A replica of Angelo Moriondo’s 1884 machine, reproduced by Enrico Maltoni’s coffee machine restoration company, Officine Maltoni. La machine est exposée au MUMAC musée à Milan. La reproduction est réalisée en laiton coulé avec placage en nickel galvanisé.
Enrico Maltoni est auteur et collectionneur de cafetières, de livres et de brevets. Depuis 2012, sa collection personnelle de plus de 10 000 brevets et documents historiques relatifs aux cafetières est conservée au Musée des machines à café de Milan. Ce musée, qu'il a fondé en association avec le groupe Cimbali, héberge la plus grande archive de documentation et de brevets sur la conception du café au monde.
Enrico est l'auteur de plusieurs livres sur l'histoire des cafetières, dont l'encyclopédie Cafetières : Macchina Da Caffe. Dans cet entretien, Jessica Sartiani interroge Enrico sur le travail d'Angelo Moriondo et comment son brevet a contribué à façonner les futures innovations dans le domaine du café expresso.
Jessica Sartiani- We understand that spirit burners had their limitations due to how long it took them to heat up the water. Was Moriondo’s machine powered by natural gas or kerosine?
Enrico Maltoni – It was powered by wood, having a stove under the machine, or gas [which] in the late-nineteenth century was called Benzo Carburo.
JS – Do we know what device was the first to use electricity as a heat source?
EM – To date, that information is not available, but in my opinion, most likely it was Bezzera or La Pavoni. Electricity arrived in Italy in the late 1800s in some cities.
JS – In your book, you have subdivided the many coffee makers into categories, such as steam pressure coffee makers, or percolators. Does a particular invention stand out for you as being the first espresso machine, or do you think of it more as a progression?
EM – For me, the first is the Moriondo machine,