Espresso/Coffee 101

This is great article on the difference between some of the basic coffee/espresso bar menu items:

Here is a link to the video also.

Most menus offer espresso and brewed coffee based beverages, but many people do not know the difference between the two.

NY1's Jill Scott stopped by Ninth Street Espresso in Chelsea Market for a little coffee talk with owner Kenneth Nye.

"Espresso is prepared and brewed under pressure, so these espresso machines push water through a small amount of coffee at high pressure, and so you are actually extracting all of the oils and essentials out of that coffee under pressure," said Nye. "Whereas brewing coffee, like you would do at home in a drip or French press, you are letting gravity do its job."

Most of the drinks you see at a coffee bar are made with espresso – except for a café au lait, which is just half brewed or French pressed coffee and half steamed milk. A café au lait is often confused with a café latte, which is two ounces of espresso and as much as 10 ounces of steamed, textured milk.

The big difference between all the espresso drinks really has to do with the amount and texture of the milk.

"A cappuccino is an espresso-based drink, so the ratio would be roughly an ounce-and-a-half to two ounces of espresso, and about four to five ounces of steamed textured milk," said Nye. "So it's a smaller drink."

The word macchiato means marked, so it's a shot of espresso that's marked with a little milk.

Mocha is similar to a latte, but has liquid chocolate.

If you like the flavor of espresso, but enjoy that larger cup of coffee – you may want an Americano, which is water added to espresso.

When looking for a pick-me-up, most people think a shot of espresso will do the trick. But the truth is there's actually a lot more caffeine in a regular cup of coffee than in that espresso.

"One of the main reasons why is that extracting espresso takes about 25-30 seconds, while drip coffee takes about four minutes," said Nye. "So you are spending four minutes extracting everything that's in that coffee, which includes caffeine, and you are doing it for a far longer period of time."

As for taste, the strength may be determined by the flavor of the beans and not always how much coffee is used. So to find out what you like, you may want to give a few different blends a shot.