Anyone who thinks that a good coffee can be a true masterpiece is not wrong. Anyone who is used to sipping the invigorating aromatic drink undoubtedly loves the unsurpassed Moka, which has always been synonymous with home and refreshment. Even the youngest and those in a hurry, accustomed to automatic machines, cannot fail to notice the difference between a coffee in a capsule or pod and one prepared with the classic “coffee maker”.
The result is a true sensorial exaltation that awakens all the senses: the characteristic gurgling anticipates the inebriating fragrance, which is lost in the air of the room, often crossing the boundaries of doors and rooms, to nestle in the nasal cavity of the lucky person who cannot avoid – instinctively – being pervaded by a sensation of profound well-being. The clinking of the teaspoon of the cup, in which perhaps a very white and very sweet sugar cube has been dipped, is part of the ritual, which ends with the approach of the lips that inevitably begin to blow –Fffffffffff!- on that steaming and vigorous liquid that pushes the drinker to take his time, a small pause that tastes of happiness.
It is not a quick coffee, taken standing up while putting on your jacket or making a phone call; it is a moment of decantation, in which you dive into that small dark sea, losing your memory for a moment. The sensation lasts only as long as the coffee is boiling hot, then, as if by magic, this rarefied and fragrant time leaves our hand, reminding us to return to our daily lives. Then we sip it, noisier than we do with a coffee pod, let’s say it, because that is the rule, we smile and make an appointment for later, or maybe the next day or who knows when, carrying in our hearts our very fragrant sensory experience.
Have you understood why the one made with the Moka is not just a coffee? Try to think about it next time, observe your movements, thoughts, sensations. I am sure you will agree with me. It was 1933 when Alfonso Bialetti and the inventor Luigi de Ponti patented their invention, subsequently produced in more than 105 million pieces. The project has never undergone significant changes, remaining true to itself, as if it were still tight and clinging to the innovation of a century before. Thus, while democracy was quickly withering, with the world preparing to lay the catastrophic foundations of the Second World War, as in Pandora’s box, there was still something good that was trying to emerge and that would have given moments of happiness even then, perhaps trying, in its own way, to distract nefarious thoughts and catastrophes never overcome. But that is another story, and it has neither the aroma nor the delicacy of the most loved and famous drink in the world.
Precisely for this reason, you will be happy to know that our darling, which has also become a world-famous product of Italian industrial design, is present in the permanent collection of the Triennale Design Museum in Milan and the MoMA in New York. Welcomed like a true star, to be acclaimed and remembered forever.
So, let’s help it stay that way, so that we can relive, whenever we want, the spell that transforms fragrant toasted and ground powder into the most fragrant of experiences, always a welcome guest in our homes.
So everyone will still be able to say: “It’s that of the Moka and not a simple coffee”.
Valeria Bellobono
