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.