Espressionism

The invention that re-booted coffee was the espresso machine

This column is a paean to Espresso machines — their beauty, ingenuity and Eden-like diversity. It is about this much-loved, yet somehow under-appreciated thing component of the unique status that coffee occupies among the commodities we consume.

Design has been a part of coffee’s changing dynamic. A global culture has formed around it. Its progression is a complex interplay of technology. commerce, cultures — and therefore, design. Design, not simply because “everything is designed”, but because the espresso machine exemplifies design’s traditional role as an improvement on craft, and later, manufacture, by the creation of objects and traditions of beauty. Thus