How was Espresso Machine born pre war, which is perfected by Achille Gaggia right after WWII in Italy?
Angelo Moriondo was a pioneering Italian inventor who created the world's first espresso machine in 1884. Here's his remarkable story:
Angelo Moriondo was born on June 6, 1851, in Turin, Italy, and came from an entrepreneurial family whose grandfather founded a liqueur producing company that was continued by his father Giacomo, who later founded the chocolate company Moriondo and Gariglio with his brother and cousin. Following his family's business tradition, Moriondo became the owner of the Grand-Hotel Ligure in Turin's Piazza Carlo Felice and the American Bar in the former Galleria Nazionale on Via Roma.
Moriondo came up with the idea of a coffee machine in the hope of gaining an edge over his competition at a time when coffee was hugely popular but brewing methods required customers to wait five minutes or more, figuring that if he could make multiple cups simultaneously he could serve more customers more quickly.
Moriondo presented his invention at the General Expo of Turin in 1884, where it was awarded the bronze medal, and the patent was granted for six years on May 16, 1884 under the title "New steam machinery for the economic and instantaneous confection of coffee beverage, method 'A. Moriondo'". The patent was successively updated on November 20, 1884, and confirmed by international patent application after being registered in Paris on October 23, 1885.
The machine worked by using a large boiler heated to 1.5 bars of pressure that pushed water through a large bed of coffee grounds on demand, with a second boiler producing steam that would flash the bed of coffee and complete the brew. The machine was built by a mechanic named Martina, working under the direct supervision of the inventor.
Despite his groundbreaking invention, Moriondo never took the invention to industrial-scale production, limiting himself to the construction of a few hand-built machines which he jealously conserved in his establishments, convinced that this was significant advertisement for them. There were never any "Moriondo" machines, no verifiable machines still exist, and there aren't even photographs of his work, with the exception of his patent, Moriondo has been largely lost to history.
This secretive approach proved to be his downfall, as others like Luigi Bezzera and Desiderio Pavoni would improve upon his design and achieve commercial success with their names.
Angelo Moriondo died on May 31, 1914, at age 62 in Marentino, a town about 20km east of Turin. Though he missed the opportunity for fame and fortune, historians recognize his crucial contribution. Coffee historian Ian Bersten describes the device as "the first Italian bar machine that controlled the supply of steam and water separately through the coffee" and Moriondo as "one of the earliest discoverers of the espresso machine".
In 2022, Google honored him with a Google Doodle on what would have been his 171st birthday, featuring espresso machines rendered in shades of coffee. His invention laid the foundation for the entire espresso culture that transformed coffee drinking around the world.
Angelo Moriondo 171 th Birthday on Google Doodle
Comments