Be sure to smell your coffee!  Aroma is half the enjoyment.   

Cappuccino is served in Italy for breakfast.  The general ratio of ingredients for Italian cappuccino is 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, and 1/3 frothed milk.  The microfoam in frothed milk makes the milk taste sweet even without the addition of sweetener.  To make a delicious sweetened home cappuccino, place about two teaspoons of sugar in your cup, add the espresso from your coffee maker into the cup and stir gently.  Steam and froth about 1/2 cup of skim or 1% milk and pour this into your espresso.  (If you desire unsweetened cappuccino, do not add the sugar to the espresso.)  Stir gently.  Top with powdered chocolate or cinnamon if desired, and enjoy.  Delicious!

For a cold espresso dessert, try affogatto.  Make one shot of espresso in a mug or in your stainless steel pitcher.  Place one scoop of ice cream in a small dish; pour the espresso over the ice cream.  Great on a hot summer day for coffee addicts like me.  Enjoy!

Mochaccino is a wonderful drink for chocolate lovers.  In your mug, place 1 heaping teaspoon of sugar, 2 heaping teaspoons powder cocoa mix.  In your stainless steel pitcher, steam and froth 3 to 4 ounces of skim milk (get it very hot!); set aside.  Set your mug on the espresso machine and make espresso into the mug while stirring once or twice. Pour steamed milk into espresso; top with frothed milk.  (For Black Forest Mochaccino, add 1/2 teaspoon cherry extract or some maraschino cherry juice into your mug before adding the espresso.)  Delicious especially on a cold, snowy Saturday afternoon!

Espresso is the term for concentrated coffee brewed by forcing very hot water under high pressure through coffee that has been ground between fine grind and powder and tamped down.  This coffee drink was invented in 1843.  Our coffee makers use about 9 to 10 atmospheres of pressure to produce the steam for making espresso.  This can also be measured as approximately 15 bars.  Espresso is usually served in 1 to 2 ounce quantities because it is so concentrated.  (To accent your espresso, see our beautiful espresso cups on our accessories page.)

Crema is the golden red frothy layer on top of high quality espresso.  It comes to the top because it is vegetable oil, protein and sugars which are able to float due to their low density.  Good espresso will always have this red crema layer.  It is both an emulsion and foam colloid.   A traditional Italian test for the quality of an espresso is to add the sugar to the top of the crema: if the sugar will set on the crema for 30 seconds before sinking, the espresso is suprema!