Ristretto
Encyclopedia

Ristretto is a very "short" shot of espresso
Espresso
Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee. Espresso is widely known throughout the world....

 coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

. Originally this meant pulling a hand press (shown at right) faster than usual using the same amount of water as a regular shot of espresso. Since the water came in contact with the grinds for a much shorter time the caffeine
Caffeine
Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...

 is extracted in reduced ratio to the flavorful coffee oils. The resultant shot could be described as bolder, fuller, with more body and less bitterness. All of these flavors are usually attributed to espresso in general, but are more pronounced in ristretto. Today, with the hand press out of favor and modern automated machines generally less controllable, ristretto usually just means less water; a double espresso
Espresso
Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee. Espresso is widely known throughout the world....

 shot is typically around 60 ml (2 fl oz), while a double ristretto is typically 45 ml (1–1.5 fl oz).

One modern method of "pulling" a ristretto shot is to grind the coffee finer than that used for normal espresso
Espresso
Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee. Espresso is widely known throughout the world....

, and pull the shot for the same amount of time as a normal shot. The smaller spaces between the particles of finer-ground coffee allow less water to pass through, resulting in a shorter shot. However, this can also lead to a gritty taste, if the coffee is ground fine enough that the insoluble components can pass through the filter-basket. This is often a problem in poorer grinders, where the grind is not as even.

Another modern method for pulling a ristretto is to simply stop the extraction early, so less water has time to pass through the ground coffee. This produces a slightly different taste than the fine-grinding, equal-time method, and is often preferred in fast-paced cafes because it does not require the barista
Barista
A barista is a person, usually a coffee-house employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks.- Application of the title :...

 to change the settings on the coffee grinder.

A third modern method, that serves as a compromise between the previous two, is to prepare the shot without adjusting the grind but to use the tamp
Tamp
A tamp is a device used to compact or flatten an aggregate or other powdered or granular material, typically to make it resistant to further compression or simply to increase density....

 more firmly. The firmer tamp will compact the grinds in the filter basket allowing for a shot time comparable to a regular espresso. This method has the added benefit that adjusting the coffee grinder is not necessary while keeping much of the body and flavor of the fine-grinding, equal-time method.

As the amount of water is increased or decreased relative to a normal shot, the composition of the shot changes, because not all components of coffee dissolve at the same rate. For this reason, an excessively long or short shot will not contain the same ratio of components that a normal shot contains. Therefore, a ristretto is not simply twice as "strong" as a regular shot, nor is a lungo
Lungo
Lungo is Italian for 'long', and refers to the coffee beverage made by using an espresso machine to make an espresso with much more water , resulting in a stretched espresso, a lungo....

simply twice as weak.

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