CHENNAI: Google is celebrating the 171st birth anniversary of inventor Angelo Moriondo with an artistic doodle, who is considered to be the godfather of espresso machine.
The doodle created by Olivia When, features a timelapse of artworks showed through stages of the doodle draft, and the first known espresso machine filling multiple cups of coffee at once. The company also revealed that the all-brown doodle was painted entirely with coffee.
Angelo was born on June 6, 1851 in Turin, Italy and belonged to a family of entrepreneurs "who never stopped brewing new ideas or projects".
His grandfather founded a liquor production company that was passed down to his son Giacomo(Angelo’s father) , who himself went on to later build the well-known chocolate company, 'Moriondo and Gariglio' along with his brother Agostino and cousin Gariglio.
Angelo followed in his family’s footsteps and purchased two establishments - the Grand-Hotel Ligure in the city-centre Piazza Carlo Felice and the American Bar in the Galleria Nazionale of Via Roma.
Angelo first presented his invention at the General Expo of Turin in 1884, where he won the bronze medal for it. His machine used a combination of steam and boiling water to efficiently brew coffee.
In the 19th century, coffee was the hottest item in Italy and it took people over 5 mins to brew and get their favourite drink. Moriondo thought of a brilliant idea to deal with this issue. He made a espresso machine that can serve multiple cups of coffee at once which will allow him to serve more customers at a faster pace, giving him an edge over his competitors.
The machine was built by mechanic Martina, under the supervision of Moriondo, he never actually took the invention to industrial-scale production and limited himself to the construction of hand-built machines.
It was successively updated with a patent on Nov 20, 1884, in Vol 34, No 381 and the invention was then confirmed by international patent application after being registered in Paris on 23 Oct 1885.
"The machine 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. He received a patent titled, New steam machinery for the economic and instantaneous confection of coffee beverage, method ‘A. Moriondo’," Google's website read.
Ian Bersten, a historian chronicling the history of coffee, 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".
He was awarded for six years on May 16th, 1884, under the title of "New steam machinery for the economic and instantaneous confection of coffee beverage, method A. Moriondo".
Moriondo continued to improve and patent his invention in the following years and Angelo died on 31 May 1914 at aged 62 in Marentino, Turin, Italy. His cause of death was not confirmed by his father.
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