Google Pays Tribute to Espresso Coffee Machine Inventor Angelo Moriondo

Know who is Angelo Moriondo and how he invented the espresso machine.

Google pays tribute to Angelo Moriondo with coffee-stained illustration

(Photo: Google)

The Google doodle is celebrating Angelo Moriondo today, Monday, 6 June 2022. For the people who don't know who he is, he is the inventor of the first known espresso machine.

Google is celebrating him on the occasion of his 171st birth anniversary. The artwork is made entirely with coffee and features a GIF depicting the espresso machine. The illustration is made by Doodler Olivia When.

Moriondo's grandfather had found a liquor production company that was passed down to his son. Angelo's father himself later built a popular chocolate company, “Moriondo and Gariglio” with his brother and cousins.

Angelo Moriondo's Work on His 171st Birthday

Following his family’s footsteps, Moriondo 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.

Before Moriondo invented the espresso machine, the customers had to wait for a long time to get their drinks served. Moriondo's invention was a bulk brewer.

Google mentioned on its site, "Moriondo figured that making multiple cups of coffee at once would allow him to serve more customers at a faster pace, giving him an edge over his competitors."

The machine invented by him used a combination of steam and boiling water to brew coffee. It had a large boiler that pushed heated water through a bed of coffee grounds while the second boiler produced steam that flashed the bed of coffee and completed the brew.

Angelo directly supervised a mechanic to build his invention and then presented his espresso machine at the General Expo of Turin in 1884, where it was awarded the bronze medal.

Moriondo received a patent, "New steam machinery for the economic and instantaneous confection of coffee beverage, method ‘A. Moriondo’." Then he continued to work on his machine to make further improvements.