Overproducing Espresso

Americans have taken a good idea and made it more trouble than it's worth.

I'm talking about espresso. In Italy, you walk up to bar in any corner cafe, order an espresso, and boom, there it is. It takes about a minute, and costs less than a buck, provided you don't want to sit down (exchange-rate Gods willing). Sitting costs more, but that's not what espresso is about. It's supposed to be a quick, flavorful, eye-opening jolt. Ordering a double seems like overkill, because espresso is about concentration, not volume. If one isn't enough, order another.

Compare that to the typical coffee chain here in America, where you line up behind the throng ordering grande this or triple that, then wait in another line where people pick up their drinks, most of which are more dairy than coffee. It's expensive, it's time-consuming, and it's not exactly slimming on the national waistline. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying we've missed the point, which is to reduce coffee to its concentrated essence. That's reduce, as in less, not more: your regular morning coffee minus most of the water. Here in the States we've turned that idea on its head, using espresso as an excuse to sell milkshakes and mochas for breakfast. If all you want is a simple espresso, it isn't worth the hassle.

Comments

[Sarah]

Agreed....now where in Chicago (Lakeview, specifically) is it possible to get a good espresso? My Portuguese husband will thank you.

[jh]

Good question. It isn't that there aren't lots of good coffee shops around, it's that none of them really seem to focus on espresso, because that's not what most people want. I did have a decent espresso last weekend at The Italian Coffee Bar, 1549 Sherman. But that's not convenient if you live in Lakeview.

By the way, what do you have against the Packers? (I know I'm not supposed to be a Packer fan living in Chicago but I grew up in Wisconsin. Some things aren't meant to change.)

[Sarah]

The Italian Coffee Bar=I concur. I work right across the street and, sadly, go there every single day (I used to hate espresso, and think I still do in theory, and became hooked when I went to the motherland to meet the in-laws and experienced that caffeine-shooting-down-your-spinal-cord sensation for the first time. Evil stuff. Inteligentsia is not bad in Lakeview, actually.

Nothing against the Packers, thank you very much, I'm a Marquette grad.