I walk through the door and am greeted by smiles and kisses on each cheek. I catch a glimpse of fresh ricotta cannoli on the table… Yes please! The coffee grinder is making that oh so familiar sound and the aroma of fresh coffee beans alluring my senses amplifies the two little words I have been anticipating since I woke this morning… ‘coffee Jess?’ Ahh I’m… at work, I’m at work but it feels like home.
Andrew is our technical consultant and an amazing barista, he is usually the man making the coffees for everyone in the morning, mine arrives embellished with a perfect layered heart. I admire it for a few seconds before taking that first sip, the creamy texture of the milk hitting my lips and the deep flavour of the coffee with a rich chocolate, nutty overtone makes me smile every time, and so my day at Di Lorenzo begins.
The story of Di Lorenzo Caffé begins much like my morning, with a passion for drinking and sharing damn good espresso coffee! Growing up in Abruzzo, a region in Italy lying less than 80km due east of Rome, Aldo Cozzi and Mina Di Lorenzo, the founders of Di Lorenzo Caffé embraced coffee culture from an early age.
Coffee culture is omnipresent in Italy and its story dates back to the 1600’s when coffee houses began to appear in major cities.
The Italian coffee served in the coffee houses was prepared in pots using infusion-based methods consistent with the prevailing practices across Europe. Although these cafes form an important part of the history of coffee in Italy, they don’t form part of the history of Italian Coffee.
Italian espresso as we know it was first inspired by the needs of consumers. For many workers, waiting five minutes for coffee to brew was too long (Not much has changed there!) Inventors started looking for faster ways to brew coffee to order. Being the age of steam, the first attempts used steam rather than water. A steam brewing contraption at the 1896 World’s Fair is said to have made 3000 cups per hour. Unfortunately, steam-brewed coffee tastes awful since coffee generally needs to brew at just below boiling (195-205°F or 90-96°C) to taste its best. In 1901, the Italian inventor Luigi Bezzera came up with a workable solution. Pavoni manufactured these first espresso machines in 1905 and so the espresso (fast) coffee was born!
The revolution in the history of espresso came in 1947 when Achile Gaggia registered a new patent, this time for a lever operated piston incorporating gearing and a spring. This was simple to operate by hand and would force hot water drawn directly from the boiler, through the coffee cake. The use of the piston meant extraction resulted in essential oils and colloids from the coffee creating a rich hazel-coloured crema on top of the resultant beverage. Today this is seen as the defining characteristic of espresso, however at this time, this new beverage was renamed ‘Caffé Crema’ (cream coffee) in order to distinguish it from the pre-existing espresso beverages. The slogans on the Gaggia machine made clear its revolutionary nature ‘Crema Caffé Naturale’ and ‘It works without steam’
The arrival of the caffé crema marked not only the creation of a distinctive Italian-Style coffee but also the birth of a mass Italian coffee culture…The coffee culture that Aldo and Mina grew up with. The pair met at a bus stop in the late 1970s, fell in love, got married and had a beautiful son Andrea. In 2000 Aldo felt the pull to return to Australia (his country of birth) Mina and Andrea were excited about the prospect of a major change, so with free spirits the family packed their bags and moved. After spending the first couple of years travelling, the Cozzi family settled in Sydney. They soon grew tired of not being able to find a good espresso, reminiscent of the Italian-Style espresso they were accustomed to. Aldo wanted people to try espresso the way it was done when he was growing up in Italy. With what little money they could scrape together the Cozzi family found a shop on Boundary Street in Darlinghurst. They tiled it, put in the benches and painted it. Over a few months Aldo developed a blend of espresso which truly delivers the rich flavours, aromas and crema of Italian espresso! The cafe was a success! It was everything the family had hoped for, a place which would bring people together; somewhere patrons could feel at home and share good espresso! The coffee became so popular that the family started wholesaling it as Di Lorenzo Caffé!
Today Di Lorenzo is a boutique coffee company distributing to some of Australia’s best cafes, pizzerias and restaurants who have a great relationship with the coffee merchants and who pride themselves on excellent fresh produce, beautiful food and of course amazing coffee.
Espresso anyone?
Di Lorenzo will have a new look website up and running in the next few weeks. For now you can read more on the current website: www.dilorenzocaffe.com
Words by Di Lorenzo’s in-house photographer Jessica Matino www.jessicamatinophotography.com
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