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  • History
    • Plate XV · section 02 of 17

    Seven centuries of utensils

    Large coffee urn decorated with a female figure in relief and a leafy handle, three-quarter view.
    The coffee fountain of the Green Dragon TavernWilliam H. Ukers, All About Coffee, 1922 · Public domain
    • around 800-1300In Ethiopia, coffee is a food: berries crushed in a stone mortar and rolled in fat. Between 1200 and 1300, hulls and seeds are roasted in clay dishes; whole beans are boiled, then the powder pounded in a mortar, drunk with the grounds. Decoction for four centuries.
    • 16th centuryThe small long-handled pot, the ibrik, makes preparation instantaneous in the Levant: powder thrown into boiling water, taken off the fire several times when it rises to the brim; cinnamon, clove, then sugar. Coffee attested in Istanbul in 1539, first public coffeehouse in 1554.
    • 1665The Turkish brass mill with folding handle and reservoir, made in Damascus; the Turkish service, long-handled pot and porcelain findjans in their egg cups.
    • 1685Dufour publishes the Levantine protocol: three drachms of powder for water worth one and a half times the cup, a dozen boilings by moving the pot away from the fire and back toward it; the pot is called ibriq and could never be imitated in France.
    • 1711In France, the grounds are enclosed in a fustian bag over which boiling water is poured: first steeping, first cloth filter. Broadbent in 1722 condemns boiling an ounce of powder per quarter gallon, the practice of London coffeehouses, and recommends five minutes of steeping.
    • 1760-1763In France decoction gives way to steeping; Donmartin, a tinsmith, invents a coffee maker with a canvas bag and a tap.
    • around 1800De Belloy's coffee pot, tinplate then porcelain: boiling water poured over the grounds held back by a perforated grid. Never patented, it inspires the whole century.
    • 1806-1812French patent of Hadrot (tin and bismuth filter, perforated tamper); Count Rumford's percolator, with a double wall of hot water, published in London in 1812 with an essay on the art of making coffee.
    • 1817-1827The English biggin with a flannel bag; Laurens (1819) patents the pump percolator in which steam makes the water rise; Rabaut (1822) reverses the direction and forces boiling water upward by steam; Gandais (1827) delivers the first truly practicable pump percolator, Durant (1827) the first inner tube that sprinkles the grounds.
    • 1827-1843Nörrenberg describes a vacuum machine (1827); Vardy and Platow patent in England the glass globe urn (1839); Napier builds his distillation and filtration machine (1840); Mme Vassieux obtains in Lyon the first French patent for a glass coffee maker (1842); Loysel de Santais patents in Paris (1843) the principle of the hydrostatic percolator.
    • 1852-1959Mayer and Delforge patent in 1852, according to Wikipedia, a French press without a tight seal; Ugo Paolini files in 1928-1929 a filtering plunger mounted on a rod, sold to Calimani and Moneta (US patent granted in 1931); Bruno Cassol adds in 1934 the spring that seals the rim; Bondanini files in Switzerland in 1955 the coffee maker that will become the Melior (US patent of 1959).
    • 1884-1902Moriondo patents in Turin an “instantaneous” steam machine (May 16, 1884, in volume); Bezzera files in Milan on December 19, 1901 the patent for the cup served one at a time (granted on June 5, 1902).
    • 1905-1908Cauchois sells in New York a Japanese paper filter (1905); Melitta Bentz files in Berlin, on June 20, 1908, her blotting-paper filter, registered on July 8.
    • 1933-1948Bialetti launches the Moka Express (1933); Schlumbohm files the patent for the Chemex (1939, issued in 1941); Gaggia markets the lever machine (1948).
    • 1954-1972Wigomat, first electric drip coffee maker (1954); Faema E61 with pump (1961); Toddy (around 1963 according to the manufacturer, design patent in 1967); Moccamaster (1969); Mr. Coffee (1972).
    • 1976-2005Nespresso patent by Favre (1976), launch in 1986; Saeco Superautomatica (1985); Keurig K-Cup (1998); Hario V60 (2004); AeroPress (2005).
    • 2009-2026Pressure profiling on the Strada EP (2009), Kalita Wave (2010), Kruve (2015), Decent DE1 (2017), Hario Switch (2019), new Davis diagram (Dec. 2024), V60 NEO (May 2026).
    Ukers 1922, ch. XXXIV (p. 619 ff.), ch. XXXVI and chronology pp. 725-737; Wikipedia, Espresso machine, French press, Vacuum coffee maker, Turkish coffee (accessed Sept. 7, 2026); DPMA, Melitta Bentz' coffee filters; other sourced dates in the following sections
    The method sheetsMethod sheetTurkish coffeeOttoman Empire, described by Thevenot in the mid-17th century; UNESCO intangible heritage in 2013Method sheetCafé de ollaMexico, no established date of origin; coffee grown in Mexico from the late 18th centuryMethod sheetBoiled coffeeThe common way in the cafés of London in 1722 and in the American colonies before 1800, still widely followed in Norway in 1922Method sheetThe French pressMilan, 1928-1934: Paolini, Calimani and Moneta, then Cassol for the seal; French ancestor of 1852 unverifiedMethod sheetThe Melitta filter1908, Melitta Bentz, DresdenMethod sheetThe Chemex1939 to 1941, Peter Schlumbohm, New YorkMethod sheetThe Kalita Wavearound 2010 according to resellers, Kalita, Japan (company founded in 1958 in Tokyo)Method sheetThe cloth filter1711, France (fustian bag); the Japanese flannel filter in the 20th centuryMethod sheetThe Karlsbad coffee maker1878, porcelain factory of Count Oswald von Thun, Klösterle (Bohemia)Method sheetThe Neapolitan flip coffee pot1819, Morize, tinsmith and lamp maker in ParisMethod sheetThe electric drip coffee maker and the mass-produced filter1954 Wigomat (Germany); 1969 Moccamaster (Netherlands); 1972 Mr. Coffee (United States)Method sheetThe AeroPress2005, Alan Adler, California
    Read nextRoastingFrom the brazier to the cylinder, 1200-1800Both mention grind, seeds and rise.ChronicleScience, burned stocks and the two warsBoth mention plunger, filter and moka.
    Previous sectionWhat is extracted, and how it is measuredNext sectionDecoction: ibrik, cezve, Turkish coffee
    In this plateThe 17 sections
    1. 01What is extracted, and how it is measured
    2. 02Seven centuries of utensils
    3. 03Decoction: ibrik, cezve, Turkish coffee
    4. 04Steeping: cloth bag, French press, tasting cup
    5. 05Gravity percolation, from De Belloy to the V60
    6. 06Filters: paper, metal, cloth
    7. 07Percolators and electric coffee makers
    8. 08The siphon: steam pressure then vacuum
    9. 09Steam pressure: Rabaut, Loysel, the moka pot
    10. 10Espresso, from Moriondo to the E61
    11. 11Espresso today: machines, technique, profiling
    12. 12The grind: grinders, fines, retention
    13. 13Milk
    14. 14Cold coffee and nitro
    15. 15Measuring: scale, refractometer, thermometer, sieves
    16. 16Today
    17. 17Archive plates

    The table of contents, with the first sentence of each section

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