E-Paper
Google Doodle celebrates espresso machine inventor Angelo Moriondo on his 171 birth anniversary
Moriondo was born in a family of entrepreneurs in 1851 in Turin, Italy. He is credited for patenting the earliest known espresso machine, in 1884.
The Google doodle on Monday is celebrating Angelo Moriondo, inventor of the first known espresso machine, on the occasion of his 171st birth anniversary. The artwork, made entirely with coffee, features a GIF depicting the espresso machine. It is illustrated by Doodler Olivia When.
Moriondo's grandfather founded a liquor production company that was passed down to his son (Angelo’s father), who himself later built the popular chocolate company, “Moriondo and Gariglio” with his brother and cousins.
Following in his family’s footsteps, Moriondo purchased two establishments: the Grand-Hotel Ligure in the city-center Piazza Carlo Felice and the American Bar in the Galleria Nazionale of Via Roma.
Before Moriondo's invention, the customers would have to wait for a long time to get their drinks. Unlike true espresso machines, Moriondo's invention was a bulk brewer -- which helped him cut his time in coffee making significantly.
"Moriondo figured that making multiple cups of coffee at once would allow him to serve more customers at a faster pace, giving him an edge over his competitors," Google stated on its site.
His machine used a combination of steam and boiling water to brew coffee. It consisted of a large boiler that pushed heated water through a bed of coffee grounds, with a second boiler producing steam that would flash the bed of coffee and complete the brew.
After directly supervising a mechanic he enlisted to build his invention, Moriondo presented his espresso machine at the General Expo of Turin in 1884, where it was awarded the bronze medal.
He received a patent titled,"New steam machinery for the economic and instantaneous confection of coffee beverage, method ‘A. Moriondo’." Following year, he continued to work on his machine to make further improvements.
