by I consider myself knowledgeable enough when it comes to coffee, but I never really bothered to know exactly what makes an espresso an espresso. I’ve always just assumed that espresso was just any concentrated coffee, such as Stok Shots, or really strongly brewed coffee (tons of coffee grounds). Turns out that is totally not the case—espresso is specific brewing method that utilizes high pressure through very finely grounded coffee in less than a minute. The end result is of course a concentrated coffee and crema, a characteristic associated with espresso but not limited to just espresso. Then I know about basic coffee drip methods, which is basically every inexpensive coffee maker out (and Keurig), the French press (immersion/steep method), and finally, boiling, such as boiling coffee grounds directly in water and drinking the water through a filtered straw. For the most part, I apparently knew just enough that there are in essence, 4 categories of brewing, hence B.I.F.P, which stands for 1. Boiling, 2. Immersion/Steep, 3. Filtration/Drip, and 4. Pressure.
Each category can have its own distinct method of brewing, some of which have already been covered. The boiling method seems rather ghetto from the way I described it—in essence, it is known as Cowboy coffee. No filter is used; coffee grounds in your coffee mug are avoided by slowly pouring from the coffee pot so that grounds aren’t kicked up to the surface. One formal name for boiled coffee includes Turkish coffee, which doesn’t seem much different than Cowboy coffee if I’m being honest. There’s not really much I know about Steeped/Immersed coffee other than the French press, but it’s worth noting that the AeroPress fits into this category (as well as Drip and Pressure!). Drip/Filtered coffee is so common and simple I don’t really need to go into detail other than that K-Cups belong to this category. Finally, back to Pressure. Espresso machines utilize pressure up to 9 bars (1 bar is atmospheric pressure). A MokaPot also uses pressure, but only slightly above 1 bar.
4 categories, more than 20 distinct methods of brewing documented, and an endless array of coffee beverages is truly one of humanity’s best accomplishments.
