The history of coffee dates back to 1400s and possibly earlier with a number of reports surronding its first use. The native undomesticated origin of coffee is thought to have been Ethiopia. The earliest substantiated evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree is from the early 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen spreading soon to Mecca and Cairo. By the 16th century it had reached the rest of the Middle East, South India, Persia, Turkey, the horn of Africa and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to the Balkans, Italy and to the rest of the Europe as well as Southeast Asia and then to America despite bans imposed during the 15th century by religious leaders in Mecca and Cairo, and later by the Catholic Church.

The Word ‘coffee’ entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch ‘koffie’ borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish ‘kahve’ in turn borrowed from the Arabic ‘qahwah’.

In Italy, like in most of Europe, coffee arrived in the second half of the XVI century through the commercial routes of the Mediterranean Sea. Venice was one of the first European ports to import coffee beans in the 16th century. Italy truly emerged as the global leader in coffee thanks to Milanese inventor Luigi Bezzera. In 1901, Bezzera came up with the idea of forcing pressurized water through a handful of coffee powder to produce a short, concentrated drink. This drink has to be prepared expressly for each customer and the water had to be expressed through the coffee. That’s why we call it the ESPRESSO!