wilburpan what factors impact how much crema in a shot of espresso?
My understanding is that crema (referred to in the context of an espresso extraction, rather than he literal meaning of one of the Italian words for “cream”) is a mixture of carbon dioxide and coffee oils. The fresher the coffee, the more crema it will have.
The likelihood is that, essentially, you had coffee that’s not as fresh as what you were expecting.
Also, some coffees have more crema than others. I find that, for instance, an Ethiopian lightly roasted coffee will produce a lot less crema than something roaster darker, or which has robusta in it.
Crema, in itself, is very bitter and not pleasant.