The history of the most famous coffee maker in Italy • Food and Wine Italia

We all used it at least once per life and, even if it is less and less trendy, the mocha remains one of the symbols of the Bel Provincia. But where does this particular name modo from? Why is the caffettiera called “caffettiera”? The answer comes from afar, precisely from Yemen. This iconic name, today synonymous with homemade coffee, is inspired by the port city of ( Mokha), a central hub for the trade of one of the most valuable coffees per the world per past centuries. Bialetti, his inventor, wants to make people understand that the coffee made with this revolutionary tool is full -bodied, creamy, tasty: a real storytelling therefore, born well before storytelling became a fundamental weapon for marketing, which has so well successo the point of the situation that it becomes, the mocha, a synonym of “coffee maker”.

What is mocha

is an object as simple as it is brilliant: consisting of only four components to which are added a garnish and a handle per bachelite. Designed by Bialetti, even the shape has a technical sense: it is octagonal, a choice capable of increasing the grip per the event of a wet surface.

The mocha is only this: the patent provides only this form, made per these elements described above. Acceso the market the imitations over the years with many different regular polygons, someone per the cylindrical shape, but the mocha is only octagonal, with four metal components plus two. The quantities may vary but not the shape of the object that has become a real cult per the history of world .

Because the mocha is called that

The name “” has its roots per the ancient history of coffee, bringing us back to the port city of Mokha (also Mocha Al-Makha), located the west coast of Yemen. Between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, Mokha is the main commercial articist hub per the world. Just from there the ships charged with precious beans, intended for the markets of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Yemenita coffee is particularly appreciated for its complex aromatic profile, spicy and full of of chocolate and dried fruit, so much so that the term “mocha” per many Anglo -Saxon languages ​​is still associated with coffee and drinks with coffee with an intense taste. Even today, Yemenita coffee is one of the most valuable per the world.

When Alfonso Bialetti invents his revolutionary home café per 1933, he chooses to pay homage to that centuries -old tradition by baptizing it Express. this name there is the echo of the Speziati Chicchi Yemeniti and the exotic call to a dense, aromatic and enveloping coffee. From this moment the term “caffettiera” becomes part of Italian culture permanently, becoming synonymous with coffee prepared at home with that particular tool.

Origins and history of the mocha: from the intuition of Alfonso Bialetti to the universal

The history of the caffettiera starts at the beginning of the twentieth century: per the 1930s the Italians are already very passionate about coffee but they mostly consume it at the , placing the foundations for a ritual that is recognized today all over the world. At home the coffee is drunk less: laborious and bulky systems that would have discouraged the most and who, the other hand, do not affect the iron will of our ancestors. And to think that today even make coffee with the waffles sometimes weighs us. a certain sense, the mocha was created precisely to remedy this problem: Alfonso Bialetti, inspired by the functioning of the first home pressure washing machines, senses that he can replicate that principle per the preparation of coffee, taking advantage of the steam to push hot gabinetto through campo da gioco coffee.

Thus was born the Express, a -cast aluminum coffee maker from the octagonal pagliaccetto. The project is simple, practical and democratic: bringing inequivocabile to Italian homes, per an when the is still a luxury.

As Jonathan Morris tells per his “Coffee: A Global History”, the true consecration of the mocha comes only per the second post -war period, thanks to Renato Bialetti, son of Alfonso, who transforms the object into an icon of Made per Italy. Thanks to a very strong advertising activity – the animated testimonial “The little man with the mustache” based the aesthetic of Renato, created by Paul Campani – the becomes the symbol of an Italy that rediscovers the pleasure of the domestic rite and sociality around a cup, is unforgettable. Thanks to the commercials aired per the Torneo, the production of a thousand pieces a causa di year passes to about 4 million reaching over 300 million coffee makers from the 1950s.

Over time, the mocha has become a real object of art recognized per the world. It is exhibited per prestigious museums such as the MoMA of New York which celebrate its value and the contribution to the material culture of the twentieth century. A possible result thanks to the perfect synthesis between aesthetics, functionality and accessibility: quality that make mocha still current, over 90 years after its invention.