Café vs. home
A distinctive feature of espresso as opposed to other coffee is espresso's association with cafés, due both to the equipment and skill required, and thus espresso has been primarily a social experience.
Initially espresso machines were not available for home use, domestic machines only developing in the 1970s, and remaining expensive, bulky, and requiring skill to operate. In recent years the development of easy-to-use home espresso makers based on coffee pods (like the E.S.E standard[6]) has increased the quantity of espresso consumed at home, though top-quality espresso continues to require expensive equipment and skill, and remains primarily associated with cafés or the enthusiast community.
Etymology and usage of the term
The origin of the term "espresso" is the subject of considerable debate.[citation needed] Although some Anglo-American dictionaries simply refer to "pressed-out",[7] "espresso," much like the English word "express", conveys the senses of "just for you" and "quickly," which can be related to the method of espresso preparation".
The words express, expres and espresso each have several meanings in English, French and Italian. The first meaning is to do with the idea of 'expressing' or squeezing the flavour from the coffee using the pressure of the steam. The second meaning is to do with speed, as in a train. Finally there is the notion of doing something 'expressly' for a person... The first Bezzera and Pavoni espresso machines in 1906 took forty-five seconds to make a cup of coffee, one at a time, expressly for you. (Bersten (cited below) p. 99) -
Many Latin European countries, such as France and Portugal, use the expresso form.[citation needed] In the United States and Canada, both espresso and expresso are used.[8] Italy uses the term espresso, substituting most x letters in Latin root words with s; x is not considered part of the standard Italian alphabet. Italian people commonly refer to it simply as "caffè" (coffee), espresso being the ordinary coffee to order; in Spain, while "café expresso" is seeing as the more formal denomination, "café solo" (alone, without milk) is the usual way to ask for it when at a bar.
In Slovakia and the Czech republic, espresso is commonly referred to as "presso" and is served with liquid creamer on the side by default.[citation needed] This is referred to as " presso with milk"( presso s mliekom (Slovak).
