There is something infinitely cool about using a traditional lever style espresso machine to make your coffee. Bond knew it in Live and Let Die when he makes M an espresso using a La Pavoni Europicolla. Can't say it looks like a fantastic espresso that he pulls, but we all know that Bond has the coolest gadgets, and the La Pavoni just screams "I'm cool". M quips "is that all it does?" on being handed his cup. A lovely bit of cinema. Even though the film was made in 1972, the Europicolla is still a beautiful machine.
A lever machine really puts the barista in touch with making the coffee. Modern automatic and semi-automatic espresso machines rely on a mechanical pump to push water through coffee grounds, but a lever machine, as the name implies, uses a lever and a bit of elbow grease to push the water through the coffee ground sitting in the portafilter. Technique is important when pulling an espresso on a lever machine, because the barista is solely responsible for creating just the right amount of consistent pressure to create a cup of espresso.
The first espresso machine was designed back in 1901 when Luigi Bezzera developed a huge steam driven machine to reduce the amount of time his staff spent on their coffee break. The initial Bezzera machine was called the Tipo Gigante brewed a coffee that was too bitter. Desiderio Pavoni purchased the patent to Bezzera's machine in 1905 because he realised that the bitterness was due to the temperature being too high. Pavoni spent some time in R&D refining the pressure and temperature used in the brewing process and started developing commercial machines that became the first to be used in coffee bars in Italy and gave rise to the widespread consumption and passion of espresso!
Friends Link : DeLonghi EN680.M Saeco 641
No comments:
Post a Comment