Right now there are countless espresso shots being pulled and drip coffees being poured in San Francisco's 49 mile radius. We are a city of coffee fanatics, but most of us don't know that much about the drink we've become addicted to. Here are 10 things to consider the next time you order a latte or pour yourself a cup of joe:
1. Best times to drink coffee
Give
yourself an hour or two after waking up to run through your body’s natural
cortisol reserves, then drink a cup between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. If you drink
coffee before that, it will have little affect on your already alert body and
only build up your caffeine tolerance faster. The next time your cortisol
levels dip is between 1:30 and 5:30 p.m. Drink your second cup then.
2. Can you drink too much coffee?
According to
a recent Mayo Clinic study, 2-3 cups of coffee a day are not only safe, but can
possibly reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, suicidal depression, risk
of stroke, and lots of other nastiness we’re just beginning to learn about. The
reason why coffee was thought for so long to be a health detriment is that
until recently, medical studies haven’t taken into account that the heavy
coffee drinkers used as testers are usually heavy cigarette smokers as well. However,
exceeding 28 cups a week (or 4 cups of coffee a day) actually can lead to long
term health risks.
3. Drip coffee has more caffeine than
espresso
Because it
is more concentrated, espresso technically contains the most caffeine
per ounce, but considering it’s unlikely that you’ll drink 8 to 16 ounces of
straight espresso, drip coffee always wins in the caffeine battle.
4. Espresso + drip coffee is called...?
Every region
has a different name for this drink. Red Eye, Black Eye, Dead Eye, Depth
Charge, Turbo (if you’re on the East Coast and dig Dunkin' Donuts), Shot in the
Dark, Stink Eye, Trainwreck... the list goes on. Some gas stations
have black coffee shots with their creamers as condiments (for those
who don’t care for No-Doz with their coffee).
A secret way
to order this drink at cafes is a “cup of coffee with a shot of espresso.” That
cuts down on the confusion and can sometimes lead to a cheaper price tag when
ringing up an add-on to a drip, rather than a making it sound like a special
drink with a kitschy name.
5. Americanos are mostly water
As the
legend goes, the Americano was created and named for American troops in WWII
France who needed their strong-as-hell French coffee watered down. Needless to
say, an Americano is not stronger than any equally-sized cup of drip coffee. An
Americano is mostly water.
6. An iced cappuccino is pointless
You should
order an iced latte instead. An iced latte is made by pouring cold milk over
espresso, whereas an iced cappuccino is the same, but topped with steamy foam.
Adding hot foam to a cold drink is pointless unless you like lukewarm drinks..
7. What's a “cortado?”
A cortado is
basically a mini latte, also called a wet cappuccino, a Gibraltar, an Africano,
le noisette, la cortadito, and a ton of other names across the globe. The
difference between all espresso drinks is just the ratio of steamed milk
(cream, water, etc.) to espresso and how much of that milk is foamed. In a
cortado, there is about two ounces of steamed milk to accompany two shots of espresso.
It's served in a small, straight-sided glass. If served in a cappuccino cup,
it’s called a flat white.
8. Why do coffee snobs love ristretto...
and what the hell is it?
Basically
Ristretto is grinding your espresso even finer than usual to further condense
your shot. It’s delicious, but so few Americans order this drink that your
casual cafe employee has never heard of it. If you’re ordering a ristretto,
you're probably looking for perfection, so I’d suggest only ordering an
espresso ristretto if you see it on the cafe’s menu.
The opposite
of ristretto is lungo, or a “long pour.” It is when you grind the
espresso beans more coarsely and allow the shot to pull for a longer time, thus
producing about twice as much liquid
9. What's a breve? Or a con panna ?
Caffe breve
is an American drink (despite it’s name) using half and half instead of regular
milk in a latte/cappuccino/etc. Here’s a nifty page with some nutrition facts
if you’re thinking about it.
Espresso con
panna is a shot or two of espresso topped with a healthy amount of whipped
cream. It is served in a small glass.
10. Why does anyone care about latte
art?
The art is
not important to the taste, but anyone who can manipulate the foam and espresso
crema so delicately in one fluid motion is probably going to make really good
lattes.
Though don’t
buy into all that “latte art” where baristas draw onto the foam afterwards with
espresso dye or chocolate powder. That’s just playing with your food and
letting a hot beverage go cold. Drinks
like that are show pieces.
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