What Is Restretto Coffee? In Italian, ristretto means “restrict”, and it translates as such into your little demitasse cup. A ristretto is a restricted, “shorter” version of an espresso. It uses less water and so makes a smaller drink. Depending on the café or barista’s policies, the ristretto will be anything from 15 to 25ml. Because the ristretto is so small, most coffee shops choose to only offer double ristretto shots. Since a ristretto is an overall shorter pull than an espresso, the final drink is a slightly sweeter, more concentrated flavor that plays out without any bitterness.

Ristretto is all about quality over quantity. When less hot water is forced through the finely ground coffee beans, the result is a more concentrated flavor. The coffee tastes sweeter and less bitter because of the shorter extraction time. In the simplest terms, ristretto means “restricted.” By ordering a ristretto shot, you are instructing the barista to limit the amount of espresso shot in your coffee.

How To Make Ristretto Coffee

7 gr of our Costa Rican Espresso coffee beans
+
12 to 14 seconds of extraction
+
1 1/2 oz of purified water

or

The Traditional (Best) Method

This involves brewing 30mls of coffee over the same pour time as a normal espresso shot. A traditional espresso uses approximately 14 grams of coffee for a double espresso. Here’s a step by step:

• Adjust your grind – you will need it finer than you do for a traditional espresso as you want to slow down the pour rate of the extraction.
• Dispense approximately 14gms (you may like to adjust this more or less depending on what works for you) of coffee into your basket.
• Prepare and tamp as usual

Time your extraction – 30mls of liquid should come out in between 25-30 seconds.