Espresso or Expresso
One of my regular customers is an Italy native, and he loves his coffee roasted to an “Italian” crisp… In fact, he sometimes says I don’t roast it dark enough for him.. I feel like suggesting he’d try getting a stronger coffee by brewing up charred firewood (I kid).
At any rate, we are both coffee geeks from different continents. Some of the best coffee I’ve had came to me in the Richmond District of Portland Oregon, from a little micro-roaster we all know and love as “Stumptown” … whereas his mind conjures up a far away memory of a coffee he had in a little town in South Italy.. Being that I’ve never been, I can’t compare, but neither has he on my end. But we both obviously come from two different schools of thought.
Up until a while ago, I thought that the proper pronunciation for espresso was … well… ‘espresso’ … And every time I heard it referred to as ‘Ex’presso I would freak out inside.. My ego would scream ITS PRONOUNCED ESPRESSO!!! Nails on a chalkboard.
Well, my Italian friend continually kept saying ‘expresso’ and I would keep myself from pointing out his folly at the risk of causing un-warrented embarrassment on his part…. but a man can only bare the torture for so long.
One night after a few beers, we’re discussing proper brewing methods on a traditional machine… Pressure of the tamp, heat of the water, length of extraction… And he says “the best EXPRESS-O I’ve had” …. to which I said “Its pronounced Espresso, not Express-o.. You don’t ‘express’ anything” … soon after, I was faithfully chastised for my ignorance.
The first espresso machine was invented by a guy named “Luigi Bezzera” in Milan, Italy, in 1901. The word “expresso” is rooted in literal translation… esprimere is ‘to press out’ , which is from the Latin word ‘exprimere’ : ex + premere is ‘to press’.
So, express-o is a correct Latin rooted pronouncement… And espresso is the end-child and example of how language evolves from dialect to dialect over time. Both are correct, and I can really be a jerk sometimes. Dastardly ego.