Order a 'caffè' in Italy and you get 25–30 ml of espresso in a thick-walled porcelain cup, delivered in under thirty seconds, drunk standing at the bar in under a minute. Order an 'espresso' in a Berlin specialty café and you often get something else — and that's not always worse, but rarely Italian.
The Italian parameters
Classic Italian espresso follows these values:
- Dose: 7 g (single) or 14 g (double)
- Brew pressure: 9 bar
- Brew temperature: 88–93 °C
- Brew time: 25–30 seconds
- Result: 25–35 ml with a dense hazelnut crema
- Cup: 60–80 ml porcelain, pre-warmed
These values are not laws of nature but conventions from the 1960s that have proved themselves in practice. A strength of the Italian tradition: it is consistent. You know what you get in Naples, Milan or Palermo.
What Berlin often does differently
The third-wave café scene (Bonanza, The Barn, Five Elephant) has rethought espresso over the years — with notable results, but partly against the Italian tradition:
- Longer brew times (35–45 s) for more pronounced aroma profiles.
- Lighter roasts that show more acidity and fruit — in Italy medium-to-dark roasts are the standard.
- Larger cups, often 100 ml or more, which visually extends the espresso (and psychologically makes it feel lighter).
- 'Espresso to go' in paper cups — in Italy that's heresy. The crema dies in the plastic lid within ten seconds.
Where we side with Berlin
Some Italian tradition is pure conservatism. Light roasts can be superior with the right extraction — fruitier, clearer, less bitter. The standard Italian roast is often too dark because it has to mask cheap robusta content. With single-origin arabica you can run lighter profiles with no loss of flavour.
Where we don't side with Berlin
Three points where we hold to the Italian line:
- The cup: 60 ml porcelain, always pre-warmed. A cold cup kills aroma and crema in five seconds.
- Brew time: not over 35 seconds. Longer brews bring out bitter compounds and tannins — regardless of roast.
- Consistency: if your espresso tastes different today than yesterday, you have a calibration problem, not a 'single-origin' feature.
How to pull it off at home
With a dual-circuit espresso machine (used from 400 €), a professional grinder (used from 200 €) and some discipline, you can make better espresso at home than 80 % of Berlin cafés. Conditions: use it daily, change the water regularly, adjust the grind as the bean ages, and always work with a brew scale. That scale is missing in 90 % of home setups — and it's the fastest path to consistency.
For systematic learning: our Barista Foundation (one day, 249 €) covers exactly this. To go deeper: Professional Training with a sensory day at Nicola's roastery.