History of Espresso & the Espresso Machine
Espresso was invented in 1901 by Luigi Bezzera, the owner of a manufacturing business. Mr. Bezzera longed to find a way to brew coffee much faster. One day after work he added pressure to the coffee brewing process, reducing brewing time. The machine that he later introduced was termed the "Fast Coffee Machine", which is where the word "espresso" comes from...espresso means "fast" in Italian. Not only did his machine reduce brewing time, it made a stronger/fuller tasting cup of coffee. The quick brewing time allowed the best qualities of the bean to be extracted, avoiding some of the unfavorable qualities associated with over-extraction. However, there was a downside to Luigi's machine. Brewing with a combination of steam and hot water under pressure caused the coffee to taste somewhat bitter. Luigi Bezzera was not successful in marketing the machine and sold the rights to the espresso machine patent in 1905 to Desidero Pavoni who successfully introduced espresso to the Italian market.
In 1927 the first espresso machine was installed in the United States. It was a La Pavoni Espresso Machine installed in New York.
In 1938 Cremonesi developed a piston pump that forced hot, but not boiling, water through the coffee. The piston pump was quite an improvement as it eliminated the bitter/burnt taste of the coffee, which occurred in the Pavoni machines.
In 1947 Gaggia introduces the revolutionary piston lever Crema Caffe machine which produced a great tasting espresso with that wonderful crema (golden foam) on top.
In the 1950’s piston operated machines, both spring action and direct pressure flood the market, many direct copies of Gaggia's ground breaking Crema machines. Making modern day espresso common.
The espresso machine continues to evolve throughout the years. Primarily in making machines more suitable and affordable for home use. Other changes that came were making espresso machines that took less work and time to produce espresso. Machines like the semi-automatic, then automatic, and then super automatic came out on the market. Other changes that hit the market were adding a coffee bean grinder to the espresso machine as well as the use of coffee pods instead of ground coffee, which eliminated the need to purchase and grind the coffee beans.
Today people everywhere enjoy a great cup of espresso or espresso based drinks such as the Latte or Cappuccino. If your are looking to purchase an espresso machine for your home or office check out our quality line of espresso machines.
