Certified Italian Espresso
The Certified Italian Espresso is the result of a three years research, that aimed at defining the quality expected by those who order an espresso at the bar.
The study, conducted in collaboration with IIAC – International Institute of Coffee and Centro Studi Assaggiatori, in collaboration with several academics, has involved thousands of consumers and implied dozens of laboratory tests.
The research has codified the conformity profile of the Certified Italian Espresso.
The Certified Italian Espresso corresponds to a cup containing approximately 25 milliliters of coffee and has a hazel-brown to dark – brown foam – characterised by tawny reflexes – with a very fine texture (absence of large mesh and larger or smaller bubbles). The nose reveals an intense scent with notes of flowers, fruits, toasted bread and chocolate. All of these sensations are felt also after swallowing the coffee in the long lasting aroma that remains for several seconds, sometimes even for minutes. Its taste is round, substantial and velvet-like. Sour and bitter tastes are well balanced and neither one prevails over the other. There is no, or a barely perceptible, astringent taste.
Certified Italian Cappuccino
The Certified Italian Cappuccino corresponds to 25 milliliters of espresso and 100 milliliters of steamed milk. From a sensory standpoint, Certified Italian Cappuccino is of a white colour, trimmed with a brown edge of various thickness in the classical cappuccino, with decorations ranging from brown to hazelnut in the decorated cappuccino. The cream has a tight mesh with very fine or absent eye formation. The Certified Italian Cappuccino has an intense aroma combining the underlying scents of flowers and fruits with the bolder scents of milk, of toasted (cereals, caramel), chocolate (cocoa, vanilla) and dried fruits. Negative smoky and bio-chemical negative odours are absent. It discloses its remarkable body through an inviting sensation of cream and of high spherical perception, supported by a mild bitter taste and by a balanced, almost imperceptible acidity. Astringency is practically absent.
At the basis of a Certified Italian Cappuccino there is always a Certified Italian Espresso, that is an espresso made in conformity with the rules set forth by the certification required to obtain the mark Espresso Italiano (certificate of product conformity CSQA n. 214 of 24 September 1999, DTP 008 Ed. 1).