When you pick up your cup of coffee, how do you know if you are drinking coffee or espresso? Actually, you should be asking how your coffee was made – espresso is a type of coffee, just prepared in a special way. There are also a few differences between your regular drip coffee and espresso, especially the fineness of the ground coffee and the brewing time.
Always remember that coffee is a drink brewed from ground coffee beans, and espresso is a way of preparing that drink. The espresso maker forces a stream of hot water at high pressure through very finely ground coffee. On the other hand, electric percolators and drip coffee makers simply use gravity to get water through the coffee grounds, which does not result in a high enough speed to make espresso. However, with a high speed stream of water, espresso can be made out of any coffee bean roasted to any level.
So there is really very little difference between coffee and espresso except for the speed at which the water is forced through the ground coffee. Coffee which is made in a drip machine only uses boiling water dripped slowly onto ground coffee. However, espresso cannot be made without steam or high pressured water. The flavor in an espresso is especially strong because of the high pressure of the water – because of this, regular drip coffee will never taste exactly like an espresso.
The brewing time and the fineness of the ground coffee are also differences between coffee and espresso. The espresso shot is made with very tightly packed and finely ground coffee, and uses about 1.5 ounces of water. Drip coffee, however, can be made from more coarsely ground coffee. However, drip coffee actually has more caffeine than a shot of espresso. These are the main differences between coffee and espresso, and the basic methods used to prepare them.