User:Toniesledz/Espresso

The origins of coffee in Italy predate the emergence of espresso by several centuries. Beginning in the 1570s, Venice was one of the earliest European ports to import coffee into the continent. By the 1640s, the city shops dedicated to selling coffee beans, laying the foundation for Italy's network with the beverage. However, it wasn't until 1683 that the first documented coffee house opened its doors, marking a milestone in the integration of coffee into Italian culture.

The first coffee machine was created in France in 1822 by Louis Bernard Rabaut.[page needed]

In 1855, another Frenchman, Edouard Loysel de Santais, presented a café express machine able to make 2,000 cups of coffee in one hour, however the machine did not use steam to directly force water through the coffee and it apparently brewed coffee into a pot.

Angelo Moriondo is often erroneously credited for inventing the beverage, since he patented a steam-driven coffee beverage making device in 1884 (No. 33/256), probably the first Italian coffee machine similar to other French and English 1800s steam-driven coffee machines. The device is "almost certainly the first Italian bar machine that controlled the supply of steam and water separately through the coffee" and Moriondo is "certainly one of the earliest discoverers of the expresso [sic] machine, if not the earliest". Seventeen years later, in 1901, Luigi Bezzera, from Milan, devised and patented several improved versions of the coffee machine, the first of which was applied for on 19 December 1901. Titled "Innovations in the machinery to prepare and immediately serve coffee beverage"; Patent No. 153/94, 61707, was granted on 5 June 1902, and was the first espresso machine. In 1903, the patent was bought by Desiderio Pavoni, who founded the La Pavoni company and began to produce the machine industrially, manufacturing one machine daily in a small workshop in Via Parini, Milan.

Spread[edit source]
A detailed discussion of the spread of espresso is given in (Morris 2007). In Italy, the rise of espresso consumption was associated with industrialization and urbanization, notably in Turin, Genoa, and Milan in northwest Italy.[citation needed] Italians also spread espresso culture into their East African colonies, Italian Somalia and Italian Eritrea. Under the Fascist regime, coffee consumed standing up was subject to price controls, encouraging the "stand at a bar" culture.[citation needed]

In the English-speaking world, espresso became popular, particularly in the form of cappuccino, owing to the tradition of drinking coffee with milk and the exotic appeal of the foam; in the United States, this was more often in the form of lattes, with or without flavored syrups added. The latte is claimed to have been invented in the 1950s by Italian American Lino Meiorin of Caffe Mediterraneum in Berkeley, California, as a long cappuccino, and was then popularized in Seattle, and then nationally and internationally by Seattle-based Starbucks in the late 1980s and 1990s.

In the United Kingdom, espresso grew in popularity among youth in the 1950s, who felt more welcome in the coffee shops than in pubs. Espresso was initially popular, particularly within the Italian diaspora, growing in popularity with tourism to Italy exposing others to espresso, as developed by Eiscafès established by Italians in Germany. Initially, expatriate Italian espresso bars were seen as downmarket venues, serving the working-class Italian diaspora and thus providing appeal to the alternative subculture; this can still be seen in the United States in Italian American neighborhoods, such as Boston's North End, New York's Little Italy, and San Francisco's North Beach. As specialty coffee developed in the 1980s (following earlier developments in the 1970s and even 1960s), an indigenous artisanal coffee culture developed, with espresso instead positioned as an upmarket drink.

In the 2010s, coffee culture commentators distinguish large-chain mid-market coffee as "Second Wave Coffee", and upmarket artisanal coffee as "third-wave coffee". In the Middle East and Asia, espresso is growing in popularity, with the opening of Western coffee-shop chains.[self-published source?]

The third-wave coffee movement encompasses espresso machines as a broader coffee culture that values relationships with growers, importers, and the craftsmanship involved in making specific coffee-based drinks.The mention of brands like Synesso, La Marzocco, and Slayer, known for their top-notch equipment sheds light on the differences between traditional espresso machines and super-automatic machines to achieve complete coffee preparation.

The significance of espresso machines in coffee culture today lies in their central role in the preparation of espresso-based drinks. Espresso machines are not merely tools for brewing coffee; they are symbols of craftsmanship, quality, and dedication to coffee making.

Machines[edit source]
Main article: espresso machine

Home espresso machines have increased in popularity with the general rise of interest in espresso. Today, a wide range of home espresso equipment can be found in kitchen and appliance stores, online vendors, and department stores. The first espresso machine for home use was the Gaggia Gilda. Soon afterwards, similar machines such as the Faema Faemina, FE-AR La Peppina and VAM Caravel followed suit in similar form factor and operational principles. These machines still have a small but dedicated share of fans. Until the advent of the first small electrical pump-based espresso machines such as the Gaggia Baby and Quickmill 810, home espresso machines were not widely adopted. In recent years, the increased availability of convenient counter-top fully automatic home espresso makers and pod-based espresso serving systems has increased the quantity of espresso consumed at home. The popularity of home espresso making parallels the increase of home coffee roasting. Some amateurs pursue both home roasting coffee and making espresso.

High-quality espresso machines, particularly those from renowned brands, signify a coffee establishment's commitment to excellence and professionalism. They elevate the status of the establishment within the coffee industry and among discerning coffee consumers.