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Espresso
Yet, another way of brewing coffee is
the espresso machine. The difference
between a filtered coffee and an
espresso coffee is the water goes
through the grains rather than around
them. In espresso coffee, highly heated
water is forced through compressed
coffee such that the coffee grounds are
irrigated. This device requires some
mechanical switching and valves
The espresso is simultaneously a
solution of sugars, caffeine, acids, and
proteins, an emulsion of oils and
colloids and a suspension of coffee
particles and bubbles of carbon dioxide
gas. Because of the high pressure of
the extraction, about ten percent of the
oils are emulsified and the aromas
attach themselves to the fats, which
explains the fragrance of the aromas.
The oils are partly responsible for the
body of the coffee. This oil-fat
arrangement gives espresso a velvety
feel when sipped. Also, high viscosity
lowers surface tension allowing deeper
penetration into the taste buds. Thus,
increasing the taste perception.
The pressure needed to force the water
through the coffee grains increases with
the fineness of the grind and the degree
of compression. The higher the
compression used, the more complete
the flavor extractions.
The

term "espresso" is some what

ambiguous. This is probably because
espresso means different things in the
various languages in Europe. As it turns
out, there is no probably about it. The

Coffee Stuff Index

Caffeine.htm
Espresso
Coffee History
Coffee Grinders
Coffee Names
Coffee Plants

following explanation was given in this

section of the site from 1996 to the end
of 1997. Just because of the story, it
makes for interesting reading, and it
may be true, but unlikely, as such, it is
kept here.
Generally, the word is used to describe
any coffee which is brewed by steam.
Generally, it was thought that the word
expresso meant fast or straight through.
Factually, espresso is anything but a
fast cup of coffee. Another meaning was
interpreted from the word expire. Which,
after drinking several of these cups of
coffee, people did. The jolt to the
system of unsuspecting coffee drinkers
must have been enormous. Heart
attacks expired people. The general
meaning is believed to be "expressly for
you." Meaning, this small cup of coffee
is made just for you.
Francesco and Riccardo Illy, well known
Italian coffee people state in their book
"From Coffee to Espresso" the literal
meaning of the (world) "espresso" is
"made on the spur of the minute." Now, I
hope the word "world" is an error and
they meant "word." Well, if not, they
screwed up, which doesn't say much.
On the other hand, world may mean
something in Italian which I don't get.
They go on to say; it is an adjective
applied to foods and drinks that are
made at the moment of asking, and in
Italy is chiefly used to describe coffee,
so that it has become a noun: when you
ask for "an espresso" in a bar or
restaurant it always means a coffee. So
as far as I interpret these guys,
espresso simply means coffee in Italian
and has nothing to do with what type of
coffee it is. These guys are the authority
in the coffee business in Italy, so they
aught to know. Sure does add to the
ambiguity.

Due to the controversy, or excitement,

which every you prefer, over what
"espresso" verses "expresso actually is,
we looked into the meaning of the
words. Depending on which book one
reads, here is another meaning:
The first known machine to do this was
the idea of Louis Bernard Babaut in
1822. The machine was made
commercial by Edward Loysel de
Santais in 1843 and demonstrated to

the world in the Paris Exposition in

1855. The machine packed a measured
amount of coffee grinds in a special
chamber, a valve allowed steam to
press the water through the grinds with
a special filter and wa-la, a cup of
coffee ready to drink is made. It is fast.
The 1855 Paris model was said to
produce 1000 cups an hour. Thus,
express was associated with the
machine.
This particular coffee machine had
several drawbacks. One drawback is it
blew up from time to time. A steam fitting
failed, or the chamber failed, or some
bozo let it get too hot. Another drawback
is it burnt the coffee from time to time.
Especially if a bozo allowed the steam
chamber to get too hot. The typical
steam pressure was 1.5 to 2
atmospheres and increasing the
pressure made for better extraction but
burnt the coffee but a lot of bozos did it
any way.
The device did work however.
Additionally, it produced a superior cup
of coffee when operated correctly. The
reason it produced a superior cup of
coffee is it extracted only the best from
the coffee grind. The high pressure
forced the water through the coffee
grind rather than merely contacting it.
This allowed some of the coffee to
become emulsified. As the volatile
aromas tend to attach themselves after
roasting to fatty substances,
emulsification drew out these
substances and made the coffee smell
better along with better body. The cup
of coffee had a velvety texture.

Because the liquids viscosity is lower it

has a lower surface tension, which
allows the liquid to penetrate the
gustatory papillae more deeply.
Consequently increasing the perception
of coffee flavor. The presence of tiny
bubbles of gas in suspension and
emulsified colloids, mostly carbon
dioxide, has the property of inhibiting
the receptors of bitter taste in the
gustatory papillae. Thus, the flavor taste
tends not to be overly bitter.
Additionally, the colloids and oil
emulsified in tiny drops is responsible
the finish by allowing the oils to
penetrate deeper into the gustatory
papillae which allows slower release of
the aromatic substances attached to it.

Making espresso in the old days was a

real art. The degree of roast, right grind
size, the correct grind packing, the
steam pressure, and the quantity of
water use were all important. The old
espresso machines allowed for much
variance. Merchants who wanted to
save on coffee beans simply used less
grounds causing the forced water
pressure not to totally penetrate the
coffee grind. Merchants who wanted to
give a larger cup of coffee simply
allowed more water to go through the
system thus diluted the brew and
extracted more unwanted substances.
So, to do it right, really required skill,
knowledge, and interpretation on the
part of the operator, thus, it truly
qualified as an art.

Expresso is an English invented word to

better describe the action of a particular
type of espresso machine. Truly the
word itself as it pertains to coffee is
interesting. The Webster's New
Twentieth Century Dictionary has
Expresso as meaning Espresso. In the
studying of this project, the word
expresso popped up many times with
some very peculiar adaptations.
Arguments for the word as being bogus
or a non-word were very prevalent. It
was argued that the "x" wasn't even in
the Italian language, then argued that
Italians used a Latin dialect which did
have the "x" in it. However, the word is
used a lot for not being a word. Like the
word engineer, my pet peeve, expresso
is an adaptation to fit a circumstance.
Real engineers understand what
happened to the word engineer and I
bet real espresso inventors know where
expresso came form.
Espresso machines were driven by
steam. The two drawbacks, blowing up
and burning the coffee, needed fixing. It
was found by experiment that the two
main components of good chemical
action occurred at 90 +/- 2 degrees
Celsius (190 - 196 degrees Fahrenheit)
and 9-10 atmospheres (140 pounds per
square inch). As the typical espresso
machine was difficult enough at 2
atmospheres of steam, hotter both fried
the beans and blew up constantly. In

1935, Francesco Illy, an Italian invented

a machine called the Illetta which
controlled these factors. Obviously, the
machine's name is an adaptation of the
inventors name.
The Illetta solved the to problems of the
old espresso machines. The way the
Illetta did this was to use mechanical
advantage from air pressure as a
source of pressure rather than steam to
force the water into the grind. This
solved three problems. The first was the
exploding problem. Although air
pressure was rather complicated and
expensive it was more controllable than
steam. Second, since there was no
steam, the coffee did not get burnt.
Steam was not the source of force so
the water temperature could be held
constant below boiling. And third,
because the cylinder used could be
made to precisely control the amount of
water to maximize extraction for a given
size of coffee grounds, the precise
amount of water to maximize the
extraction was done automatically.

Later, in 1945, the system was

simplified by a machine called the
Gaggia coffee machine. This created
the pressure by lever action on a
cylinder of water to force the water into
the grind holder. Around the 1970's,
Ernesto Illy further simplified the whole
device and introduced the Espresso
Coffee System. This coffee system
incorporated the best of previous
machines, added two layers of filter
paper, and generally made the device
simple, cheaper, and idiot proof.
One of the last adaptations to this
coffee system for commercial and
limited home use in 1950 by Ernesto
Valente, was the addition of a rotating
pump driven by an electric motor to
develop the water pressure. This
allowed a more continuous delivery of
water. An additional commercial
development is a rotating coffee grind
delivery system so the coffee grinds
would be compacted and replaced by
the machine too. Thus, the system
became almost totally automatic.

Now, back to the word "Expresso." The

word "express" means to squeeze; to
squeeze out juice, to get by pressure;
elicit by force. Other meanings of
"express" are high speed, a method of
service faster than normal, dispatch
swiftly. And, yet a third meaning of
"express" is to be explicit; as, his
express reason for going, or for the
express purpose of running the station.
All three of these meanings for the word
"express" could be adapted to the way
the machine works. It, in fact, squeezes
out the juice rather than blows it out. It,
in fact, squeezes out the juice in a fast
way. And, it, in fact, it squeezes out the
juice in a fast way for the explicit
purpose of making one cup of coffee.
Because espresso was Italian and the
English wanted the machine that did
this as the word indicates to sound
Italian, they added an "o" to the end;
thus, expresso.
Expresso, theoretically, is exactly the
same cup of espresso coffee. The only
difference being the device made to use
it. Any coffee made on demand is
espresso. But only a cup of coffee made
by the precise action of a hydraulic
water pressure system as opposed to a
steam water pressure system can be
called expresso.
Ernesto Illy would probably disagree
with this, but he was an Italian.
Expresso is an English term. The author
is a Californian and half there word are
Spanish.
A secondary affect of espresso was the
way milk was used. Mousse was term
given to this presentation but later
turned to froth. Mousse, both adds a
smoother taste and minimizes heat loss.
There are two types of Mousse. A short
floating milk cover and a milk cover with
milk mixed in the coffee. This is not a
case of just pouring the milk in or on the
coffee. The mousse is the correct blend
of carbon dioxide bubbles and milk. A
special milk blaster was added to the
machines in order to create a froth. The
color of the mousse should be that of a
milk chocolate bar. If it is too dark, this is
evidence of over-extraction and if it is
too light, then it isn't enough.
A

further development in expresso was

making multiple expresso cups at one
time. In most coffee shops, two people
came in. While the second cup is being
made, the first is getting cold. Not good
from a marketing standpoint. Thus, the
two coffee cups at once version caught
on quickly at commercial operations.
Once two cups could be made at once,
four was better. Unfortunately, multiple
cups have a waist problem. But, that will
be over looked.
So for simplification, the coffee brewer
chronology is: First came just coffee
and hot water. Then came an espresso
maker which forced steam through the
coffee grinds. Then came the expresso
pneumatic press. The pneumatic press
was safer than the steam device by far
but it had a volume problem. So multiple
cup expresso makers were developed.
If this explanation of espresso verses
expresso confuses you, you are not
alone. The word espresso can mean
any cup of coffee or a cup of coffee
made by the steam pressure method, or
a cup of coffee made by the squeeze
pressure method. It depends on several
things, what country you are in, what
language you speak, what book you are
reading, and who you are listening to. In
this web site, expresso and/or espresso
means a cup of coffee which is made by
water pressure exerted against the
coffee grinds by either steam or
pneumatic press.
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