I'm fairly new to the espresso game. I've been drinking filter coffee and cold brew for the past decade but now I use a 9Barista with the stock portafilter, basket, and tamper paired with an 1Zpresso J Ultra hand grinder. 99.9% of the time I am making an iced black americano/long black, nothing fancy (I got the Subminimal hand frother but I can't froth milk to save my life)
I saw this old video from Hoffman and the idea is for americanos, crema on top will suspend all of the bitter notes of the coffee. I used to stir the crema in, but most of the time, depending on the the beans I'm using, I found that the bitterness tends to overpower any of the notes of the coffee. This was especially true of any decaf beans I used.
So I said fine, I'll spoon out the crema. And I was genuinely annoyed because part of enjoying this hobby is the visual appeal of the espresso. The crema titilates the senses, I mean, have you seen your espresso?
But WOW! It's a completely different drink when you remove it and I'm genuinely blown away with how much better it tastes! I don't have the most sophisticated palate but it tastes cleaner; I can taste the notes of the coffee better.
If you are new to drinking espresso, try removing the crema once. Maybe try it on a shot you mess up and it's a subpar extraction. I found even removing the crema from poorly extracted espresso actually tastes pretty decent.
I'm curious what you all think. I imagine it's not exactly groundbreaking news to anyone who has been making espresso for a while. Do you remove it? Stir it? Would you remove it for a flat white or other milk drinks?
by 12kgun84
25 Comments
been doing that for years.. works like a charme. 🙂
I was literally going to post the same thing sooner or later. I’ve been doing it for about a month or two, and it’s been a marked improvement. I tried stirring it in for a week or two, which was better than not, but straight up spooning it out is ftw.
It’s totally a preference thing. Personally, I love the sharp, bitter taste of crema on the first sip of straight espresso. But I also recognize that many would rather stir it in or remove it altogether. It is, after all, quite bitter.
The crema dissipates after a few minutes so I’m not following the purpose here. It’s like head on a beer. I also don’t find my coffee bitter at all, that’s why you dial it in. All I drink is americanos and I enjoy the nutty flavors as opposed to drip coffee that I’ve been doing for years with amazing Colombian beans and a quality grinder.
Youre sacrificing viscosity for sweetness, this is why i dial for the stir
Not with a spoon but for milk drinks for my wife I pull shots into a glass and give it a swirl before transferring to a mug, some crema stays on the shot glass walls.
Yes! I found this to be essential.
Drop a bit of brown sugar in the crema and scoop that off. That’s what I do with My crema. It’s just lovely imo.
Maybe it is because I normally use light to medium roasts but I like the crema on my Americanos and don’t find it tastes bitter?
Wouldn’t a bitter taste mean you did not have an optimal extraction?
If you haven’t already, you might want to look at ristrettos too.
Missed the opportunity to say, “It’s bean* incredible”
Interesting. I know the slight bite on that first sip but like some others, I tend to enjoy it. I also really enjoy bitter greens and very dark chocolate, so I have a much more prominent bitter side of my palate. I don’t think bitterness covers anything up, either. I find it to be another flavor component. When there’s radicchio in a salad with other greens, I don’t stop tasting the other greens, but I generally do gravitate towards the radicchio. My wife avoids it entirely. It’s possible it’s just a matter of taste here as well.
If you think that’s incredible, try cutting the crusts off your sandwiches! 🤯
This is why decent cafes give you a little spoon when you order a shot- fun fact. I like to take a sip to get that first impression and then stir. When I worked on the bar I always stirred the shots when dialing the machine in. It’s pretty standard practice.
Also typically you stir the resulting extraction of a pour-over before serving as well. Also in cupping, when testing roasts, there may be stirring involved.
Basically, it’s always good to stir coffee. Things extract and sit differently in the cup.
I tend to remove half depending on how acidic the roast is
Me and my people wonder, che cazzo stan’ faccendo? Bevi il caffe’ e andiamo, dai.😁
I pull a fat double into a small glass, then pour that into another glass with warmed up creamer in it, and stir it up (I even rubber spatula the crema out on top) – the crema usually stays pretty solid on top, with only a little mixed in, and there’s quite a bit of crema left over when I’m done, usually.
How is this not yet on circlejerk?
For straight espresso I’ll use a spoon to skim the crema and consume it. Then drink the rest of the shot after.
For milk drinks I don’t bother anymore.
You might as will open a bottle of Starbucks Unsweetened Medium Roast Iced Coffee and microwave it.
The horror!
I’ve been periodically removing the crema for over a decade, ever since I read [this blog post by The Coffee Collective](https://coffeecollective.blogspot.com/2008/04/does-good-espresso-need-crema.html).
You are basically sacrificing some mouthfeel for more sweetness and acidity, which I like. But I understand if you’re a traditionalist and prefer the slight bitterness of the crema.
Not a heavy espresso drinker myself, but my favourite roaster has been removing crema from his spros for a few years now. His portafilter basket has a thin filter that reduces most of the crema during extraction, then unless you’re drinking a double shot, he’ll remove most of the crema, as if it’s a cupping.
Holy moly. Just tried this with my afternoon Americano – skimmed off the crema before adding water and it does taste like a completely different drink. Much more pronounced coffee taste.
Thank you kind stranger.
When an espresso is properly pulled, the crema should integrate into the shot. What I mean by that is that it should be like a thin layer of cream (lol) where you can’t tell there are 2 distinct tasting layers. If it’s not like this, you get an intense bitter taste with nothing to balance it. That’s why people like to stir. If you lower the dose and grind finer, where you’re just barely choking the shot and it starts slow but ends fast, it’s easier to do this.
When I stopped paying attention to time and numbers and more attention to shot flow, I can say my (single) shots have been way better.