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In 1946, Bialetti’s son Renato took The future remains unknown for the
[1]
over his father’s company and decided to moka pot although its birth brought coffee
produce only one product: Bialetti Moka closer to people, being available from
Express. The surging economy, growing public places like coffee shops to private Year Invented
middle-class population and the access to spaces like homes. The booming and
the world’s products in Italy after the growing popularity of other coffee brew-
WWII, helped the moka pot to gain more ers and technologies have challenged the 1933
popularity. The lower price of coffee and profits and existence of the moka pot as
Bialetti was on the edge of bankruptcy in
aluminum made coffee a more accessible
Beauty beverage to Italians. Also, the Moka Ex- October 2018 due to bank debts.
press allowed them to make rich authentic
But it may be too early to say ‘the
coffee in just minutes and most important-
moka pot is off the stage’: Lavazza
ly, at home. Since 1953, ‘the little man with
the mustache’ has become part of the launched a new version of its historic
moka pot Carmencita. Its signature
Evolution Bialetti products now. In the book The first coffee blend for the moka pot de-
Qualita Oro is still available today, the
brand’s logo, which you can still see on
veloped in 1956.
Curious Barista’s Guide to Coffee by Tristan
Stephenson, it describes the popularity of
the moka pot: “In just over ten years (after [1] Renato, who made moka pot
1953) the ‘Express’ sold 20 million units.” the symbol of Italian style across
The iconic product then went beyond the globe, was buried in a large
M any people nowadays enjoy cof- Brilliance of Moka Pot Italy in the following six decades. Today, replica of the moka pot when he
died at 93.
the moka pot refers to any of this type of
fee just like wine, different ori-
gins, different brewing methods,
The moka pot is a symbol of Italy. In-
homes had one as noted in the New York
different recipes. Unlike wine, vented by an Italian engineer Alfonso Bialetti coffee makers. Over 90 per cent of Italian
coffee making can be as simple in 1933 named after the Yemeni City of Times in 2016. The joy of brewing coffee
as three steps, grinding, brewing, and serving. Mocha, the patented Bialetti Moka Express over the stove is shared by people around
As a series of movements flows from step 1 to is a stove-top device featuring three cham- the world, from Cuba, Argentina to Aus-
step 3, we anticipate the final cup, wondering bers, using steam power to force hot water tralia and even China. Bialetti opened the
how it will smell and taste. Back in the 1900s, through coffee grounds as a mechanism to official stores on e-commerce websites of
the Melitta coffee brewer was born when make coffee. The hourglass shape with tra- Tmall and JD.com, where people can pur-
German Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz devel- ditional eight-sided chambers in aluminum chase genuine Italian-made Bialetti Moka
oped her own solution, a result from her dis- has remained the same in past decades. Express directly.
satisfaction with the taste of percolator coffee As a classic design, the moka pot is
as well as the coffee grounds left behind in her displayed in many world-famous museums
cup. In 1908, she filed a patent for the paper and galleries, such as the Museum of Modern
filter and the Melitta company was founded. Art and the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian
That was regarded as the start of pour over Design Museum. It is even the record holder
coffee. Now we have a diversity of choices of of the world’s most popular coffee maker in
coffee brewers in different designs, mecha- the Guinness Book of World Records.
nisms, shapes, colors, and even materials...

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