Ever wondered why cappuccino in Italy tastes so much better than the one you make at home? Ever wondered how to make a cappuccino like an Italian barista without having to leave your home?
Hint: it’s all about the right coffee grounds.
You don’t need a Barista degree to make Italian cappuccino for yourself or have a great coffee moment with the people you love. Instead, you need fresh roasted Italian espresso beans, ground with accuracy, specifically for naturally sweet cappuccino with abundant crema.
How to make Cappuccino?
Here is what my Italian roast master from Trieste taught me about making authentic, delicious Italian cappuccino:
- Start with a genuine Italian espresso-for-cappuccino-blend, containing abundant natural coffee oils so you can have that suave texture and thick layer of crema that makes Italian espresso drinks so popular around the world.
- Get a fresh roast from a small-batch coffee roaster, who takes time and patience to develop the roast slowly and maximize those typical caramel, honey and vanilla notes that characterize genuine Italian coffee roasting.
- Instead of grinding beans at home, have a professional grind your beans with a burr grinder for your home espresso machine. This will ensure the right size (300 microns with >98% accuracy) to extract the perfect espresso for cappuccino.
Only Italian espresso grinds will yield enough coffee intensity to make cappuccino with milk and milk foam that still has a strong, naturally sweet aftertaste without any bitterness.
Italian coffee culture further taught me that it’s impossible to brew great coffee with an industrial roast, which is not specifically ground for the espresso based drink you prefer.
Explore how we blend, roast, and grind espresso for perfect cappuccino, so you can brew and extract Italian coffee taste with ease and indulge in an authentic Italian coffee moment with the people you love.
What is a cappuccino?
The secret to best cappuccino at home is using a few, simple ingredients. Like most delicacies from Italy, you only need three simple, high-quality ingredients to easily brew typical Italian cappuccino yourself. Here are the cappuccino ingredients you need to extract authentic Italian coffee taste with ease:
- Naturally sweet coffee beans,
- Cappuccino coffee grounds, and
- A fresh roast, roasted within the past 8 days
Explore how to make a cappuccino
I never really understood why Italian coffee tastes so much better when enjoyed on a terrace in Rome. Only after I spent some time with my Italian roast master, did it dawn on me that Italian coffee culture follows some very simple rules for brewing those famous espresso-based coffee drinks that coffee lovers around the world crave every morning. Here are the three things Italian do to make you salivate for more of their coffee:
Use naturally sweet coffee beans, roasted in a small batch for optimal caramel, honey, and vanilla flavor
Naturally sweet coffee beans grow in the highlands of Brazil, Honduras, and Vietnam. High-altitude coffee beans grow a little slower and thus develop more fructose, the natural sugar that keeps Italian espresso from tasting bitter or sour.
Brew espresso with cappuccino coffee grinds to get enough espresso taste in your final recipe
Purchase cappuccino grinds (300 microns), which are a little finer than espresso grinds (350 microns) to automatically extract a little more coffee intensity on your home espresso maker. Finer grinds determine the intensity of your brew after you add milk and milk foam. James Hoffmann, the author of the "World Atlas of Coffee", describes the ideal cappuccino recipe in his beginner's guide to espresso-based drinks as: 1 shot of espresso with 1 shot of milk and 1 shot of milk foam. If you'd like to get genuine Italian cappuccino, use real cappuccino grinds.
Make sure you know when your coffee was roasted.
A fresh roast reaches its best flavor after about 8 days. Roasted coffee maintains peak flavor until 14 days after roasting.
Coffee begins to noticeably lose the good flavor notes 21 days after roasting. After twenty one days, coffee will start to taste bitter, sour, or even rancid. This is true even if it is prepared by a skilled Barista. To avoid brewing bitter cappuccino, you need to somehow get a coffee that was roasted in the past 8 days.
On average, a coffee roast from the grocery store is one hundred and twenty days old. In it's handbook on fresh roasted coffee, the Specialty Coffee Association defines a fresh roast as "brewed within the past 8 days". Now you understand why it is difficult to brew tasty coffee with supermarket coffee that was roasted 120 days ago is difficult.
So, procuring a fresh roast may be a little more difficult than going to the local supermarket. Your best bet to find a fresh roast is to find coffee on-line and see if the coffee roaster prints the roast date clearly on the front of the package.
Don’t confuse “the roast date” with the “best-before-date”. Wikipedia defines the Best-Before-Date as the expiration date,. The best-before date indicates if the coffee is still still safe to consume. Your coffee might be within the "best-before date", but that does not mean it tastes good.
Best-Before-Dates do not tell you anything about coffee taste. The roast date on the other hand is a good indication of taste. Just like with fresh baked bread or fresh fruit, coffee taste deteriorates after only a couple of days, which is why you should know the roast date and make sure you brew your cappuccino within 8-14 days of the roast date. In the second week after the roast, coffee reaches it's peak or best flavor.
In conclusion, mastering the art of making authentic Italian cappuccino at home hinges on three key elements:
- The use of naturally sweet, high-altitude coffee beans,
- Precision-ground cappuccino coffee, and
- Fresh roasted beans, brewed within eight days of the roast date
Only this combination of coffee characteristics ensures a rich, naturally sweet flavor without bitterness, capturing the essence of Italian coffee culture. For an elevated coffee experience, discover our Italian espresso collection, specially curated to bring the best of Italian cappuccino to your home.
Explore Peak Flavor Coffee and indulge in the authentic taste of Italy with every cup.
Coffee hugs,
Coffee Lover
