Angelo Moriondo: Google Doodle celebrates espresso machine inventor’s 171st birthday

Google animated Doodle celebrates the 171st birthday of Angelo Moriondo, the inventor normally credited for patenting the earliest known espresso (coffee) machine in 1884, on June 6, 2022.

Who was Angelo Moriondo?

Angelo Moriondo was born on 6 June 1851 in Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia, and grew up there. He did his studies at the local school in Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia.

Angelo Moriondo came from an entrepreneurial family. His grandfather established a liqueur producing organization continued by his father Giacomo, who later established the notable chocolate organization “Moriondo and Gariglio” alongside his brother Agostino and cousin Gariglio.

Emulating his family’s footsteps, Angelo Moriondo bought two establishments: the Grand-Hotel Ligure in the city-center Piazza Carlo Felice and the American Bar in the Galleria Nazionale of Via Roma. Notwithstanding espresso’s popularity in Italy, the time spent waiting for the coffee to brew inconvenienced customers. Moriondo figured that making different cups of espresso at once would permit him to serve more clients at a faster pace, giving him an edge over his competitors.

Angelo Moriondo introduced his invention at the General Expo of Turin in 1884, where it was awarded the bronze medal. The patent was granted for a period of six years on 16 May 1884 under the title of “New steam machinery for the economic and instantaneous confection of coffee beverage, method ‘A. Moriondo’.” The machine was really worked by a mechanic named Martina, working under the direct supervision of the inventor.

It was progressively updated with a patent on 20 November 1884, Vol 34, No, 381. The invention was then affirmed by an international patent after being registered in Paris on 23 October 1885. Before long, Moriondo kept on further developing his invention radically, every improvement being patented.

Angelo Moriondo never took the invention to industrial-scale production. He restricted himself to the development of a few hand-built, machines which he desirously moderated in his establishments, persuaded that this was a significant ad for them.

Ian Bersten, a historian chronicling the history of coffee, claims to be the first researcher to ever find Moriondo’s patent. Bersten depicts the gadget 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.” Unlike true coffee machines, it was a bulk brewer and didn’t brew espresso “expressly” for the individual customer.

Angelo Moriondo died in Marentino, Turin, Italy. And he was about 62 years old when died.

On June 6, 2022, Google featured an animated Google Doodle on its homepage for celebrating Angelo Moriondo’s 171st Birthday.