/ck/ - Food & Cooking

An espresso machine brews coffee by forcing pressurized water near boiling point through a "puck" of ground coffee and a filter in order to produce a thick, concentrated coffee called espresso.
The first machine for making espresso was built and patented in 1884 by Angelo Moriondo of Turin, Italy.
An improved design was patented on April 28, 1903, by Luigi Bezzera. Patent no: US726793 A, which was bought by the founder of the "La Pavoni" company which from 1905 produced
espresso machines commercially on a small scale in Milan.

Multiple machine designs have been created to produce espresso.
Several machines share some common elements, such as a grouphead and a portafilter.
An espresso machine may also have a steam wand which is used to steam and froth liquids, to include milk, for coffee drinks such as cappuccino and caffe latte.
Espresso machines may be steam-driven, piston-driven, pump-driven, or air-pump-driven. Machines may be manual or automatic.

Moka pots, also known as stove top espresso makers, are similar to espresso machines in that they brew under pressure and the resulting brew shares some similarities,
but in other respects differ.
As such, their characterization as "espresso" machines is at times contentious, but due to their use of pressure and steam for brewing,
comparable to all espresso prior to the 1948 Gaggia, they are accepted within broader uses of the term, but distinguished from standard modern espresso machines.