The Works in Progress Newsletter
Notes on Progress is a diary-style format from Works in Progress. If you only want to hear when we have a new issue of the magazine, you can opt out of Notes in Progress here.
In this issue, Works in Progress editor Nick Whitaker writes about the development of home espresso machines. If you enjoy it, please share it on social media or by forwarding it to anyone you think might find it interesting.
I’ve written before about the lack of progress in kitchen appliances in the last 50 years. The last great kitchen appliance was the microwave—introduced in 1967—and they haven’t changed much since.
But the home espresso machine is an exception. The first widely adopted home espresso machine, the La Pavoni Europiccola, was released in 1961. Since then, they have evolved in all sorts of ways.
I actually have a Europiccola, known as a “Euro” by enthusiasts, collecting dust in my closet. Mine was produced in 1976. It’s almost exactly the same as that original ‘61 machine. The only major revision came in 2000, when the machine’s grouphead (where the espresso comes out) was redesigned.
