Coffee and Espresso...What's the Difference?

Coffee beans and espresso beans are slightly different. The espresso bean is a blend of several types of coffee beans from different countries around the world. The beans are roasted until they are dark and oily-looking. The two main differences between coffee and espresso are the fineness of the grind and the brewing time. The brewing time for espresso is much shorter, made possible by espresso machines that generate up to 15 atmospheres of pressure to force hot water through the ground coffee.

        When the espresso is placed into a small filtered basket, it is tightly packed with about 40lbs of pressure. Coffee is loose grinds and not packed at all. When the espresso liquid comes out, it is a dark brown color and slightly thick liquid with a small amount of crema on top. ( Crema is a foam similar to that found on beer.) Also, there are many factors in making the perfect shot of espresso. As mentioned above, the temperature and pressure of the water, the fineness of the ground coffee, and how tightly it is packed into the filter basket are just a few.


        Espresso is the fastest growing method of making coffee. All the other methods involve a 'natural' form of infusion, and for a small cost, you can have a system that will make acceptable coffee...and quickly. High quality espresso is more expensive to make because extracting the greatest amount of flavour from the bean requires a high level of pressure (8-10 bar) and thus a high quality machine.