The History of Coffee

The true origins of coffee have been much contested over the centuries, but most Historians agree that it was first discovered around 600 – 800AD. One popular story tells of an Arabian shepherd who noticed his herd of goats acting strangely after consuming red berries from a wild coffee bush, and discovered that they had much more energy than normal, and refused to sleep. The shepherd himself was later spotted by nearby Muslim monks consuming the berries, and he told them of his increased energy and alertness.

Legend has it that the monks returned to their monastery and found the berries to be more palatable if they crushed them and stewed the powders in boiling water.

Certainly, coffee was widely drunk across the East after this time, and experiments led to the discovery of roasting the coffee beans to produce an even more delicious flavour. Coffee spread to India, North Africa, and other Eastern countries, and Constantinople (now known as Istanbul) saw the first coffee shop open 1475.

Coffee was first brought to Europe in the 1600’s via the vibrant, modern and wealthy Italian port of Venice, which was a key trading site between North African and Eastern countries, and the rest of Europe. The wealthy Venetians recognised and greatly appreciated this important substance and soon established the first Italian coffee bar, the world famous ‘Caffe Florian’ in towards the end of the 17th century.

From this moment on, Italy and Venice became synonymous with coffee, and in 1901 Luigi Bezzera invented the world’s first espresso machine. ‘Espresso’, literally meaning ‘express or fast’ in Italian, is considered the true connoisseur's way of drinking coffee. It forces hot water and steam under pressure (measured in ‘Bars’) through freshly ground coffee to create a short and intense coffee, full of body and flavour. A sign of a quality espresso is the ‘crema’ - a creamy layer that sits on top of the espresso to seal in the temperature and flavour. The thicker the crema, the better the espresso and the quality of the machine that produced it. All De’Longhi espresso makers have a Bar pressure of 15 or above – equal to those found in any professional bar or restaurant.

De’Longhi is situated in Treviso, very near to Venice, and great inspiration is taken from this when designing and crafting our domestic coffee machines to ensure that consumers can achieve a true Italian coffee in the comfort of their own homes.