The round cup on the right with espresso in it is one of the cups that we use for espresso drinking, and the one that I always use. The smaller white one on the left is the one my wife sometimes likes to use because she thinks it’s cuter.
The other day we noticed something. We had espressos using our respective cups. I was starting on a new bag of beans, and I asked her how she liked her espresso. She said it was a bit on the acidic side. Mine tasted just right, and I couldn’t pick up much in the way of acidity at all, outside of the flavor profile for these beans.
Here’s my thought. Acidity in flavors can be traced to certain types of molecules in the food/drink you’re tasting. A major source of acidity in espresso is the CO2 that’s naturally in the beans, and in the crema. With my cup, there’s more surface area because of the shape of the cup, so more CO2 can escape from my cup.
With the little white cup that my wife likes, there’s less surface area, so less CO2 comes off, and the CO2 that does come off is in a smaller space, making that aspect of the taste more noticeable.
Any thoughts on this idea? And I’d love to see pictures of the cups you all use for espresso.
(Not sure if a cup is an accessory, as there’s no way of drinking espresso without one, but tagging this post in the “Accessories” category anyway.)