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History · Espresso

History of the espresso machine

How the espresso machine developed from steam-boiler bar machines to spring levers, hydraulic groups and pumps with heat exchangers, dated from patent records and historians, with the disputed firsts marked.

Across the chain: History · Equipment

Source-checkedby Coffearium verification pass· Last source-checked 27 Oct 2026· Prepared with AI assistance· 15 sources (8 tier A)· 5 contested· Updated 27 Oct 2026· Literature last searched 27 Oct 2026
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Contents
  • Luigi Bezzera of Milan filed a US patent for a single-cup coffee machine on 10 June 1902, assigned to Desiderio Pavoni; it was granted in 1903.1
  • The La Pavoni Ideale of 1905 was the first espresso machine to enter production, according to a historian and a museum exhibition.2,3
  • Achille Gaggia filed a patent for a piston tap for espresso machines in 1947; his spring-lever machine followed in 1948.2,3,5,6,7
  • The Faema E61 appeared in 1961; a design museum and a historian describe a motor-driven pump at nine bars and a heat exchanger in the boiler.2,4,13
  • From 1960, Ernesto Valente patented a motor-driven pump, a delayed-infusion valve and a boiler heat exchanger with thermosiphon circulation to the group.10,11,12

Steam machines for one cup at a time#

The first bar machines solved a problem of service, not of flavour. In 1902 Luigi Bezzera of Milan filed a US patent for a coffee-making machine and assigned it to Desiderio Pavoni.1 Its stated aim was to prepare the coffee for each cup separately, “so that fresh coffee is always served”.1 The patent was granted on 28 April 1903.1 A museum exhibition dates Bezzera’s patent to 1901 (see Contested).2

The machine was a boiler with a tap. Gas burners or another heat source sat in tubular chambers running through the water.1 A delivery cock in the lower half of the boiler led into a bell-shaped conduit.1 A perforated diaphragm spread the water and steam over the coffee in a cup with a perforated bottom, held by handles.1 That cup does the job of the portafilter described in the espresso machine entry.

Pavoni acquired the patent and, in 1905, produced the La Pavoni Ideale.2 A historian and a museum exhibition both describe it as the first espresso machine to enter production.2,3 According to the historian, it used pressure to brew a fresh cup “expressly” for each customer, unlike the bulk urns of catering.3 In his account, the coffee still tasted like a concentrated drip brew.3

The limit was physical. In a steam-boiler machine the pressure depends on the boiler temperature, according to a 2017 patent.7 It puts the pressure of such boilers at about 1–1.5 bar, and a museum exhibition gives 1.5 bar for the early machines.2,7 Raising the pressure meant raising the temperature, and the same patent links water near boiling to a burnt taste.7

The spring lever separates pressure from heat#

The lever broke the link between pressure and temperature. Achille Gaggia filed a patent for a tap for espresso machines in Italy on 8 August 1947, the priority date of his Austrian patent.6 A 2017 patent describes his Swiss patent for such a tap as a lever-type machine.5,7 In it, a piston moved by a lever and pushed by a spring gives the water its pressure.7

Gaggia introduced the lever machine in 1948, according to a historian and a museum exhibition.2,3 The exhibition states that it was produced in collaboration with the Faema workshop.2 The historian gives around 9 bar on the coffee; two museum exhibitions give 10 bar and 8–10 bar (see Contested).2,3,4 The extract carried a head of coffee oils, which Gaggia promoted as a new beverage, “Crema Caffè”.3 A design museum states that Gaggia had applied for a first patent in 1938; no record of it was consulted for this entry (see Contested).4

A lever shot does not hold one pressure. In one study, a spring-lever machine peaked at 8 bar and fell to 2 bar after 26 s, while a pump machine held 9 bar.8 The espresso machine entry covers this comparison.

Hydraulic groups. A third way used the water main. Vittorio Cimbali patented such a group, with Italian priority of 7 April 1956.9 In it, mains water pressure, reduced by a valve, acts on the upper face of a piston.9 That piston drives the brewing piston.9 According to the 2017 patent, lever and hydraulic machines wet the coffee at low pressure as the piston rises, before full pressure arrives.7

The pump and the heat exchanger#

The next step replaced the arm with a motor. Ernesto Valente of Milan filed patents with Italian priorities in 1960 for a machine with a motor-driven pump, run only when pressure is needed.10 A second patent covered a valve in the group that delays the flow, giving “a desired interval of infusion”.11 That valve opens at 1.5 atm (about 1.5 bar, our conversion with 1 atm ≈ 1.01 bar).11

A patent with priority of 28 November 1961 adds the heat exchanger.12 Fresh water passes through a tube inside the boiler instead of being drawn from the boiler itself.12 When the pump is off, the water circulates on its own between exchanger and group (thermosiphon).12 The patent prefers a centrifugal pump and describes a soaking phase before the coffee flows.12

The Faema E61 appeared in 1961.2,4,13 According to a historian and a design museum, a motor-driven pump gave it nine bars of pressure.4,13 A heat exchanger in the boiler heated the water.4,13 The historian notes that earlier machines heated the brew water in the boiler directly.13 He calls the E61 the first commercially successful semi-automatic machine, with an on/off switch in place of the lever.13 The design museum names Faema’s founder as Carlo Valente.4 No source consulted states which patent covers the E61.

123456789101112131415
  1. Boiler. Water below, steam above; the steam pushes the water out.1,7
  2. Heating chambers. Tubes through the water for gas burners or another heat source.1
  3. Delivery cock. Opens the boiler to the coffee.1
  4. Bell and perforated diaphragm. Spread the water over the coffee.1
  5. Filter cup. Perforated bottom, held by handles.1
  6. Lever. Pulled by the barista; it moves the piston.3,7
  7. Spring. Pushes the piston down.7,8
  8. Piston. Forces the water through the coffee.2,3,7
  9. Water chamber. Filled with hot water from the boiler.8
  10. Coffee in the filter holder.3
  11. Pump. Driven by an electric motor.10,12
  12. Heat exchanger. A tube in the boiler that heats fresh water on its way to the group.12,13
  13. Thermosiphon loop. Circulates water between exchanger and group when the pump is off.12
  14. Infusion valve. Delays the flow; it opens at 1.5 atm in one patent.11
  15. Coffee in the filter holder.12
Three ways of pushing water through the coffee: steam in the boiler (left), a spring lever (middle), a pump with a heat exchanger (right). Dashed lines follow the water. Schematic, not to scale.

Later developments#

Pumps became the norm. A 2017 patent states that modern espresso machines operate with a pump that forces the hot water through the coffee.7 It cites Valente’s 1960 patent as a machine with a rotary pump.7 The vibratory pumps of many domestic machines are described in the espresso machine entry.

Later patents separate brewing from steam. The same 2017 patent describes a machine in which each group has its own small secondary boiler, apart from the main boiler.7 It also stores sets of pressure curves that the machine can replay on its own.7 Another patent with 2017 priority regulates brew-water temperature with a PID (proportional–integral–derivative) controller.14 Its background states that closed-loop temperature regulation was already known.14 No source consulted for this entry dates the first machine with a separate brew boiler or the first PID-controlled machine.

Milestones at a glance#

19001920194019602017123456789
  1. 1902. Bezzera files his US patent (granted 1903).1
  2. 1905. La Pavoni Ideale in production.2,3
  3. 1938. Gaggia patent application, reported by one museum only (hollow mark).4
  4. 1947. Gaggia’s tap patent filed in Italy (priority date).6
  5. 1948. Gaggia’s spring-lever machine.2,3
  6. 1956. Cimbali’s hydraulic group (Italian priority).9
  7. 1960. Valente’s pump and infusion-valve patents (Italian priorities).10,11
  8. 1961. Faema E61; Valente’s heat-exchanger patent.2,4,12,13
  9. 2017. Patents on a secondary boiler per group, stored pressure curves and PID control.7,14
Milestones of the espresso machine at the year the patent record or two histories give; the hollow mark rests on one museum exhibition only. The axis is broken between 1966 and 2017.1,2,3,4,6,7,9,10,12,13,14

Reading the patent record#

Patent records give three different dates, and accounts often mix them. The priority date is the first filing, usually in Italy for these machines. The filing date is the application in the office that granted the document. The grant or publication date comes years later. Valente’s pump patent shows the spread: Italian priority 8 October 1960, US filing 4 October 1961, US grant 28 January 1964.10 Gaggia’s Austrian patent claims an Italian priority of 8 August 1947 but was published only in 1954.6

Coffearium dates each milestone by the earliest date in the record consulted and names which date it is. Where only a museum or a single historian gives a date, the entry says so and lists it in Contested. Patents are evidence of how a machine was built and when it was filed. They are not evidence that the machine was sold, or that it worked well.

Patent and source record#

Milestone Office and number Inventor or applicant Priority / filing Grant / publication What the record describes Source
Single-cup steam machine US 726,793 Luigi Bezzera, assigned to Desiderio Pavoni Filed 10 Jun 1902 Granted 28 Apr 1903 Boiler with heating chambers, delivery cock, bell, perforated diaphragm, filter cup 1
Tap for espresso machines CH 262232 A Giovanni Achille Gaggia Not given here Not given here Lever-type machine, piston moved by a lever and pushed by a spring (as described in a 2017 patent) 5,7
Tap for espresso machines AT 179620 B Giovanni Achille Gaggia Italian priority 8 Aug 1947; filed 20 Mar 1950 Published 25 Sep 1954 Bibliographic record only 6
Hydraulic group US 2,878,747 Vittorio Cimbali, Officine Cimbali Italian priority 7 Apr 1956; filed 7 Sep 1956 Granted 24 Mar 1959 Mains water pressure on a servo piston drives the brewing piston 9
Pump machine US 3,119,322 Ernesto Valente Italian priority 8 Oct 1960; filed 4 Oct 1961 Granted 28 Jan 1964 Motor-driven pump run only when pressure is needed 10
Infusion valve US 3,230,974 Ernesto Valente Italian priority 24 Sep 1960; filed 25 Sep 1961 Granted 25 Jan 1966 Valve in the group opening at 1.5 atm, delaying the flow 11
Heat exchanger and thermosiphon AT 237214 B Carlo Ernesto Valente Italian priority 28 Nov 1961; filed 26 Nov 1962 Published 10 Dec 1964 Tube heat exchanger in the boiler, thermosiphon to the group, centrifugal pump preferred, soaking phase 12
Secondary boiler per group; stored pressure curves EP 3 653 086 A1 Carimali S.p.A. Priority 18 Jul 2017 Published 20 May 2020 Small boiler for each group; replayed pressure curves 7
PID temperature control US 11,517,143 B2 La Marzocco S.r.l. Priority 24 Mar 2017 Granted 6 Dec 2022 PID controller for the coffee boiler 14
Milestone Date Evidence Source
La Pavoni Ideale enters production 1905 Historian and museum exhibition agree 2,3
Gaggia’s first patent application 1938 One museum exhibition; not confirmed 4
Gaggia spring-lever machine 1948 Historian and museum exhibition agree 2,3
Faema E61 1961 Two museum exhibitions and a historian agree 2,4,13

How pressure was decoupled from temperature#

Each design answers one constraint. In a saturated-steam boiler, steam sits over boiling water, and its pressure follows the temperature.7 According to the 2017 patent, keeping the water below boiling to avoid a burnt taste therefore capped the pressure, so the extraction pressure was a compromise.7

A spring stores the barista’s work and releases it on the piston, so the pressure no longer depends on the boiler.7,8 But a spring pushes less as it extends. In the 2013 comparison, the lever machine’s pressure fell from 8 to 2 bar during the shot, and its temperature dropped about 10 °C.8 The pump machine with a heat exchanger held its pressure and a fairly constant temperature.8 The authors of that study attributed most of the difference in extraction to temperature.8

The hydraulic group replaced the spring with mains pressure. In Cimbali’s patent, the difference in diameter between a larger servo piston and the brewing piston mainly sets the pressure on the coffee.9 The pump made pressure independent of both the barista and the water main.10 The heat exchanger then let fresh water be heated on demand without drawing on the boiler water.12,13 In Valente’s 1961 patent, the small volume of each circuit and the circulation of the hot water keep the water from standing.12

Pre-infusion in the record. Wetting the coffee at low pressure appears early in the patents. Valente’s 1960 valve delays the flow until 1.5 atm, and his 1961 patent describes a soaking phase.11,12 The 2017 patent notes that lever and hydraulic groups did this automatically, while pump machines needed a dedicated device.7 How pre-infusion is used is covered in the espresso machine entry.

Documented, claimed and retold#

Coffearium sorts the claims into three levels, as in the coffeehouse history. Documented means a patent record or two independent histories: Bezzera’s 1902 filing, the 1905 Ideale, Gaggia’s 1947 filing and 1948 machine, Cimbali’s 1956 priority, Valente’s 1960–1961 patents and the 1961 E61.1,2,3,6,9,10,12,13 Claimed means a date from one source only, such as Gaggia’s 1938 application and the 1901 date for Bezzera.2,4 Retold means firsts that change from one account to the next.

The best-known disputed first is not dated here. Accounts of an earlier steam machine patented by Angelo Moriondo could not be checked against a patent record or a historian’s text consulted for this entry. The entry therefore gives no date or description for it. The same holds for popular firsts after 1961, such as the first machine with a separate brew boiler. A 2002 magazine timeline calls Valente’s 1961 design the archetype of the modern machine, in line with the design museum.4,15

Open questions#

  • Moriondo’s patent. No Italian patent record for it was consulted; the claim is neither confirmed nor rejected here.
  • Bezzera’s Italian patent. A museum dates his patent to 1901; only the US record of 1902–1903 was consulted.1,2
  • Gaggia’s 1938 application. Reported by one design museum; the patent record was not found.4
  • Which patents protect the E61. The Valente patents of 1960–1961 match the E61 as historians describe it, but no source consulted links them.10,11,12,13
  • Firsts after 1961. No patent record consulted dates the first rotary-pump, separate-boiler or PID-controlled machine; the 2017 patents are examples, not origins.7,14

Key studies#

Bezzera, 1903 – Coffee-making machine. A US patent for a boiler-fed bar machine with a delivery cock, a bell and a perforated diaphragm over a cup of coffee. Its point is service: each cup is prepared separately from fresh coffee instead of by the batch.

US Patent 726,793 · patents.google.com/patent/US726793

Valente, 1964 – Kaffeemaschine. An Austrian patent for a machine with a tube heat exchanger in the boiler, a motor-driven pump and thermosiphon circulation through the group between shots. It also describes a soaking phase before dispensing.

Austrian Patent AT 237214 B · patents.google.com/patent/AT237214B

Caprioli et al., 2013 – Pump versus lever. Logged pressure and temperature during shots on a pump machine with a heat exchanger and on a spring-lever machine. The lever machine’s pressure and temperature fell during the shot, and it extracted fewer chlorogenic acids.

Journal of Food Research 2(3), 55–64 · doi:10.5539/jfr.v2n3p55

Morris, 2017 – We consumers: tastes, rituals and waves. A historian places the La Pavoni Ideale of 1905 and Gaggia’s lever machine of 1948 in the history of Italian bars. He links the lever’s higher pressure to crema and to a new gap between coffee at the bar and at home.

In: Folmer (ed.), The Craft and Science of Coffee, ch. 19 · doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00019-0

Contested
  • Date of Bezzera’s patent: the US patent was filed on 10 June 1902 and granted on 28 April 19031; a museum exhibition dates his patent to 1901, which may refer to an earlier Italian filing.2 No Italian patent record was consulted for this entry.
  • Gaggia’s first patent: a design museum exhibition states that Gaggia applied for a patent for a steamless machine in 1938 and for a second one in 1947.4 The patent record consulted for this entry dates from 19476, and a historian and a second museum date the machine to 1948.2,3 The 1938 application could not be checked.
  • Pressure of the first steam machines: a patent background puts saturated-steam boiler pressure at about 1–1.5 bar7, and a museum exhibition gives 1.5 bar2; a coffee historian gives a somewhat higher range for the La Pavoni Ideale of 1905.3
  • Pressure of Gaggia’s lever machine: around 9 bar according to a coffee historian3; 10 bar according to one museum exhibition2 and 8–10 bar according to another.4
  • Pump of the E61: a historian describes an electrical volumetric pump13, a design museum a motorised pump.4 Valente’s 1961 heat-exchanger patent prefers a centrifugal pump12, and a 2017 patent describes his 1960 pump patent as a rotary-pump machine.7 No source consulted states which patent covers the E61.
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Change log

  • – Brief on the Faema E61 now attributes the pump, nine bars and heat exchanger to one design museum and a historian, not two museums. Reason: The MUMAC exhibition gives the E61 date only, not its pump or heat exchanger.
  • – Gaggia’s lever pressure (around 9 bar) is now given beside the 10 bar and 8–10 bar of two museum exhibitions and listed in Contested; the historian’s 1.5–3 bar for the Ideale is no longer given as a number, and the 1–1.5 bar steam pressure is paired with the museum’s 1.5 bar. Reason: Number rule; the Folmer textbook never carries a number alone, and a patent background on earlier machines is Tier B.
  • – Swiss filing and publication dates of CH 262232 removed; the 1947 date now rests on the Italian priority in AT 179620 B. Reason: The Swiss register record could not be reopened in verification.
  • – The uncited date (1884) and place (Turin) for Moriondo’s patent removed; the stagnation statement and the Cimbali piston statement corrected to what AT 237214 B and US 2,878,747 say. Reason: No source consulted gave them; the patents attribute the effects differently.

Sources

  1. ABezzera, L. (assignor to D. Pavoni) (1903). Coffee-making machine (US Patent 726,793). United States Patent Office; filed 10 June 1902, granted 28 April 1903.Quoted passage: a description; US patent specification and claims for a boiler-fed bar machine; inventor in Milan, assigned to Desiderio Pavoni..
  2. BMuseu do Café, with Museo della Macchina per Caffè (MUMAC) Design Espresso (online exhibition). Google Arts & Culture.Quoted passage: a description; Museum exhibition text with object captions (the url redirects to story DwXhplh4OeKBJg); history narrative, no references given..
  3. BMorris, J. (2017). We Consumers – Tastes, Rituals, and Waves. In: Folmer, B. (ed.), The Craft and Science of Coffee, Academic Press, ch. 19 (pp. 471–472 cited). doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00019-0 · other copiesQuoted passage: a description; Historian’s textbook chapter on coffee consumption; Italy, 20th century; cites the author’s earlier work..
  4. BMuseum of Design Atlanta (MODA), with CUBE Design Museum Passione Italiana: The Art of Espresso (online exhibition). Google Arts & Culture.Quoted passage: a description; Design museum exhibition text with object captions; no references given..
  5. AGaggia, G. A. Rubinetto per macchine per la preparazione di caffè espresso (Swiss Patent CH 262232 A). Swiss Patent Office (patent register record).Quoted passage: data; Patent register record (Google Patents); Swiss patent, cited as CH 262232 in a 2017 European patent..
  6. AGaggia, G. A. (1954). Hahn für Expreßkaffeemaschinen (Austrian Patent AT 179620 B). Austrian Patent Office; Italian priority 8 August 1947, filed 20 March 1950, published 25 September 1954.Quoted passage: data; Patent register record (Google Patents); Austrian patent claiming an Italian priority..
  7. A/BCappellini, D. (applicant Carimali S.p.A.) (2020). Device and process for controlling the extraction pressure of coffee in an espresso coffee machine (EP 3 653 086 A1). European Patent Office; priority 18 July 2017, published 20 May 2020.Quoted passage: a description; European patent application; background section on steam, lever, hydraulic and pump machines; description of a multi-group machine..
  8. ACaprioli, G.; Cortese, M.; Odello, L.; Ricciutelli, M.; Sagratini, G.; Tomassoni, G.; Torregiani, E.; Vittori, S. (2013). Importance of Espresso Coffee Machine Parameters on the Extraction of Chlorogenic Acids in a Certified Italian Espresso by Using SPE-HPLC-DAD. Journal of Food Research 2(3), 55–64. doi:10.5539/jfr.v2n3p55 · other copiesQuoted passage: the authors’ own result; Lab comparison of one pump machine with a heat exchanger and one spring-lever machine; pressure and temperature logged during shots; Italy..
  9. ACimbali, V. (assignor to Officine Cimbali Giuseppe S.p.A.) (1959). Automatic distributing set for coffee percolators (US Patent 2,878,747). United States Patent Office; Italian priority 7 April 1956, filed 7 September 1956, granted 24 March 1959.Quoted passage: a description; US patent specification for a hydraulically driven brewing piston..
  10. AValente, E. (1964). Coffee making machine (US Patent 3,119,322). United States Patent Office; Italian priority 8 October 1960, filed 4 October 1961, granted 28 January 1964.Quoted passage: a description; US patent specification for a coffee machine with a motor-driven pump; inventor in Milan..
  11. AValente, E. (1966). Alternately seating valves (US Patent 3,230,974). United States Patent Office; Italian priority 24 September 1960, filed 25 September 1961, granted 25 January 1966.Quoted passage: a description; US patent specification for a valve in the distributing head (group) of a coffee machine..
  12. AValente, C. E. (1964). Kaffeemaschine (Austrian Patent AT 237214 B). Austrian Patent Office; Italian priority 28 November 1961, filed 26 November 1962, published 10 December 1964.Quoted passage: a description; Austrian patent specification for a heat-exchanger coffee machine with a motor-driven pump..
  13. BMorris, J. (2020). The Faema E61 Espresso Machine. Perspectives on History, American Historical Association.Quoted passage: a description; Historian’s short article on one machine, Italy, 1960s; no references..
  14. A/BDionisio, A.; Salvi, G. (assignee La Marzocco S.r.l.) (2022). Espresso coffee machine with improved system for regulating the temperature of the water and method for regulating the temperature of the water in an espresso coffee machine (US Patent 11,517,143 B2). United States Patent and Trademark Office; priority 24 March 2017, granted 6 December 2022.Quoted passage: a description; US patent specification for brew-water temperature control in a coffee boiler..
  15. CIlly, E. (2002). The Complexity of Coffee. Scientific American (June 2002), pp. 86–91.Quoted passage: a description; Magazine article; timeline box on coffee history..

Tier A · authoritative · B · trade and expert · C · general. Supporting quotes for every source are in the data version of this entry. If a publisher’s site refuses access, try the doi link or “other copies”.

The literature for this entry was last searched on 27 Oct 2026. A statement that no source consulted for this entry shows something refers to the sources above; newer or missing work may exist.

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