COFFEE EXPRESSO BY BAR OR COFFEE PREPARED AT HOME

article by Michele Sergio

Hands up those who prefer espresso coffee prepared at the bar! Now raise your hands who is a mocha lover!

The world of incurable coffee drinkers is divided on this ancient dilemma. Today we try to find an agreement to one of the greatest dogmas in the history of humanity: is the espresso prepared at the bar or the coffee prepared at home better?

Espresso, a good and fast coffee!

The espresso is the coffee that is prepared in bars and cafeterias using the professional espresso machine and comes with the classic cream on the surface. The professional coffee machine was born towards the end of the 19th century and is linked to the figure of Angelo Moriondo, the man who first conceived it with the aim of speeding up and simplifying his preparation. Later Luigi Bezzerra, positively impressed by Moriondo’s invention, proposed a new version of the espresso machine, proposing it to the industrial level, the famous “Pavone”. The latter’s contribution has given a big boost to the spread of this “fast coffee”, whose name, “espresso”, refers precisely to the concept of speed.

The professional machine for preparing espresso bar is, without a doubt, a practical and functional tool that allows you to prepare coffee in less than a minute, adapting perfectly to the frenetic rhythms of our times.

The tradition of Cuccuma and Moka

For purists there is no doubt: the real coffee is what comes out of the classic coffee machines housewives. Two are the most famous and most used by Italians: the “cuccuma” and the “moka”. The Neapolitan coffee pot (the so-called cuccuma) was used for many years until it was later replaced by the more modern and fast Moka, whose invention dates back to 1933 and is associated with the more famous name of Alfonso Bialetti, which over time became synonymous with tradition and culture.

Capsules and pods: the challenge of the future

However, the coffee market has always been and still is today ready for change and innovation. In fact, in recent years Italian homes have opened the door to a compromise: the housewives (or office) capsules or single-dose pods to recreate the coffee in the home bar.

Regardless of the preferences, coffee for the Neapolitans (custodians of the ancient knowledge of infused black) remains an indispensable ritual conditio sine qua non respecting the tradition of the Neapolitan school.