Coffee, explained.

It starts with a bean.

1. The bean

   A coffee bean is not a bean. It is the seed of a small red fruit. Raw, it is green and tastes of grass. Roasting turns it brown and gives it everything you think of as coffee.

   Roast it lightly and it stays bright and fruity. Roast it dark and it turns bold and bitter.

2. The grind

   Whole beans hold on to their flavour. Ground coffee starts losing it within minutes, so we grind for every cup.

   How fine we grind matters more than you would think. Too coarse and the water rushes through, and the coffee comes out weak and sour. Too fine and the water gets stuck, and it comes out bitter. For espresso, the beans are ground almost to powder.

3. The espresso

   This is the part that decides everything. Hot water is forced through that fine coffee under heavy pressure for about 25 seconds. What comes out is an espresso: small, dark and strong, with a thin golden layer on top called crema. One of them is called a shot.

   Almost every drink on our menu is an espresso with something added. So if the espresso is wrong, the drink is wrong.

   Milk can soften a bad espresso. It cannot save one.

Then something gets added.

In every drawing on this page, orange is the espresso. This is what joins it.

• Steamed milk

  Milk heated with a jet of steam until it is hot and silky. The more of it, the milder the drink.

• Foam

  The same milk with air worked in. A thin layer is smooth. A thick one is light and fluffy.

• Hot water

  Turns a small, strong espresso into a bigger, milder coffee.

• Chocolate

  Only in the mocha. It is there to make friends.