Premium Espresso Coffee for the Discerning Connoisseur
since 2014
Marcello's was established in Singapore in 2014. It's a dream born from nostalgia: The owner's longing to recreate the taste sensation he experienced in his teens when he visited a tailor in Napoli, the coffee metropolis in Southern Italy, together with his late father. The shop's apprentice fetched espresso coffees from a small bar across the street. The color was black, the texture like syrup with a thick crema, the taste a blend of sweet, bitter and mellow.
Marcello wanted to recreat this, and after years of searching found the right combination of high-qualitiy machines hand-made in Italy from brass and a selection of coffee blends roasted in a family business in the south of Italy since 1932.
After initally focusing on F&B businesses in Singapore to enable them to serve their customers premium Italian espresso coffee in a consistent quality, we have now decided to open up to consumers directly. We are offering our products in the most convenient and most widely used form: pre-portioned coffee in Nespresso®-compatible capsules.
We ship directly from Europe to ensure the freshness and highest quality of the product.Still - if you are a real connoisseur and wish to take it up a notch, we can provide machines that operate with the FAP or ESE pre-portioned coffee system ;)
Enjoy!
The Essence of Coffee
Espresso is 7 g of dark roasted, finely ground, densely compressed coffee through which 98° C hot water is forced with high pressure within around 25 seconds. The resulting dark liquid is dense and syrup-like in texture, with a caramel to hazelnut colored, finely textured 'crema' which stays compact even when sugar is added. The 'crema' is produced by emulsifying the oils in the ground coffee into a colloid which does not occur in other brewing methods.
Due to the quick extraction (short contact of water with the coffee), the aromatic parts of coffee, the flavourful coffee oils, are extracted in a higher ratio than the caffeine. The darker roast is another reason for the comparably lower caffeine content (as compared to coffee obtained with other brewing methods). Espresso is full of the beneficial aspects of coffee and - despite it's intense flavour - much lighter and healthier than drip coffee.
Espresso is the key ingredient of any of today's fashionable coffee-based drinks.
The quality of the key ingredient determines the quality of the whole drink:
When your espresso is good, then your cappucinos, caffe macchiatos and all other espresso-based drinks will be as well.
First impression
The color of the crema shows the caramelized natural sugars of the espresso bean. Ideally, the crema should be of a hazel color with shimmers of red irregular stripes. The crema should be three to four millimeters thick. It should not include any big bubbles and last a minimum of three minutes without breaking up or decomposing.
If the crema is light and thin, contains big bubbles and disappears quickly, it is a sign of insufficient use of the espresso grind. If the crema is dark brown or black with a white spot, or is too thin with the tendency to form a black hole in the middle, the espresso grind has been exhausted.
Taste
The espresso flavor consists of many different substances. The taste of espresso should be perfectly balanced between sweet and bitter. It should never taste sour nor burnt nor leave a bitter aftertaste. A perfect espresso needs no sugar but sugar can complete it.
Quantity
Espresso means 25-30 ml of liquid.
Coffee can be addictive. Good coffee even more so. Once you have tasted and experienced a top-quality espresso or espresso-based drink, you will not be likely to go back to drinking lesser-quality coffee. You will want to come back for the same fantastic experience that was so pleasing to the palate and to all the senses: strong, hot, velvety smooth.
Composed of 100% Arabica Coffee for connoisseurs. Strong aroma, sweet and delicate taste with a low caffeine content.
Blend:
100% Arabica
A typical Italian blend characterized by a harmonious and full-bodied taste. Composed mainly of South American coffees.
Blend:
70% Arabica / 30% Robusta
Please go ahead!
| | |
All prices subject to 8% GST (2023) / 9% GST from 2024.
Shipping will be directly from Europe and may take 8-12 days. To speed up delivery (4-6 days) you may opt for priority shipping. Priority shipping adds SGD 18 flat. Just press "continue shopping" at check out, come back to this page, and add it if you wish (for technical reasons it will show the amount of 1 cent and increase shipping by SGD 17.99):
Extracting a good espresso is an art. There are many factors which have to be just right:
The coffee beans (don't worry - we take care of this):
The preparation (you can control many of these factors by using capsules or pads which is why we offer pre-portioned coffee):
The most underrated factor though is extraction time:
When the extraction time is increased or decreased relative to a normal shot, the composition of the shot changes, because not all components of coffee dissolve at the same rate. This is why an excessively long or short shot will not contain the same ratio of components like a normal shot. Therefore, if a 'ristretto' (a 15 ml short shot) is attempted by cutting extraction time, it will result in a sour brew. And if a 'lungo' (a 50 ml long shot) is made by extending the extraction time, it will be bitter and full of caffeine. We encourage you to try it out and see for yourself!
The 'length' of a shot is attained by changing the grind: finer ground coffee results in less water being able to pass through the filter, hence you get a ristretto. A coarser ground leads to more water passing through the filter, hence you have a lungo.
A ristretto is not simply twice as strong as a regular shot, nor is a lungo simply half the strength. They differ decidedly in taste.
For espresso-based coffees like Cappuccino, Latte Macchiato, Americano/Long Black the 25 ml espresso shot is producing the best result. For a really big cappuccino cup, just use a double shot of espresso. This is why our blends are ground for espresso.
People often think that the small amount of coffee of an authentic espresso is ridiculous. And even baristas tend to fill the espresso cup close to the brim so it "looks" better. They are not aware that with the high-pressure extraction process of espresso making, the coffee is exhausted after 20-25 seconds. Espresso IS the essence of coffee!
So please remember:
An espresso machine is specifically engineered to make espresso. For coffee beverages with lots of coffee liquid from the extraction process there are other methods like e.g. french press or drip coffee. Despite being produced with the same raw material, the result is a totally different kind of beverage due to the different extraction method.
Upon request Marcello's is offering a range of espresso machines which are being hand-made in Italy. To guarantee a consistent quality of your espresso and espresso-based beverages, we only offer machines for pre-portioned coffee. The systems on offer are FAP capsules and ESE pads. We provide these capsules and pads.
A FAP capsule and ESE pad contains 7 gr of coffee each. The coffee is extracted in the traditional and typical espresso method by forcing water with high pressure through densly compacted ground coffee. The capsule acts as the portafilter and basket. The 'crema' is produced by emulsifying the aromatic oils in the ground coffee into a colloid, and not by adding air.
