Italian vs American Espresso: Dose, Temperature and Taste Compared

Italy's certified espresso is a 7 g single measured by volume; in a 2017 survey, most specialty baristas, largely American, pulled 18–20 g doubles by weight. Here's why the cups differ.

By Jay Arr Updated

James Hoffmann defines espresso broadly, as a small, strong drink brewed from finely ground coffee under high pressure, usually at about 1 part coffee to 2 parts drink by weight. Inside that definition, Italian bars and American specialty cafés tend to make quite different shots. This page compares the published reference points on each side and the reasons behind them. They describe tendencies, not one recipe per country.

Two reference points

ReferenceCoffee → in the cup; timeWater
Certified Italian Espresso (INEI)7 g, ±0.5 → 25 ml, ±2.5, crema included; 20–30 s9 bar, ±1; leaves the machine at 187–194°F (86–90°C)
Survey of specialty baristas, 2017 (76% in the US)18–20 g for most → 36.5 g on average, by weight; 25–30 s for about half8.5 bar on average; about 200°F (93°C) on average
Our Brew Guide’s starting double18 g → 36 g; 25–30 s199°F (93°C) for a medium roast

INEI’s single is a certification standard. The institute, founded in 1998 to protect and promote espresso, also sets the cup (white china, 50–100 ml) and the temperature of the drink in it, 147–158°F (64–70°C). Only bars using a qualified blend, machine and grinder, with trained staff, can carry its Espresso Italiano mark, so these figures describe the certified espresso, not every Italian café.

The survey was run by the Barista Guild of America with SCA researchers in March 2017 and drew 275 responses, 76% of them from the US. Most reported 18–20 g doses; the mean output among those who weighed was 36.5 g, a ratio of about 1:2 (answers ran from 1:1.5 to 1:2.5); 51% reported 25–30 seconds; and the mean temperature was about 200°F. Most respondents weighed their shots, and 93% called them doubles. It reports what those baristas said they do; it isn’t a standard. The same article quotes the older SCAA definition, which sat much closer to the Italian one: 25–35 ml from 7–9 g of coffee (14–18 g for a double), water at 195–205°F (91–96°C) and 20–30 seconds.

The dose: a single and a double

Scott Rao, writing in 2008, put the typical Italian dose at about 6.5–7 g for a single shot of about 1 oz (30 ml) and 13–14 g for a double. Many American baristas, he wrote, had moved to much larger doses, often more than 20 g. In the most progressive cafés he describes, the dose for one shot had grown from an Italian-style 7 g to a 14 g double ristretto and finally a triple ristretto, still pulled to a standard 1 to 1½ oz. He linked the change to larger American drinks and to grinding each shot to order, and noted that these dosing habits weren’t universal.

The 2017 survey shows what that respondent group reported: 18–20 g of coffee to about 36.5 g of espresso, about 1:2. Rao’s own 2013 range for a normale is 14–22 g, matched to the basket within about 10%.

The baskets differ as well. Rao notes that a standard single basket is shaped like a truncated cone, narrower at the bottom, while a double is cylindrical, and in his worked example the cone’s shape gives a more even extraction through the bed.

Temperature: why a bigger dose runs hotter

Rao noticed that many Italian baristas used water at 185–195°F (85–91°C), while many American baristas, especially the most progressive, used 198–204°F (92–96°C). Part of the answer, he thinks, is the dose. A bigger bed of room-temperature coffee absorbs more heat from the water, so it needs hotter water to reach a similar temperature.

He illustrates it with a calculation, not a measurement. Mix 7 g of grounds at 80°F (27°C) with 30 g of water at 190.5°F (88°C), and the mixture settles at 181.1°F (83°C). Mix 21 g of the same grounds with 38 g of water at 203.5°F (95°C), and it also settles at 181.1°F. Both are his “potential inputs” for a 1 oz shot, one Italian, one American, assuming each gram of coffee soaks up a gram of water. So the two styles may brew at similar temperatures in the coffee itself, even though the water going in is about 13°F apart.

The other references fit the pattern. INEI’s water leaves the machine at 187–194°F (86–90°C); the survey’s baristas averaged about 200°F; Rao’s 2013 range at the group head is 195–203°F (91–95°C), using the lower end for longer shots. Our Brew Guide starts at 203°F (95°C) for light roasts, 199°F (93°C) for medium and 196°F (91°C) for dark.

Ratio, strength and taste

Andy Schecter’s ratio chart, which Rao reproduces and says reflects common practice in Italy, puts a typical normale at twice the dose by weight. That’s the same 1:2 the survey’s baristas averaged, so on ratio alone the two styles are closer than the doses suggest. Our guide to ristretto and lungo covers the shorter and longer ratios.

The bigger change came in between. Rao’s triple ristrettos put far more coffee into a shot of the same size. In his account, shots with more coffee for their size dissolve a smaller share of it and taste brighter and more acidic, often sour or sharp, while shots with less coffee for their size taste mellower, with more bittersweet and caramel tones.

Rao describes his own surprise. On his first trip to Italy, after eight years of pulling 1 to 1½ oz shots from about 20 g, he found most Italian shots sweeter, less acidic, more yellow and lighter in body than his own. Later, at Mojo Coffee in Wellington, New Zealand, he found Italian-style dosing made a lightly roasted, mostly washed blend taste pleasingly sweet. That is one barista’s account, but it is a useful one.

Blend and roast

Robusta, Hoffmann writes, has long been a staple of Italian espresso culture, and India’s robustas, with fewer unclean flavors than most, are popular with roasters who still like robusta in their espresso blends. Rao lists robusta among the things that increase crema, and Hoffmann notes it has about twice the caffeine of arabica. Not every Italian blend uses it: illy’s, for one, is 100% arabica. INEI’s brochure doesn’t name a species; it asks for a qualified blend.

Roast isn’t a national rule either. Hoffmann writes that roasters around the world disagree strongly about how dark to roast for espresso, from fairly light to much darker. He suggests a slightly darker roast at 1:1.5 if body and mouthfeel matter most to you, and a lighter espresso roast at 1:2 if you want sweetness and clarity. Our arabica vs robusta guide and roast levels guide go further.

Crema: part of the definition, or just foam?

In the Italian standard, crema is part of the drink’s identity. INEI’s sensory description of its certified espresso starts with it: hazelnut-colored, verging on dark brown, with a very fine texture and no large or small bubbles. The cup is chosen partly to show it off.

Hoffmann takes a cooler view. Crema, he explains, forms because water under high pressure holds extra carbon dioxide, which comes out as tiny bubbles when the shot reaches normal pressure. It tells you roughly how fresh the coffee is and, by its color, how strong the shot is, but not whether the coffee is good or the equipment is clean. He scoops it off an americano, because the tiny pieces of ground coffee trapped in it add bitterness, and says he prefers the taste of espresso without it.

Volume or weight

INEI defines its espresso by volume, 25 ml including crema, and Rao notes that baristas have traditionally measured shots that way, with 1 oz, or 30 ml, as the standard Italian normale. Most of the survey’s baristas weighed instead.

Rao explains why weight is more reliable. Fresher beans make more crema, so the same weight fills more of the cup: in his example, a 30 g shot from beans roasted the day before fills almost 60 ml, while beans 15 days old fill only a little over 30 ml. A barista stopping shots by eye pulls fresh coffee short. He adds that a machine’s programmable volume buttons give a more consistent shot weight than stopping by sight.

Which has more caffeine?

Caffeine follows the dose, so a double has more than a single. INEI caps its certified single at under 100 mg a cup. Our Caffeine Calculator counts about 60–75 mg a shot, or 120–150 mg for a double, assuming arabica; a blend with robusta in it can carry more. Our caffeine guide has the details.

Pulling an Italian-style single at home

If your machine came with a single basket, use it. Dose 7 g and stop at about 25 ml in the cup, crema included, in about 20–30 seconds, with the water at your machine’s usual temperature or a little cooler, nearer INEI’s 187–194°F (86–90°C). If you weigh, Schecter’s typical normale of twice the dose means about 14 g. It won’t carry INEI’s mark, which needs the certified blend, equipment and training, but it gets you close to the drink.

At home in Italy, Hoffmann adds, espresso is usually something else again: just about every household uses a moka pot, which, he writes, tends to make very strong coffee. Our moka pot guide covers it, and our dial-in guide covers the shot.

Sources

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