Espresso came into being when people were looking for a quicker way to make their coffee. In Italy, around 1901, Luigi Bezzera found a way to make hot pressurized water and its steam push through a bed of finely ground coffee. The result was a quick, individual cup of highly concentrated coffee that came to be known as espresso. Bezzera acquired a patent for his machine and in 1903 these first
espresso machines were sold in Europe.