Space station astronauts give their orbital espresso machine the taste test

TO boldly brew where no one has brewed before: An Italian astronaut has completed her one-year mission — to drink fresh coffee aboard the International Space Station.

TO boldly brew where no one has brewed before: An Italian astronaut has completed her one-year mission — to drink fresh coffee aboard the International Space Station.

On Monday Australian time Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti had her first quality caffeine fix in months.

A new espresso maker — specially designed for the weightlessness of space — was put into action.

As eager teams of engineers, and a few salivating fellow astronauts, watched on, Cristoforetti drew deeply on the warm black fluid from its vacuum-sealed packet.

The results were stellar.

"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised." Fresh espresso in the new Zero-G cup! To boldly brew... pic.twitter.com/Zw2CllJgzF

— Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) May 3, 2015

The next big pending advance in space-based coffee consumption: Cups.

The ISS will soon put its on-board 3D printer into action to manufacture coffee cups engineered to prevent the suspended fluid from sloshing about inside the zero-gravity environment where it would be of great risk to the delicate electronics.

So ... enjoying its enticing aroma remains out of the question.

The Italian-made machine uses coffee capsules like many commercially available units down below. The difficulty for the Lavazza ISSpresso machine is getting everything to mix — safely — in space.

Espresso, finally ;-) An espresso machine for the International Space Station! http://t.co/u89g8MZVL1 #Futura42 pic.twitter.com/FioSySPgN6

— Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) June 13, 2014