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.

Want to read the rest then do so at the Independent's site.

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Hard to argue with Mr. Black here, and not just because he could outshout you easily. There is nothing worse than when a word that actually does mean something eventually gets turned into marketing mush. Then again, the co-opting of a word like "artisan" is simply what big business has always done in all its forms--tried to come off like the person you want to have a beer with. But we know how that turns out with presidents, don't we, and, dammit, businesses aren't people (I personally say poo on everything from Dartmouth College v. Woodward to Buckley v. Valeo). Plus, and I hate to say this, but that art part in artisan means you gotta pay more for it, and nobody goes to Dunkin' Donuts for that, no matter how much East Coasters want to vouch for their coffee (it's to good java what Charles Shaw is to wine). Then again, I'm the kind of person who thinks words matter as much as food.