Espresso Machine

An espresso machine is used to produce the traditional Italian coffee beverage called espresso.

A steam-driven unit operates by forcing water through the coffee by using steam or steam pressure. The first espresso machines were steam types, produced when a common boiler was piped to four group heads so that multiple types of coffee could be made at the same time. The design is still used today in low-cost consumer machines, as it does not need to contain moving parts. Many low-cost steam-driven units are sold in combination with a drip-coffee machine.

The piston, or lever, driven machine was developed in Italy in 1945 by Achille Gaggia, founder of espresso machine manufacturer Gaggia. The design generically uses a lever, pumped by the operator, to pressurize hot water and send it through the coffee grinds.

There are two types of lever machines; manual piston and spring piston design. With the manual piston, the operator directly pushes the water through the grounds. In the spring piston design, the operator works to tension a spring, which then delivers the pressure for the espresso.

A refinement of the piston machine is the pump-driven machine, which has become the most popular design in commercial espresso bars. Instead of using manual force, a motor-driven pump provides the force necessary for espresso brewing. Commercial or some high-end home machines are often attached directly to the plumbing of the site; lower-end home machines have built-in water reservoirs.

Some home pump espresso machines typically use a single chamber both for heating water to brewing temperature, and to boil water for steaming milk. Since the temperature for brewing coffee is sometimes less than the temperature for creating steam, the machine requires time to make the transition from one mode to the other. Water for brewing most commonly passes through a heat exchanger (taking some heat from the steam, without rising to the same temperature).

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