espresso

Today’s Google Doodle celebrating Angelo Moriondo’s birth anniversary was painted entirely with coffee. Coffee was the hottest item in Italy during the 19th century. However, people had to spend more than five minutes waiting for their coffee to brew which was a huge inconvenience back then.

 

Moriondo noticed that if he were able to brew multiple cups of coffee at the same time in less than 5 minutes then he would be able to serve more customers as well as move up in scale over his competitors.

 

In 1884, Moriondo presented his machine at General Expo of Turin where he got Bronze medal and patent for his invention. His machine consisted of a large boiler that produced heated water through a bed of coffee ground while a second boiler produced a flash of steam on the coffee bed to complete the brew.

 

The term espresso wasn't used until later, after the machine had been perfected by Luigi Bezzerra and Desiderio Pavoni. By the middle of the twentieth century, cafe owner Achille Gaggia patented the first modern espresso machine for commercial use.

 

‘Espresso’, when used in Italian restaurants, has a meaning of ‘quickly made to order’ - possibly to distinguish from brewed coffee made as a whole pot. We can enhance efficiency in terms of time while ensuring effectiveness in terms of specific need.

 

In India we see the use of a large tava (hot plate) to make varieties of dosas: plain, cheese, masala or even uttapas by a single person for multiple customers. We can and we must invent ways and systems to ‘deliver faster’ even when made to order

 

the invention of espresso displays

quicker is an always possible way

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis