Sspai's fifth home-drinks guide sets out espresso-based specialty coffee recipes

The guide recommends a dark-roast blend with nut, caramel or cocoa notes as the base, on the grounds that a heavier espresso will not be masked by the other ingredients in the drink. The standard shot is extracted from 18 grams of coffee ground over 25 to 27 seconds and yields 28 to 32 grams of liquid, with the author advising readers to test their espresso before using it in the recipes. Moka pots, semi-automatic and fully automatic espresso machines are preferred; capsule machines are not recommended.

The same section gives a jasmine tea infusion formula for what the guide describes as commercial-scale batches, which readers can scale down. It calls for 50 grams of jasmine tea and about 1,300 grams of water at roughly 80 degrees Celsius, steeped for seven minutes with one stir and the lid kept on, then filtered through a strainer or cloth bag and poured over 600 grams of ice and stirred until the ice melts.

The first recipe, coconut evaporated-milk coffee, is recommended as an iced drink. It combines 120 grams of coconut water, 60 grams of coconut milk, one shot of espresso, 20 grams of light cream or evaporated milk and 5 grams of rock sugar syrup. The coconut water, coconut milk, espresso and syrup are shaken in a cocktail shaker with a full cup of ice for about 10 shakes, poured into a glass holding seven ice cubes of roughly 20 grams each, and topped with the cream or evaporated milk before stirring. The guide notes that evaporated milk can replace the cream for those who prefer a lighter texture.

The osmanthus coconut coffee uses 100 grams of coconut water, 60 grams of coconut milk, 30 grams of espresso, 20 grams of cream or evaporated milk, 15 grams of osmanthus jam and seven ice cubes, and follows the same shake-and-pour method.

The grape americano mixes 40 grams of NFC Kyoho grape juice, 30 grams of espresso and 130 grams of jasmine tea, shaken with ice and poured into a glass containing four canned peeled seedless grapes, lightly crushed, and seven ice cubes. The lime iced americano calls for 150 grams of small lime juice, two lemon slices, 30 grams of espresso, 130 grams of jasmine tea and seven ice cubes; the author advises buying bottled lime juice rather than squeezing fresh limes, and names a supermarket own-brand version as a current favorite. The published steps for this drink, however, repeat the grape americano's instructions and refer to grape juice and grapes instead of lime juice and lemon slices, an apparent editing error in the original text.

The final recipe, a green grape americano smoothie, requires a fruit-bearing green grape jam rather than an ordinary fruit spread. It blends 50 grams of the jam, 30 grams of espresso, 100 grams of jasmine tea and five ice cubes until the mixture reaches a milkshake consistency, pours it into a glass and adds the espresso last. The guide suggests adding 10 grams more jam, or 5 grams of rock sugar syrup, if the drink is not sweet enough.

Editor's Summary

Sspai's fifth home-drinks installment fixes a single espresso recipe for home machines and applies it across five iced coffee drinks, with fruit, coconut and tea components layered around the shot. It also supplies a scaled jasmine tea infusion formula for readers making multiple drinks, and leaves an apparent step-copying error in the lime americano recipe that readers following the text would need to correct themselves.