Popularity

The popularity of espresso has seen what can only be referred to as an explosion over the last 10 years. Championships, coffee suppliers, web sites (guilty here), and all things coffee or espresso related are seeing a huge increase in interest. I believe that the baby boomer generation, in an unplanned partnership with generation X unwittingly set in motion the huge gain in popularity for coffee and espresso.

The baby boomer generation never knew what good coffee (let alone, espresso) should taste like. Raised by parents who saw the demise of freshly roasted coffee when vacuum packing was offered, they followed suit in purchasing canned grinds. By the time they came of age to do so, not only were the grinds in cans (often sitting in warehouses for a year), but the ratio of African beans - the more bitter and cheaper bean - to Aribica beans, had substantially increased. It was what the baby boomers knew and expected. Basically, they didn't know any better.

Generation X came of age in their society where success meant flaunting the money. Doing this by means of expensive items or symbols seen. One way to do this every morning was to arrive to work carrying your coffee in something other than a styrofoam cup or dining at lunch in a better class of eatery that served those items not typically found. They didn't order coffee, as the construction worker might. They ordered espresso at prices well above that of a typical cup of coffee. What was true, is that for the price it was absolutely better than the swill that the coffee industry sold to us for 40 years, calling it "coffee."

By this time, the baby boomers were the generation with the real wealth, expendable income, and the upper management of those generations that followed them. As they tried the drink their younger counterparts appeared with, they realized that their morning ritual could be more than drinking a bitter concoction to get them started, it could be something enjoyed. Demand and the desire for their own equipment (to enjoy this grand elixer anytime) followed. From the base of support in the Northwest, it quickly expanded throughout the United States and was only fueled more intensely by Starbucks, who took advantage of an untapped market.

Espresso is the main type of coffee in most of southern Europe, notably Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain. It is also popular throughout much of the rest of Europe and in Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba, and urban centers in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. In Australia and New Zealand, espresso accounts for nearly all of the commercial cafe, coffeehouse and restaurant coffee business.

In the United States, South Florida’s influx of Cuban refugees brought their love of espresso with them although espresso consumption was limited largely to the Cuban community. With the rise of coffee chains such as Starbucks, Seattle's Best Coffee, Caribou Coffee, and others, espresso-based drinks rose in popularity in the 1990s in the United States, with the city of Seattle being generally viewed as the fount of the modern interest. In addition to the Italian style of coffee, these chains typically offer variations and innovations by adding syrups, whipped cream, flavor extracts, soy milk, and different spices to their drinks. Cities like San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago have long traditions of espresso drinking, with the North Beach area in San Francisco being perhaps the most well known.

Espresso have become increasingly popular in recent years, in regions where "American Coffee" has been the main coffee for centuries. In Scandinavia, chains have emerged, selling various sorts of espresso from street corners and high streets. Europe has indeed taken in the espresso as one of their favorite drinks. Many companies now have espresso machines, to be used free of charge by their employees.

Home espresso machines have also increased in popularity with the general rise of interest in espresso, and with the Internet and its use as a tool to spread information about this beverage around the world. Today, a wide range of high-quality home espresso equipment can be found in specialist kitchen and appliance stores, online vendors, and department stores. The Internet has facilitated the spread of information about a wide range of espresso-based drinks, and can dispel (or promote) many myths on how to properly brew espresso.