Pu’er Coffee

 When people order espresso-based drinks at cafés—especially milk drinks topped with beautiful latte art—it almost always brings a small moment of joy. The unspoken rule of “let the phone take the first sip” naturally kicks in, and a photo is taken before anything else. Sometimes, the visual impact of latte art even outweighs the actual flavor experience of the coffee. And although I personally care more about taste, I have to admit that when a cup comes with an intricate, well-balanced, and beautifully integrated design, it still makes me genuinely excited and pleasantly surprised. So this raises an interesting question: how did latte art, built on espresso, start becoming popular in the first place? Today, let’s take some time to talk about that. I did quite a bit of research online, and to be honest, there doesn’t seem to be a single, definitive historical account. However, its development can generally be traced back to the second half of the 20th century. Espresso machines w...

 As coffee continues to grow in popularity, the places where people enjoy it are no longer limited to homes or cafés. Today, coffee can be made almost anywhere—yes, even in outer space. That’s right: astronauts on space missions can enjoy coffee too. This may not sound like breaking news. In fact, it became possible more than a decade ago. However, relatively few people know the story behind it. So today, let’s take a closer look at the world’s first espresso machine designed for space: ISSpresso . Back in 2015, the Italian Space Agency partnered with Italian coffee company Lavazza to develop the world’s first espresso machine for the International Space Station. The machine was named ISSpresso. In space, due to microgravity, liquids don’t flow the way they do on Earth, making something as simple as drinking coffee extremely challenging. For many years, astronauts could only consume instant coffee squeezed out of pouches—hardly a pleasant or satisfying experience. ISSpresso fund...