Coffee Blends and Variations
Coffee is such a delicious and popular beverage that there are a lot of coffee variations that people have come up with. This article will discuss some of the most popular coffee blends in the world.
1. Espresso - A very famous coffee blend in Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, and most of the world. This blend originated in Milan, Italy in the early 20th century.
Espresso is concentrated coffee brewed by forcing very hot water under high pressure through coffee that has been ground to a consistency between extremely fine and powder.
During the early days, it was made through steam pressure, but with the invention of spring lever piston has made espresso the commercial success that it is today.
2. Cappuccino - This is a coffee-based drink prepared with espresso, hot milk, and steamed-milk foam. This is a variation of espresso but different enough and popular enough to merit its own place in this list.
This beverage has an milk/foam ratio of 150 ml and 180 ml, differentiating it from a caffe latte. It is traditionally served in porcelain cups because of the heat retention properties better than paper cups or glass.
Cappuccino got its name from the order of Franciscan Minor friars, named “Cappuccini” because they have a tradition of wearing hoods with their habit Hence the name.
3. Caffe latte - Latte in Italian simply means milk. This drink is approximately one third espresso and two-thirds steamed milk, with a layer of foamed milk approximately 5 mm thick on the top. It is similar to cappuccino, the only difference is that cappuccino has only 50% the amount of milk.
The debate rages whether this concoction is from Italy or made in California. It was said that Lino Meiorin invented caffe latte in 1959 because his customers demanded more milk in their cappuccino. They thought that the cappuccino was too strong for their taste. Lino then made a new menu with the caffe latte included prominently.
4. Frappe - This is a cold coffee drink made from instant coffee. It was created in Greece in 1957 in the city of Thessaloniki. It is served cold with a straw, with or without sugar or milk.
Yanis Dritsas was a Nestlé employee who introduced a drink for kids where a chocolate drink was shaken in a shaker and then served. According to Wikipedia, “Dritsas’ employee Dimitris Vakondios was looking for a way to have his usual instant coffee during his break but he could not find any hot water, so he mixed the coffee with cold water and a shaker.” And a new beverage was born in .
Outside of Greece there is also the Thai iced coffee that is served in Thai restaurants.
5. Instant coffee - This is the most popular coffee preparation, as it should. It is simply coffee that is dehydrated and converted into powder or granular form. This can then be hydrated with water to provide a drink identical to the original form.
This is the most popular coffee preparation because of the long shelf life and the ease and speed of preparation, plus it tastes almost as good as the original. Or at least some brands claim that they taste almost as good as the original non-dehydrated version.
About the Author
Australian Chef- Matthew J. Goudge is the mastermind behind the formation of the Pro Chef 360 platform. Since the initial humble beginnings Chef Matthew has been dedicated to creating this very network. Chef Matthew has been in the culinary field for a mere 21 years. He has worked in numerous locations including; Australia, Austria, England, Malaysia, China and St Lucia. Matthew’s first steps in the field of article writing began at the tender age of nineteen; whereby he contributed a weekly story for a local newspaper in coastal New South Wales, Australia.
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Australian Chef- Matthew J. Goudge is the mastermind behind the formation of the Pro Chef 360 platform.