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THREAD for coffee history nerds)
The moka pot was invented in the early 1930s by Alfonso Bialetti, an Italian engineer & aluminum metalworker, as an easy & affordable way to make coffee at home. At the time, coffee was almost exclusively made and consumed at coffeehouses. https://twitter.com/wirecutter/status/1354138507300794370
THREAD for coffee history nerds)The moka pot was invented in the early 1930s by Alfonso Bialetti, an Italian engineer & aluminum metalworker, as an easy & affordable way to make coffee at home. At the time, coffee was almost exclusively made and consumed at coffeehouses. https://twitter.com/wirecutter/status/1354138507300794370
Bialetti’s creation, the Moka Express, is by far the most common moka pot sold today & the most recognizable.
It has three main components made of cast aluminum: an octagonal base, a funnel-shaped strainer, and an angular pitcher with a hinged lid on top.
It has three main components made of cast aluminum: an octagonal base, a funnel-shaped strainer, and an angular pitcher with a hinged lid on top.
The design of the Bialetti Moka Express was inspired by art deco architecture and women’s skirts in the 1930s, says Bialetti Industries export manager Cristina Leporati.
Over the years, it has undergone only minor changes in shape, remaining virtually unchanged over time.
Over the years, it has undergone only minor changes in shape, remaining virtually unchanged over time.
Fun fact: Aluminum shortages during World War II almost doomed the Moka Express.
But sales took off again when Alfonso’s son, Renato, took over the business and introduced l’Omino con i baffi (“the little man with the mustache”) as its mascot in the late 1950s.
But sales took off again when Alfonso’s son, Renato, took over the business and introduced l’Omino con i baffi (“the little man with the mustache”) as its mascot in the late 1950s.
The character—whose image, based on Renato himself, is printed on the side of every Moka Express—has become just as iconic as Alfonso’s invention.
When Renato died in 2016, his cremated remains were buried in a specially made Moka Express.
When Renato died in 2016, his cremated remains were buried in a specially made Moka Express.
Over the years, the Moka Express has been displayed at the Museum of Modern Art and at Cooper Hewitt in New York, at the London Science Museum, and at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, among others.
