Meaning

noun strong black coffee brewed by forcing hot water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans

originBorrowed from Italian espresso, from caffè espresso (“pressed-out coffee”), form of esprimere (“to press out”), from Latin exprimere, from ex- (“out”) + primere (“to press”). Some sources derive the term from “expressly (‘individually, directly’) made for the customer”, or as “fast” (Italian espresso also meaning “fast”, as in English express (“fast”)) but these are not widely credited. The…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0