Land+Living: Hyper Espresso

Culinary — September 4, 2007 Posted by Anthony

Has Illy found a way to pull the perfect shot?

So it turns out the tried and true process of packing your grounds into your espresso machine's portafilter isn't all that great after all. The folks at Illy contend that water doesn't percolate evenly through the grounds. This leaves you with a shot that isn't as rich as it could be.

To deal with this, they've come up with a small pod packed with grounds that first fills with water, saturating the grounds. As the pressure builds, a valve releases, aeration occurs, and you've now got a rich shot with lots of crema. Mmmm, crema.

Illy will be producing their pod-compatible machines first for their commercial customers. In spring 2008 we will see a modified Francis!Francis! version specifically for the consumer market.

Link: Wall Street Journal
Link: Illy
Via: Huffington Post

3 comments

Comments (3)

k. — September 4, 2007
???

yummmmmmmmmyyy! more steamed plastic.

matt - rolu dsgn — September 5, 2007
no waste?

It's almost hilarious on their web site when they describe the product as "no waste". This is the kind of "design" that gives design a bad name, or did I miss something here? Cold press brewed coffee is my nectar. So strong. So smooth. Cheers, Matt

Hudson — September 9, 2007
I'm with Matt

I mean, just look at all that excess packaging. What's next, individually-wrapped M&Ms?