-should it be drunk slowly or down in one?
-stirred or un-stirred?
-crema on or skimmed off?
-Savoured in the mouth, or make a subtle contact with your taste buds?

-Whether it it be with a piece of dark chocolate or with ice.

There must be infinite amount of way to make the experience even greater.

please share some of the ways you enjoy this blissful moment of peace and tranquility.

Sipped. Sometimes stirred, sometimes not. Crema, for sure. I sip slowly and let it hang out for a second.

I swirl it (to see how thick it is and how the crema is behaving), then stick my nose in the cup and inhale.

I take a little sip. From there, it either goes in the sink, one big gulp, or 3 more little sips.


If it wasn't a sinker, and the cup speaks to me (typically only medium-thick wall short bowl shaped cups do this), I hold the cup in my hand, feel the warmth, and think for a bit.

I have taken to stirring lightly the past many months. Espresso tends to settle in layers due to different density during the shot. A light stir or swirl will mix the layers and and give you a more balanced drink. Regular coffee will do the same thing. I will decant half a pot, then pour it back into the pot to mix up the brew before pouring a cup and enjoying.

Other than that, a good sniff and a couple of slurps and it is all gone.

Swirl and tap (as if it where frothed milk), and a few sips. Mixing the shot one way or another definitely is an improvement.

I only recently started having straight espresso regularly. I usually give it a stir before drinking it in a few sips, preferably right after pulling the shot into a warm cup.

I pull and drink at least one straight shot every day. I use it for a quick burst of caffeine and to judge whether any adjustments are needed. Sometimes I'll pull and drink a second straight shot, especially if I make any changes. Then I'll pull a shot for a milk drink that I can linger over while I read the morning email. That's backwards from the Italian way (milk drink first), but in this case I'm my own barista . If I consume any coffee after the milk drink, it's straight espresso or straight vac pot.

My routine is to pull into a hot-water warmed cup, stir with demitasse spoon, inhale the aroma and compare with the aroma of grounds, take two small sips to judge the shot, if OK continue with small-medium sips to the bottom, often looking out the window and contemplating the flavor (and if I'm dialing in, thinking about what I might do to change the shot profile.) It's usually gone in less than 30 seconds, one minute tops.

The first sip is often less balanced than subsequent sips, maybe due to more crema. The second, third, fourth sips tend to reveal the best the cup has to offer. I sometimes swirl the cup as I go along. Sometimes the last couple of sips are slightly sour or too cold, the former if I didn't stir enough and the latter if I took too long to drink. I'll sink the remainder when that happens.

That's my routine at home and at the best coffee bars. In lesser venues, if the first sip isn't drinkable I dump a ton of sugar or sweetener in the shot and stir. Sometimes that rescues the shot, sometimes it makes matters worse (typically, sweetener makes it vile.) I learned to do that in France and Spain, where sugar helped the shot almost every time.

What I do is little involved but you can't dispute flavors you get out of it. I first snort some coffee through both nostrils. For this method you need to toughen up your nostrils over time so you can tolerate hot espresso. Warm espresso works great if you are beginner. I do second snort with warm espresso to experience different flavonoids.

Then, I slurp some espresso and rub crema onto the gums to try to absorb some caffeine and to prepare body for final hit of exing double espresso in one gulp. I prepare two double espresso for each tasting session.

With this technique I get complete range of flavors and taste through the nose which when trying bad espresso immediately makes me sick and throw up so, you see, there is no doubt about whether espresso is good or not... As you can imagine this is real happening when I perform my tastings in busy cafe.

Help this helps. Note that these feats are performed by trained professional and you should not try them at home.