It doesn't take a linguistics degree to deduce that crema means cream and refers to the naturally forming foam topping well-made cups of espresso. The espresso itself outdates crema and has its own rich history, but the discovery of crema can be traced back to one man in Italy, circa 1938. Achille Gaggia, an enterprising inventor, and Milanese barista patented the new espresso machine that produced espresso using pressurized water instead of just steam, the standard method at the time. A byproduct of this pressurized system was a foamy head resembling what you may find atop the beer. Keeping that in mind, coffee aficionados of the mid-twentieth century didn’t initially take to what must have looked like a science experiment gone wrong in their eyes. It took nearly a decade before the idea caught on, in part because Gaggia spun what he dubbed “Café Crema Naturale” into a feature of his new device. He argued that his machine offered superior extraction, manifesting in the pleasant cream upper layer. Wouldn’t you know, he was right! Espresso is principally made the same way across the world today, and the foam, once considered off-putting, is now permanently married to the drink.