Coffee in Space: How Astronauts Brew Without Gravity

Sep 16

On Earth, brewing coffee is simple: water flows down through coffee grounds, gravity doing most of the work. But in the weightlessness of space, coffee behaves… strangely. Liquids float. Steam doesn’t rise. Grounds can drift away into the air. So, how do astronauts manage to brew their coffee?

Before 2015, astronauts mostly relied on instant coffee mixed into sealed pouches with water. It wasn’t exactly café quality. Then the Italian Space Agency and NASA introduced the ISSpresso machine, which can brew real espresso in microgravity using capsules and a sealed delivery system.

Even the cups are special. Astronaut Don Pettit invented the zero-gravity coffee cup, designed so liquid sticks to the sides through surface tension and flows toward the drinker’s mouth. No lids, no straws, no floating droplets.

Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut, was the first to drink espresso in space and she did it while wearing her Star Trek uniform.

So while you’re brewing your morning coffee, just remember: somewhere above you, astronauts are enjoying their own cosmic cup of joe. It might not have latte art, but it comes with a pretty killer view to make up for it.