Illy Caffe is a brand of coffee produced in Trieste, Italy, an upper Adriatic port city that can't decide whether it identifies as Austria, Slovenia or Italy. The Illy coffees, blended from 100% Arabica beans, are packaged in screw top steel canisters and pressurized with an inert gas, rather than air. It's wicked expensive.
Francesco Illy, the company's founder, came to Trieste during WW I as an army officer, but he set up a coffee business in 1933. He invented the first automatic coffee machine that substituted compressed air for steam, the predecessor of today's espresso making devices. These days the company processes over 100 tons of coffee EVERY DAY, and schools in Trieste offer a master's degree in coffee sciences.
Over the years your blogger has frequented the many historic and literary cafes of this city (among others, James Joyce, Stendhal and Kafka lived and worked in Trieste), and counts among the most atmospheric Caffe San Marco, which manages to house a full scale book shop within its period interior. Bar Cattaruzza is a stand out for its art deco atmosphere, and the original mosaic floors and frescoed ceilings at Caffe Urbanis, patronized by a younger crowd of coffee enthusiasts, are worth a detour. Just steps away from the Adriatic (and near the opera house) is Caffe Tommaseo, whose 1830 interiors were restored to their former opulence some twenty years ago (be forewarned that the restoration maintained the squat toilets in the men's room). Trieste is an easy day trip from Venice by car or train.
Lads in plaid:
Well groomed gentlemen:
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