A machine importer (and future grinder manufacturer) introduced me to the caffe creme (which they called a caffe suisse) almost 20 years ago. It was at a trade show, and they were showing off a Swiss made super automatic espresso machine they were importing, and stressed that on top of espresso and cappuccino, the machine made a drink popular in Switzerland, called the caffe suisse. It was essentially an extra long shot pull of a double espresso, delivering about 150ml in the cup.
The drink, sadly, wasn’t very good.
But it had potential.
The big problem with the automated machine was, they didn’t do anything to modify the one thing that absolutely required modification: the grind of the coffee. It just used the same grind fineness that the normal espresso shot used, and the result was an over-extracted, burnt cup of coffee. But there was a better way.
Back in the CoffeeGeek Lab days, we played around a bit with the caffe creme, and found that changing the grind resulted in a much better cup. Temperatures also played a role, but that’s more of an advanced level thing.
So let’s delve right into making this interesting drink.
To build it this time around, we’re going to be using the Breville Barista Express, available in the US from Amazon ($568US)) because the grinder is capable of producing the coarser grind needed for this drink, and it’s volumetric dosing can go to a full 150ml brewed.
For coffee, we’re using a selection from Batdorf and Bronson; I find their single origins are softer and well suited for brewing caffe cremes.
Later on in the article, I’ll give a bit more background and history of the beverage and talk about how different it is from an americano, or a lungo shot. For now, we’re going to get into the CoffeeGeek way of making a caffe creme, using about 16.25g of coffee, brewing a 150ml drink.
Mark has certified as a Canadian, USA, and World Barista Championship Judge in both sensory and technical fields, as well as working as an instructor in coffee and espresso training. He started CoffeeGeek in 2001.
