It seems to be an interminable wait at the fast food store when we order our burgers and the clerk has to walk all the way to the heating table to retrieve our already-made food items. We can even clap our hands once to turn the lights on and twice to turn them off. This is where our lives come into conflict with what espresso is supposed to be. Coffee has always been a social drink in much of the world. It was one of the parts of European culture that I enjoyed the most.
Coffee is part of that culture.
Espresso came from that. It is a personal drink. There is a chain of coffee shops that seems to embody this philosphy of speed and efficiency that has become amazingly popular in the United States. There are lines that form at many of these stamped-out stores as folks line up to get their morning caffeine fix, and be off to work. There are a lot of reasons for that.