Nothing Ever Happens

I am so sad to tell you that Dott. Ernesto Illy, the father of espresso coffee, chairman of Illy Caffe, a curious brain observer, and a teacher who inspired me most, has passed away at the age of 82.

“Love,” he said once, when I first met him in Milan, “is the answer to the biggest challenges in life and business.” (and to the last one on this post)

It takes a humble eye, a big heart and a curious mind to find love and give it back to the world that surrounds you. It’s not easy, but is simple, and human. Dr. Illy was the most simple and human of all entrepreneurs I’ve ever met. He had endless love which he conveyed selflessly, in person and through the brand, to every single coffee bean, to its aficionados and to us, entrepreneurs.

Pls find below a small tribute to the man, who showed us the way to love the world - through humility, curiosity and courage - through understanding the origin of existence (and pleasures, including coffee taste) by exploring our brain (attached is his note “Cage and Chomsky” he sent me by email for my 30th birthday), and….

…through a good cup of coffee!

Thank you Dr. Illy, you have made the world a better place.

(Slovenian readers shall also read this fantastic interview)
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“Fine espresso paints the tongue”, he said, “it’s not a drink, but an elixir, with the most complex aroma and taste that one can imagine,” speaking of coffee as of an art. Dr. Illy scientifically researched coffee to the very last atom, and discovered all of 2.200 components that give it its magic. What was left undiscovered was art.

Illy uses exclusively arabica (species of coffee). “All coffee vegetables have 22 chromosomes, only arabica has 44. It’s a delicate plant, growing in the Ethiopian mountains, and needs special climate and care. It uses 22 chromosomes for living, the rest is a gift from God- for our pleasure only.”

Dr. Illy has proven that the real coffee is not a bad habit but can rather be
a healthy ingredient, or even good remedy to beat drug abuse and alcohol addiction. He used his own example to prove this theory, now endorsed by many scientific bodies.

When he had to remove his tonsils and the doctors gave him a shot of morphine, it had no effect on him. Why didn’t the morphine work? The receptors in the brain that are blocked by morphine are the same that are blocked by a component in caffeine - the “lactone of the caffeoylquinic acid.” Due to many years of his coffee drinking, his neuro-receptors had become immune to morphine.

It has been also scientifically proved that 64 per cent of an average adult’s antioxidant intake comes from coffee (antioxidants are proven to help mitigate the chances of heart disease and cancer).

Initial research on coffee, says Dr Illy, misled the public, more so because instrumentation techniques were not as fine tuned then as now. One scientist, who researched the impact of caffeine on human brain used 60 mgm per kilogram of body weight (while espresso’s caffeine content is hardly 1 to 2 mgm per kg of body weight). That was an alarmingly high level, which led him to the conclusion that coffee could be harmful to health.

Dr. Illy is also one of the earliest pioneers in encouraging, celebrating, and recognizing the efforts of the coffee farmer. There are many examples of this, but one that comes to mind is his personal efforts back in the early 1990s to work with specialty coffee farmers in Brasil to overcome the collapse of the world coffee price standards, and produce a superior bean that would command fair market prices. Illy was traveling to origin, and writing about it in such positive, enlightening ways, that he was given the name Papa Bean, Father of the Coffee Bean.

And when he was once asked how to make a perfect espresso, his answer was simple and eloquent: “Why, it takes love, of course!”

The perfect espresso

The rules for a perfect espresso using Illy coffee

- Water temperature should be 90°-95°C
- Coffee in cup temperature should be 80°-85°C
- Dosage should be 6-7 grams per espresso cup
- Volume in cup should be 30 m
- Time extraction should be 25-30 seconds
- Love