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Naturally Sweet Cappuccino
If you want your home cappuccino to taste naturally sweet, you need to use naturally sweet coffee beans, roast fresh for caramelization, and use the right amount of XX-fine grinds in your espresso machine to create the right Italian espresso base.
Use whole milk and prepare your cappuccino with a coffee – milk – milk-foam ratio of 1-2-2.
A naturally sweet cappuccino is healthier too because fresh roasted coffee beans do not require added sugar to mask the bitterness you may be used to from drinking old commodity coffee roasts from your grocery store.
Italian Espresso Base for Sweet Cappuccino
All cappuccinos need an espresso base. Naturally sweeter espresso is made from naturally sweet coffee beans, roasted fresh and ground extra-extra fine, so your espresso maker can extract sweet espresso with a thick layer of crema.
Natural sweetness peaks on day eight after the coffee roast, whilst bitterness starts increasing after day fifteen.
For authentic Italian cappuccino, use a fresh roast to make a double shot of Italian espresso.
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Coffee Lovers Prefer Italian Cappuccino!
In the World atlas of Coffee, James Hoffman explains that the word Cappuccino comes from Vienna and refers to the beige color of a monk’s robe in the 19th century.
Viennese cappuccino was originally made by mixing milk into a small coffee until the coffee had the same shade of brown as the “Kapuziner” robe. The Collins Dictionary defines cappuccino as made with milk and froth or foam.
According to research group YouGovAmerica, Cappuccino is the espresso-based coffee of choice for younger Americans. Half of those under 45 prefer cappuccino. Their preference for naturally sweet Italian cappuccino is higher.
A pre-requisite for naturally sweet Cappuccino is a fresh roast. In Italy, it is easy to find a fresh roasted Italian cappuccino everywhere. Even the smallest village has a local roaster to deliver a fresh roast within 8 days of the roast at a moment’s notice.
How can cappuccino be naturally sweet?
At Peak Flavor Coffee, we carefully select naturally sweet coffee beans for an espresso-base that makes naturally sweet cappuccino.
Naturally sweet coffee beans come from Arabica coffee plantations at higher altitudes in the mountains of Brazil and Honduras. A characteristic of naturally sweet Italian cappuccino is the inclusion of a minor fraction of Robusta beans from the highlands in Vietnam.
Developing sweetness from the beans during the roast requires a longer, slower coffee roast whilst applying an Italian roasting style.
Italian coffee roasters employ extended caramelization during coffee roasting, so the natural sugars in the coffee beans develop into rich caramel notes.
Brewing for a cappuccino with fresh roasted Italian espresso grinds is the most important requirement to make a naturally sweet Italian cappuccino.
Coffee grinds reach their best or Peak Flavor on day 8 after the coffee roast. At Peak Flavor Coffee, we deliver your naturally sweet Italian espresso for cappuccino to your home before day 8.
Why is strong Italian espresso not bitter?
Coffee strength refers to the amount of coffee grounds, dissolved during the brewing process. Just like stronger beer has more alcohol, stronger coffee contains more dissolved coffee grounds. Stronger coffee does not necessarily mean more bitterness.
If you brew for a naturally sweet Italian cappuccino you must use a fresh roast to avoid bitterness.
Natural sweetness comes from dissolving sweet carbohydrates in coffee grounds, which develop during caramelization in coffee roasting.
A fresh roast has many sweet and few bitter compounds. Starting on days 15-20 after roasting, oxidation begins and causes coffee grounds to develop more bitterness.
A fresh roast is essential to get a sweeter espresso base. You can use a sweet espresso base for cappuccino. Alternatively, you can use naturally sweet espresso for Latte, Macchiato, Ristretto or Americano.
Make Italian cappuccino like a Barista
Once you have secured a fresh roasted, naturally sweet coffee bean blend, you will need to grind the beans extra-extra fine (XX Fine) and brew the espresso base for your cappuccino.
Inspired by Italian coffee culture, I recommend that your Cappuccino is 150-175ml of liquid in total, made up of 1 part espresso, 2 parts hot milk, and 2 parts milk foam. When you apply this 1:2:2 rule with whole milk, your cappuccino will be deliciously sweet, mild and creamy.
One more thought to preparing naturally sweet Italian cappuccino.
Milk is often used by large gourmet coffee chains to hide low-quality commodity coffee beans, a poor roast, or a bad brew. Milk and cream do a great job of blocking bitterness, and adding sugar makes bitter coffee more palatable. Masking bitterness in coffee explains why larger coffee chains sell large amounts of milk or caramel with small amounts of espresso.
At Peak Flavor Coffee, we develop naturally sweet cappuccino, so you don’t have to add much milk or sugar. In this way, Peak Flavor cappuccino contains less calories and might be described as a little healthier.
FAQ
A typical Italian cappuccino requires a fresh roasted Italian espresso base.
Small batch, slow Italian coffee roasting typically demands naturally sweeter coffee beans and extends the roast a little longer for cappuccino to add the coffee intensity, necessary to get enough coffee flavor after you add milk and milk foam.
Similarly, Cappuccino coffee grinds are a tad finer than espresso coffee grinds to make sure that the coffee tastes comes out well after adding milk and milk foam.
Just like for cappuccino, you can also use a darker and finer espresso base to make Italian Latte or Italian Macchiato.
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Cappuccino coffee grinds are a little finer than espresso coffee grinds.
Espresso coffee grinds are usually extra fine. To make the cappuccino strong enough to come out well after adding milk and milk foam, Italian coffee experts use an "extra-extra" fine grind of about 300 microns on average.
This allows the espresso machine to extract just a little more coffee strength with the same amount of water.
Peak Flavor Coffee has a custom coffee grind, specifically for Italian cappuccino.
Similarly, Peak Flavor Coffee also has a coffee bean blend, roast and grind for Italian Latte, Macchiato, Ristretto and Americano.
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Italian coffee roasting for cappuccino is a little slower and darker than for espresso.
The extra coffee roasting time allows for a little more coffee intensity, necessary for the cappuccino flavor to break through the added milk and milk foam.
At Peak Flavor Coffee, we developed an Italian espresso, specifically to make authentic Italian cappuccino as part of our Italian coffee collection.
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Only fresh roasted cappuccino tastes naturally sweet.
On the one hand, a fresh roast has had no time to develop bitter notes that come automatically with aging and oxidation.
On the other hand, using a naturally sweet coffee bean blend and slow, Italian coffee roasting for extended caramelization help to develop the caramel and honey notes in an Italian cappuccino.
Using a fresh, Italian style roast also helps you brew a naturally sweet Latte, Macchiato, Ristretto and Americano.
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