Used to, if you wanted a good coffee, there was one of two ways to go. Get on an airplane and go to Europe, or make it at home. I remember being told by a banker who wouldn’t loan me money to go into the coffee business in the year 1982, in Tucson, AZ, that it was too hot to drink coffee here and people wouldn’t do it. Well, there are at least 20+ Starbucks in Tucson now, and at least three other very nice copy cat coffee places. And not everyone drinks coffee to be sure. Many drink all that other fu-fu stuff. But still, it is the coffee that draw people in.
I remember Dad had this really cool little device that was like a small pressure cooker. I still have one and you can still buy one if you are brave. I always felt like it might actually explode. One day, when I forgot I had it on the open flame, I realized it wouldn’t, but, still, you just had that feeling. You would grind up some coffee really fine, espresso grind I think they call it. Spoon it in the bottom of this little chamber, which had water below that. Then you would carefully screw the top part in that would catch the finished product. You really had to want an espresso for that machine. I guess that is why the Turks and other middle Eastern countries just boil the espresso in the water and don’t bother to separate the grounds.
Besides, if you drink/eat the grounds, it keeps you regular.
Phil Brewer's Blog 