Salvatore Espresso’s Grand Coffee Machines

The year 1992 proved quite the moment for modern coffee. A modest company called Starbucks launched its IPO with a mere 140 coffee shops — today, it has 214 times (!) more outlets, not counting the dozens that opened as I wrote this article.

More critically for folks in search of a good cup, 1992 was the year that Salvatore Cisaria’s “brain started to roll and roll and roll, and I decided to do this.” “This” is making some of the most beautiful, completely handcrafted espresso machines in the world, which he’s been doing ever since, from Haley Street to the Santa Ynez Valley.

A quarter century ago, coffee lovers didn’t have many options for home-brewing espresso. “There were just plastic machines that used pods,” said Cisaria. He wanted to bring the art and science of espresso to your kitchen by combining the “four M’s”: miscela (the bean blend), macinadosatore (the grinder), macchina (the machine), and mano (the operator’s hand).