The Mystery of Espresso's "Crema": A Quality Marker or a Deception
You've probably seen baristas proudly displaying espresso with thick golden foam - the same "cream".
It is called the "calling card" of the perfect coffee, but is it really that important?
Some consider it a guarantee of the barista's skill, others - a clever trick to mask mediocre taste.
Let's figure out where the truth is and where the myths are, with the help of science, experts and real stories.
James Hoffman , world barista champion and best-selling author of The World Atlas of Coffee, calls crema "the essence of espresso."
According to him, this foam is formed due to the emulsion of coffee oils and carbon dioxide, which is released during proper extraction.
“Real crema should be dense, with fine bubbles and a nutty flavor,” Hoffman explains in an interview with Barista Magazine . “It speaks to the freshness of the beans and the precision of the grind.” But it’s not all that clear-cut.
A 2021 study by the Coffee Science Foundation found that even the perfect cream does not guarantee a balanced taste.
Scientists compared espresso samples from 50 coffee shops and found that in 30% of cases, thick foam hid overroasted beans or brewing errors.
Cream is easy to fake. For example, adding robusta, a cheap coffee with a high oil content, creates a thick foam but leaves a bitter aftertaste.
"Some chain coffee shops use blends with robusta on purpose, so that customers can see 'quality' crema," admits an anonymous barista from a major franchise on the blog Perfect Daily Grind . "But the espresso often tastes like burnt rubber."
Another trick is to manipulate the pressure in the coffee machine. If you exceed the standard 9 bars, the foam will become thicker, but the drink will acquire a metallic taste.
Consumers were also divided.
“I used to think that espresso without crema was a bust,” writes user CoffeeLover99 in a review on Reddit. “Until I tried coffee in Milan: they served the drink with almost no foam, but with caramel notes.”
Here's John from Seattle slamming a local coffee shop in his YouTube review:
"The cream was as advertised, but the coffee itself was sour. Apparently, the beans were over-fermented."
So should you trust the cream? Stanford chemistry professor David Dale , who has been studying coffee for more than 20 years, advises looking at the details.
Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2020), he explains: “Cream is an indicator of freshness, as older beans contain fewer gases. But if the foam quickly disappears or has a greyish tint, it is a sign of low-quality beans.”
Roasting master Emily Wade of Intelligentsia Coffee adds:
"A good cream should smell like freshly ground coffee. If the aroma is weak or unpleasant, you are being deceived."
The paradox is that even professionals sometimes sacrifice cream for the sake of taste.
For example, in Scandinavian countries, “long espresso” is popular – it is brewed longer, resulting in a more voluminous drink with thin foam.
“We value complexity of flavour, not the thickness of the cream,” says Norwegian barista Magnus Johansen on the European Coffee Trip podcast.
So what's the bottom line? Cream is like makeup: it can highlight your best features or hide your flaws.
Yes, thick foam often speaks of the skill of the barista and the freshness of the beans. But you can’t blindly trust it.
As Blue Bottle Coffee founder James Freeman told The New York Times :
“The real quality of espresso is determined not by the foam, but by the balance between acidity, bitterness and sweetness.
The cream is just a pretty addition." Next time, take a closer look: if the golden layer on your espresso seems too perfect, there may be more to it than you think.
