Vancouver, Canada — est. 2002

Espro

Espro was started by two Vancouver engineers on a dare — first a better espresso tamper, then a press that filters coffee up to twelve times finer than an ordinary French press. Coffee, with the guesswork engineered out.

Shop Espro

2002

founded in Vancouver by two engineers, on a dare

1st product

a calibrated tamper — still a café standard

12× finer

double micro-filters vs. a standard press screen

$13,000

the machine that inspired a press for the rest of us

A dare, then a mission

Espro started in 2002 with a dare between two friends in Vancouver: build a better espresso tamper. Chris was designing fuel-cell cars at the time; Bruce was finishing an MBA at MIT. They worked on it during evenings and weekends, and the result — a calibrated tamper that clicks at exactly the right pressure — is still a café standard today.

The $13,000 cup of coffee

The same year, they came across the Clover — a $13,000 brewing machine that made an astonishingly clean, controlled cup. The question that became the company: why should coffee that good require a machine that costs as much as a car? They set out to get that consistency into a press anyone could afford.

The press, re-engineered

Their answer breaks the French press down to three things that matter — temperature, extraction, and filtration — and fixes all three. A double-walled vessel holds the heat. A vacuum-fitted silicone lip stops the brew dead when you press, so it never over-extracts. And instead of one coarse screen, two stacked micro-filters — 9 and 12 times finer than a standard press filter — deliver a cup with no grit at the bottom. It's a French press designed the way an engineer would design it, which is exactly what it is.