A common question at the cafe is which coffee should we buy for home use? There is often concern on the buyer’s part when they find out we use the same coffee for the drip coffee as we use in the espresso machine. When you buy coffee in the grocery store, there is a distinction between the two, why not at the cafe?
First, it should be said that there is no ‘espresso roast.’ Where that ideas comes from is that in Italy, historically they used a dark roasted coffee. Historically, they only drink espresso and so the dark roast and the espresso became linked in some people’s minds. Some may use the ‘espresso roast’ label to indicate a dark roast because of that connection.
There is a difference between the coffee used in the espresso machine and the coffee used in the drip coffee and that is the grind. Espresso machines need a very fine grind and drip coffee benefits by coarser grind. How coarse and how fine a grind may very by machine and personal preference, but in general all other coffee brewing methods fall in between the two.
Here, at Jiva Java Cafe we use the same bean for our drip, our cold brew and our espresso. the only difference is how finely we grind the coffee.
Is there a difference between the roast levels and caffeine? In a word, no. The difference is minimal.
Why does an espresso taste stronger than drip? Because the coffee is more concentrated. You are drinking two ounces of espresso (usually mixed with milk) versus 12 or 16 ounces of coffee. The coffee is forced through very fine coffee grounds with pressure in the espresso machine and in the drip machine, water takes its sweet time to work its way through the coarser grind.