Okay, this one is more Italian than French. But Espresso is really part of the French culture. By the way, if you want to order an espresso in a French Café, you will say a “café”, and you will get an espresso. Strangely, when you order a “café”, the garçon (waiter) will yell “1 express, 1!”. “Express” is to say “Espresso”. So, it looks like the term “Espresso” is reserved for the professionals, while the term “café” is for the customers. Don’t mess up the words and bother the waiter, especially if it is in Paris. I would have warned you! So when you are at the counter of a Parisian café, simply say “Un café s’il vous plait”. If “s’il vous plait” is too hard, just say: “Un café, merci”. I hope this tip will avoid you any disapointment with Parisian cafés.

In this post, I would like to talk about how to make a good espresso in America. To do so, you need to be well equipped. I recommend you to buy an Italian coffee pot, from the make “Bialetti”. Why from Bialetti? I noticed that bad coffee pot had a tendency to make the coffee taste like aluminum, this is why I recommend Bialetti, which does not make the coffee taste like that.

So far, the best espresso coffee I found in the US was from Illy (Italian coffee) . If you buy one box, open it and take a look at the texture of the coffee, it is really different from the regular coffee that looks more like charcoal !

To prepare your espresso, open the coffee pot and fill it with coffee and water. I would like to point out that you absolutely don’t need to compress the coffee.

Close the coffee pot, and heat it at high heat. The steam will get through the coffee and condense in the top compartment of the coffee pot.

Once the coffee reaches the top, it is ready.
You can serve the coffee with dark chocolate. It is even better. Enjoy!