The man who turned an aluminum stove-top espresso maker into a kitchen staple has died. Renato Bialetti was 93. Bialetti's ashes were buried in one of his signature Moka Express pots at his funeral earlier this month. For a brief history lesson on Bialetti and his iconic coffee machine, we turn to Jeffrey Schnapp. Schnapp is director of meta-LAB at Harvard where he also teaches Italian and comparative literature. Nerds that we are, we hung on every word of his paper, “The Romance of Caffeine and Aluminum.”
Schnapp also pointed us to some vintage videos from the 1950's and ‘60's featuring the man with the mustache — the omino coi baffi — who is stamped on each and every authentic Bialetti Moka Express.
Music: "Moka Express Montage"