Home espresso machines are now easy to operate and affordable, too. Plus, they no longer require a lot of space, with some models being wholly hand-held, even! Some coffee machines claim to include an espresso maker as well, but nothing beats a dedicated machine when you want espresso that’s authentic.
The matter of authenticity is increasingly open to debate, on the other hand, in a world where all sorts of coffee are being served up with a wide variety of syrups, creams, spices, and flavor extracts. First invented in 1901 in Milan in order to hasten up the brewing process, espresso means “fast” in Italian but ever-climbing popularity has seen any number of steps added along the way: espresso affogato is served over ice cream, while bombón comes with condensed milk; corretto espresso contains liquor like brandy even as espresso con hielo contains two ice cubes.
Certainly, that’s what makes caffè espresso so popular, its sheer variety. In Italy, where it all began, southerners prefer it dark while northerners have it light. Variety is the name of the game when it comes to espresso coffee. Any kind of bean of any kind of roast level may be brewed espresso, or fast, through an espresso machine. This convenience is important as well, even though special espresso machines are required (but then, again, it is fast). Espresso is surely also popular because it does, after all, provide such a concentration of caffeine!
But the spread of espresso coffee has a fittingly wide range of causes, and one of the most fundamental is the rise of urbanization, where espresso bars became another venue for the kind of socializing previously found in town squares. In the United States, espresso seems to have really taken off with the expansion of chain coffee houses, while in Great Britain youth felt more welcome at cafes than at pubs.