After two weeks in Italy (Rome, 7 small towns in Tuscany, Siena, Florence, Venice and Milan) and over 30 shots I didnt have one shot that equalled let alone excelled either 1. that which I pull at home 2. those that I get at Blue Bottle, Ritual, Sight Glass, etc...

The baristas dont tamp, the shots were thin, the doses haphazard - all in all it was a very disappointing experience. Now, on the other hand the bisteca and the pasta kicked ass...

Can you get an espresso in your town for 90 cents which is better than what you got served in Italy?

Well, first off with the dollar against the euro - the average espresso was around 2.50 US. And yes the espresso in San Fran at the third wave bars is better - much better. As for Peets and Starbucks, well I dont drink that stuff....

Well, nowadays cafe are getting more commercialized and profit driven ..quality of shots not there anymore

Seems clear that what Italy does best is consistency across the board, with little excellence.

Also seems clear that the US's best espresso beats the pants off Italy's Best espresso...

...Now if we could only get the consistency across the board thing down...

Id rather have those wonderful shots that are few and far between... then have a never ending cup of mediocrity.

I lived in Italy for over 10 years and frequently visit.

I can't speak for Seattle because I've never visited and most espresso in the UK doesn't count on a world rating scale: it's easily worse than anything you will find almost anywhere in Italy.

That said, from what I've read here and elsewhere the style of espresso in the US and Italy is very different. Certainly Italians who are asked for an espresso by an English-speaker will not produce the same drink they will for Italian-speakers, because they are used to outraged brits asking them to fill the cup to the top, produce the cappuccino so that it's boiling hot etc. The barista adjusts what they do automatically to remove the hassle.

And that's aside from the fact that are a much larger larger number of bars serving espresso. The number of bars serving excellent espresso is much higher than anywhere else you are going to get in any other country in Europe, but you are also going to have to sift through more mediocre bars to find them.

I'm afraid I find that most of these posts about Italian espresso are based on a lack of understanding of one or all of the above.

Trust me, they produced the same drink for me as they did for everyone else. I watched. Over and over. Plus, my wife speaks Italian. She did the ordering. And I sought out the places that were supposed to be great.

You cant get a great shot if you dont tamp and your beans are generic and not in their freshness optimum window.

Come to the US - drink shots in Seattle, San Fran, New York etc. You will see what we are talking about.

I know its hard for people who either are Italian or lived there to accept this.

But hell - I lived in Texas for years and I, without reservation, can say the best steak I've had was in Florence.

Vitomatt, I wasn't aiming my comment specifically at you and hope it didn't come across that way.

Generic beans and no tamping.... it just sounds like you got some bad bars.... and there are plenty of them there, particularly on the main tourist drags. But there's no doubt that there are plenty of good ones in Italy, just as there are great small, local speciality roasters that take great care over sourcing and roasting their beans. You just have to know where to go.

I imagine there are plenty of Starbucks in Seattle, but am equally sure they don't give one a measure of what else the city has to offer a coffee lover.

Yeah... I lived in Italy for a bit, and have spent a lot of time there. You just have to think about espresso in Italy differently that you think about it elsewhere. It's not something where you seek out "the best" shot. You just go drink an espresso.

As I've commented before - espresso in Italy is an important part of the culture, but this has created something different from what you have at the "craft" espresso places in the US, Australia, Norway, Denmark, UK, etc. It's part of an event; part of being Italian, etc. But it's not a culinary experience - and it's NOT open to experimentation and thus improvement.

If you drink espresso at randomly selected coffee bars throughout the world - you will get the most consistently drinkable shots in Italy.
If you drink espresso at hand-selected, "best" coffee bars throughout selected regions of the world - you will get the most consistently mediocre shots in Italy.
As was once said... "in Italy 90% of the espresso is drinkable and 10% is crap; outside Italy 90% of the espresso is crap; 9% is drinkable and 1% is brilliant."

It's not just a style issue (though the style of shots in Italy is very different from what you'd get in Oslo or in Portland or in Sydney - for example). It's a different approach and set of values.

I love going to Italy and having coffee. I just approach it all very differently there.