Your story is very upsetting for people who enjoy espresso. Your issue was almost certainly with your espresso machine, which likely had severe issues with main

Your story is very upsetting for people who enjoy espresso. Your issue was almost certainly with your espresso machine, which likely had severe issues with maintenance. I grew up with a generic espresso machine (pre-Nespresso, so one where you had to grind and compact the beans yourself) and I could make a decent cup from the age of 14. This was with North-American water and beans of average price and quality. And now you have a plethora of capsule-based espresso machines with identical convenience to a Keurig, from Nespresso to Caffitaly.