A Brief History of Espresso Coffee

Back in the 19th century, coffee was big business in Europe with cafes everywhere you went. However, brewing coffee is a slow process and customers often had to wait for their coffee to brew, as is still the case today. But the 19th century was the age of steam, and inventors began to try to create a machine that would use steam and speed up the brewing process, with Angelo Moriondi of Turin being granted a patent in 1884. His was the first coffee machine to use both steam and water and would lead to the espresso machines we have to day. His machine was created for the Turin General Exposition as a bulk brewer, but never led to any commercial machines being sold, and Moriondo disappeared leaving only his patent.

In the early 20th century, Luigi Bezzerra of Milan looked for a way to brew coffee directly into the cup and made several improvements on Moriondo's machine, including the portafilter and multiple brewheads, and produced the single shot espresso. However, the Bezzerra coffee machine operated over a naked flame which made it difficult to control the pressure and temperature, so consistency of the finished cup was not possible. He built a few prototypes of the Bezzerra coffee machine but didn't have the money or any marketing ideas to expand the business.

But Desiderio Pavoni did, and bought the patents of the Bezzerra coffee machine in 1903, and improved many aspects, notably the first pressure release valve which prevented the coffee being splashed all over the barista. He also invented the steam wand to gain access to the steam that built up in the machine's boiler. He and Bezzerra worked together to perfect the machine which Pavoni called the Ideale and it was presented to the world as cafee espresso at the 1906 Milan Fair. Bezzerra himself then faded slowly out of the picture, and may have been bought out by Pavoni who went on to dominate the espresso market for more than ten years.

The spread of espresso across the rest of Europe was down to master marketer Pier Arduino, who had a bigger workshop in Milan than Pavoni, and became responsible for exporting the machines out of Milan and across the continent.