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The Easy Serving Espresso pod (E.S.E. pod), is a small packed
coffee pod A single-serve coffee container is a method for coffee brewing that prepares only enough coffee for a single portion. Single-serve coffee containers can both reduce the time needed to brew coffee and simplify the brewing process by eliminatin ...
with a paper filter covering for use in a non-grinding
espresso machine An espresso machine brews coffee by forcing pressurized water near boiling point through a "puck" of ground coffee and a filter in order to produce a thick, concentrated coffee called espresso. The first machine for making espresso was built in ...
. The E.S.E. standard was created by Italian
Illy Illycaffè S.p.A. (branded and stylised as illy) is an Italian coffee company specializing in espresso, headquartered in Trieste. Illy markets its coffee globally in silver and red pressurized, oxygen-free cans; operates a network of cafes on s ...
in the 1970s and is maintained by the "Consortium for the Development and the Protection of the E.S.E. Standard." It is open to all coffee roasters and machine manufacturers, making it the self-acclaimed "only ''open'' system available to the sector for espresso coffee prepared with paper pods".''The E.S.E. Standard: What is the ESE standard?''
Website of the ESE consortium (retrieved on 31 July 2016).


Description

Each E.S.E. pod contains seven grams of coffee compressed into filter pod with a 44mm diameter. In the past, many USA home single-serve brewers used 55mm pods and could not use E.S.E. pods. Also incompatible are
Senseo Senseo is a registered trademark for a coffee brewing system from Dutch companies Philips and Douwe Egberts. The system is known for the coffee pods (called pads in some countries) it uses to brew the coffee. History The system was first intro ...
single-serve coffee pods which are larger in diameter (70mm). The pod is placed within a pod adapter in a normal
espresso machine An espresso machine brews coffee by forcing pressurized water near boiling point through a "puck" of ground coffee and a filter in order to produce a thick, concentrated coffee called espresso. The first machine for making espresso was built in ...
or inside the brewing chamber of a pod brewer. The original patent for filter pod technology was registered by K. Cyrus Melikian of Automatic Brewers And Coffee Devices, Inc.(ABCD) in Pennsylvania, US, in 1959. Eventually licenses for pod technology were granted to an Italian firm and other developers, who created specific standards for proprietary technologies. The original use of pod machines in Italy was to relieve designated office personnel from the tedium of continuous espresso brewing for office staff. In later years pod brewers were developed for the home market, and for restaurants and other food service businesses where espresso was not a specialty. The use of a pod brewer eliminated most of the training required to operate conventional espresso machines.


History of E.S.E.

The E.S.E. design was created by
illy Illycaffè S.p.A. (branded and stylised as illy) is an Italian coffee company specializing in espresso, headquartered in Trieste. Illy markets its coffee globally in silver and red pressurized, oxygen-free cans; operates a network of cafes on s ...
in 1989 as a marketing effort to sell convenience in home espresso preparation. In February 1998, the non-profit "Consortium for the Development and the Protection of the E.S.E. Standard" was founded by seven coffee roasters and machine manufacturers as a guardian of the E.S.E. brand and standard. The E.S.E. specification was intended to be an open design to encourage wide adoption in order to give customers the "freedom of choice and guarantee of quality".


Espresso taste

Pod brewers allow many food and beverage servers to provide a standardized quality of espresso with repeatable results every time. Some coffee aficionados consider the taste to be markedly inferior to traditional espresso made with freshly ground beans, however, the quality of a cup of espresso is highly subjective, and freshly made espresso is dependent upon the skill of the barista and the maintenance and calibration of the equipment and other factors. Thus, a consumer can often get an inferior cup of espresso from an expensive traditional machine and fresh coffee, if the preparer does not make the espresso properly. Pod users and manufacturers cite inconsistent results from traditional methods as reasons why consumers will sometimes cease to patronize traditional espresso servers, and maintain that the consistent quality of premium espresso pods is comparable to the average cup of hand-crafted espresso, and often creates more consumer loyalty. Current pod technology produces a high volume of crema, the foam created at the top of the cup, and a taste that many consumers find comparable with what is available in current espresso bars. This assessment may be in part due to the lesser frequency of proper barista training by many coffee vendors. The Telegraph noted in an article that
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
had temporarily closed some of its outlets to retrain baristas, citing problems with barista preparation of espresso drinks and poor practices such as re-foaming milk or calibrating pressure for non-optimal brewing time. Pod manufacturers note that these problems are generally reduced by the use of automatic machines and pod technology. Advantages of pods include convenience and speed of preparation and easy cleaning, consistency of taste, and less waste of coffee grounds. Disadvantages include significantly higher cost per serving, a weaker coffee than one would get from freshly ground coffee in a larger holder and limited selection of suppliers, as well as some paper waste when the pods are discarded, and mylar film waste from the pouches in which the pods are packed. However, pod manufacturers use only 0.2 grams of paper fiber in a typical 44 mm pod, and this fiber is easily degradable, so the main waste is the pouch packaging film.


See also

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Coffee pod A single-serve coffee container is a method for coffee brewing that prepares only enough coffee for a single portion. Single-serve coffee containers can both reduce the time needed to brew coffee and simplify the brewing process by eliminatin ...


References

Coffee brands Single-serving coffee containers Illycaffè {{Coffee in Italy