Espresso isn’t just a drink or a song by Sabrina Carpenter; it’s an invention born out of impatience, perfected by obsession, and globalised by a love of strong coffee in small cups. From noisy Milanese workshops to your morning flat white made at home, espresso has been on a pretty bumpy ride.
1901: Espresso Begins
Early coffee brewing was slow. Boiling water, cloth filters, and a lot of waiting around. That was fine for the French countryside. Not so great for factory workers in 19th-century Milan. People needed caffeine and fast.
Enter Luigi Bezzera. He was an inventor and like many great ideas, his came from frustration. In 1901, he built a machine that used steam pressure to push hot water through tightly packed coffee grounds. It brewed coffee in seconds instead of minutes.
Bezzera’s machine wasn’t perfect. It lacked consistency. It was bulky. And he wasn’t much of a businessman. But his idea had legs.
1905: Espresso Goes Public
Desiderio Pavoni bought Bezzera’s patent in 1905. He refined the machine and launched La Pavoni, the first company to mass-produce espresso machines. These early models were all brass and steam, designed more for speed than flavour, but they changed coffee service forever.
1930s–1950s: Espresso Meets Milk
Espresso machines spread through Italy like wildfire. Not just because they were faster, but because they turned cafes into hubs. People stood at the bar, knocked back a shot, and moved on. No dawdling. No lounging. Just in, espresso-ed, out.
But it didn’t take long for milk to enter the chat. The cappuccino as we know it today took shape in the 1930s. Named after the brown-robed Capuchin monks, it gained traction in postwar Italy thanks to improved steam wands on new espresso machines and people's desire to sit just a little longer.
1947: The Gaggia Revolution
The first machines were steam-powered, which made for fast brewing, but the flavour? Let’s say it was rough around the edges. According to one historian the taste was bitter, scorched and smokey. Sounds great, right? But it did the job. Then came the real game-changer.
Achille Gaggia, fed up with the bitter shots from steam machines, invented the lever-driven espresso machine in 1947. It used a piston to force water through the coffee at 8–10 bars of pressure, producing a thicker shot and a layer of crema. That creamy, golden layer became the calling card of proper espresso but at first, people thought crema was a defect. Gaggia called it “coffee with natural cream” and leaned into it. Marketing: 1 Scepticism: 0.
1980s–90s: Espresso Goes Global
For a while, espresso stayed in Europe. It popped up in Paris, made its way into bohemian corners of London, and eventually landed in America. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that espresso went mainstream. 1983 saw the first Starbucks open in Seattle and with this came the latte boom. Steamed milk, softened espresso, and eventually, a platform for syrups and seasonal gimmicks. Suddenly espresso was everywhere.
2000s–2010s: The Flat White Lands
The flat white, originally from Australia or New Zealand (they still argue about it), hit UK and U.S. coffee shops in the 2010s. Smaller than a latte, stronger, and topped with thin, velvety microfoam—not stiff foam like a cappuccino. It bridged the gap between milk and espresso.
This drink pushed a shift in cafe culture. Less about size, more about strength and texture. Suddenly, people were asking about brew ratios and milk temperatures. Baristas had to get technical as the regular coffee drinker became interested in how their coffee was brewed but it wasn’t until a little thing called Covid-19 came along that this trend really took full effect.
2020: Lockdown Purchases
The world shut down, coffee shops closed, and suddenly your daily flat white wasn’t so easy to get hold of. People weren’t just missing the caffeine, they were missing the ritual. Suddenly, your kitchen became your coffee bar. Sales of espresso machines skyrocketed (much like loo roll and eyesight test drives to the North East). Sales of espresso machines went from £123 million worth of sales in 2019 to £162 million by 2023.
People weren’t just buying machines, they were learning to dial in, time shots, steam milk, and post their latte art disasters online. People didn’t just want top quality coffee at home, they wanted to understand it.
Even after the world reopened, the obsession didn’t fade. Home espresso had earned its place.
Final Sip ☕️
Espresso started with speed but what kept it going was flavour and while espresso has been globalised, rebranded, and sugar-syruped into oblivion in some cases, the essence is still the same: small cup, big taste, zero compromise.
So the next time you shoot back a single shot or pour a double over your iced concoction, just remember; over 100 years of innovation, burnt fingers, and Italian engineering got you there.
