Espresso Coffee Machines

Some of our pictures featured in this Holiday guide is of our seventeen year old Braun espresso machine which my husband uses for his daily coffee fix. I'm more of a regular coffee drinker, but David is a big coffee drinker and usually drinks espresso throughout the day.

Since their invention in 1901, multiple machine designs have been created to produce espresso. Several machines share some common elements. Varying the fineness of the grind, the amount of pressure used to tamp the grinds, or the pressure itself can be used to vary the taste of the espresso. Some baristas pull espresso shots directly into a pre-heated demitasse cup or shot glass, to maintain a higher temperature of the espresso. An espresso machine may also have a steam wand which is used to steam and froth liquids, to include milk, for beverages such as the cappuccino and latte.

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.

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