to leave behind some of the bitter and astringent flavorings in the bean but remove the sugars and other flavorings that are desired. The espresso beans are regular coffee beans but the overwhelming majority of them are roasted on the dark to very dark side.