The Cream,
what is this?
When looking for your coffee, this is one of the criteria that comes up the most when you ask us. You want a good coffee, that tastes like coffee, and that makes a beautiful "mousse"on top. This famous"mousse" is called the cream, the term foam being reserved for beer. The word "crema" is Italian and therefore refers to the natural caramel-colored layer that forms on top of your coffee when extracting an espresso.
Yes, but what is it exactly? How is it formed? Can we get it with all coffees and all machines?
This article is here to answer your questions!
What is crema?
Crema is made up of tiny bubbles that appear as a dense, creamy, caramel-colored foam. The phenomenon that triggers its appearance is simple. To prepare an espresso, water is circulated under very high pressure. This allows more carbon dioxide, the famous gas produced during the roasting of coffee, to dissolve. When the brewed coffee flows into your cup, it returns to normal atmospheric pressure. No longer able to hold onto the CO2, it transforms into micro-bubbles. These small air bubbles combine with the soluble oils of the coffee beans finely ground to create an emulsion, the crema.
3 elements to respect to have crema
"Yes, but how come we don't have the guarantee of having a nice crema with every espresso?" you might ask us. Well, there are a few factors that need to be respected to achieve this, three in particular, which we detail below:
- The machine used
It may seem obvious to some, but you don't get a beautiful crema with all types of machines, and therefore infusions. The best crema is obtained with a manual machine, even if some automatic machines like Jura allow for good results. But the process of extracting a manual machine is more suitable, since you have control over the brewing pressure. Higher pressure, as explained before, will generally create more crema on your coffee.
So you won't get a nice crema with a Bialetti Italian coffee maker or a Chemex, which are manual brewing systems.
- The freshness of your coffee
We've mentioned it to you several times already, so you know it, but we'll repeat it for the sake of it :D
Freshly roasted coffee is the guarantee of a good cup of coffee. Well, it's also a factor in ensuring a beautiful crema. And the explanation why is simple: The longer you wait between the roasting date of your coffee and the brewing date, the less carbon dioxide (CO2) the beans will contain, this gas from roasting as explained above, since it evaporates over time (hence the presence of valves on coffee bags that allow you to release the CO2 released by the beans). You will therefore obtain much less crema.
Conversely, if your coffee is too freshly roasted, it will still contain too much CO2. Ideally, you should wait at least a week after roasting to begin brewing.
- The roasting and grinding used
The roasting of your beans will play a big role in your espresso extraction, and therefore in obtaining a beautiful crema.
Light roasts, for example, are not recommended for preparing espresso due to the very short extraction time. The bean doesn't have time to develop its full body and aromas. You'll end up with an espresso that's not very pleasant to the taste.
The oilier the coffee, the easier it will be to achieve a nice crema. Dark roasts are therefore easier to work with.
As for the grind, it obviously needs to be perfectly adapted to your machine to guarantee the best extraction and therefore promote the creation of a beautiful crema.
Nice crema = good espresso?
A "good" crema is recognized in particular by its aesthetic aspects. It is supposed to be smooth, with a good balance of colors, and to last over time. Ideally, a crema should remain for at least 2 minutes before disappearing into your coffee. It should represent about 1/10th of your coffee, without being too thick or too thin, and not feeling grainy in the mouth. Regarding color, the darker your crema, the stronger your coffee will be.
You should know that a good coffee can produce a bad crema, just as a bad coffee can produce a very good one, it doesn't all depend on the quality of your coffee.
Our advice is to tell you to focus only on making a good espresso, the crema will come by itself.
