Google celebrates 171st birth anniversary of Angelo Moriondo, godfather of espresso machines, with a doodle

Craving a hot cuppa to get you ready for the Monday morning? Thank the godfather of espresso machines.

Search engine giant Google came up with a unique doodle on Monday to celebrate Angelo Moriondo on his 171st birth anniversary.

Created by artist Olivia When, The artwork showed stages of the doodle draft, and the espresso machine filling multiple cups of coffee at once. The company also revealed that the all-brown doodle was painted entirely with coffee.
Google shared pictures from the doodle's early drafts, a timelapse video of the creative being made and the colour palette with different shades of coffee.

In the 19th century, coffee was the hottest item in Italy. It took people over five minutes to brew and get their favourite drink. Moriondo made a heroic entry and patented the first known espresso machine, making the lives of all people in India and around the world simpler.

Born on this day in 1851, Moriondo came from a family of entrepreneurs based in Italy's Turin. This encouraged him to brew new ideas or projects. "His grandfather founded a liquor production company that was passed down to his son (Angelo’s father), who himself would later build the popular chocolate company, “Moriondo and Gariglio” alongside his brother and cousin," the Google website informed.

Moriondo followed in his family’s footsteps and 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.

Despite coffee’s popularity in the country, customers didn't appreciate the time spent waiting for the coffee to brew. Moriondo thought of a brilliant idea to deal with this issue. He thought of making multiple cups of coffee at once which will allow him to serve more customers at a faster pace, giving him an edge over his competitors.

He shortlisted a mechanic and decided to build an invention that will be hailed for generations to come. Moriondo presented his espresso machine at the General Expo of Turin in 1884, where it was awarded the bronze medal.


"The machine consisted of a large boiler that pushed heated water through a bed of coffee grounds, with a second boiler producing steam that would flash the bed of coffee and complete the brew. He received a patent titled, New steam machinery for the economic and instantaneous confection of coffee beverage, method ‘A. Moriondo’," Google's website read.

Later, Moriondo continued to improve and patent his invention in the following years.

Coffee lovers, sip in tribute to the godfather of espresso machines.