Espresso coffee was developed through a series of steps around the turn of the twentieth century. In 1884, Angelo Moriondo developed a steam-driven coffee machine that was an important precursor to the espresso machine. But espresso as we now know it was developed by Luigi Bezzera who invented a method of making coffee with steam pressure that he patented in 1901. This method provided a quick way of making a single cup of coffee, "espressly" for one. The original Italian may have meant "pressed coffee," but the meaning also had the connotation of speed. (In 1903 Bezzera's patent was bought by Desiderio Pavoni, who founded the La Pavoni company.)
This new method of making coffee had a disadvantage in that the steam gave the coffee a burnt taste, likely from the excessively high temperature. In the 1940s, it appears that a certain Sr. Cremonese, who worked for a coffee grinder factory, developed a screw piston which forced water through the coffee. But it was Achille Gaggia who, in 1947, improved upon the method by finally hitting on a design that incorporated a spring lever piston.
 |
| early La Pavoni commercial machine |
And espresso was finally brought into the home by Gaggia's production of the Gaggia Gilda which he patented in 1952.
 |
 |
| Patent April 26, 1952 | Gaggia Gilda |
La Pavoni's introduction of the very popular Europiccola in 1961 brought a high quality, fairly inexpensive manual espresso machine to the home.
 |
| 1961 La Pavoni Europiccola |
No comments:
Post a Comment