Ristretto is traditionally a short shot of espresso coffee made with the normal amount of ground coffee but extracted with about half the amount of water in the same amount of time by using a finer grind. This produces a concentrated shot of coffee per volume. Just pulling a normal shot short will produce a weaker shot and is not a Ristretto as some believe. The opposite of a ristretto is a lungo, which is typically double the shot volume. Ristretto means “limited” or “restricted” in Italian whereas lungo means “long.” The French equivalent of ristretto is café serré.
Regardless of whether one uses a hand pressed machine or an automatic, a regular double shot is generally considered to be around 14–18 grams of ground coffee extracted into 60 ml (2 fl oz or two shot glasses ). Thus, a “double ristretto” consumes the same amount of coffee beans but fills only a single shot glass.
Coffee contains over a thousand aroma compounds. A ristretto’s chemical composition and taste differ from those of a full length extraction for three reasons:
More concentrated: The first part of any extraction is the most concentrated, its color typically lying between dark chocolate and umber, whereas the tail end of shots are much lighter, varying from the color of dark pumpkin pie to varying shades of tan (see photo, above right ). This is an important factor when drinking straight espresso shots.
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