The Rise of Espresso
The Rise of Espresso recounts the globalization of espresso coffee
A story of
COFFEE &
MACHINES
Creative producer
Statement
The Rise of Espresso is a collection and reconstruction of personal stories of those who have decided to leave their country in search of fortune, elsewhere. It is about those who have found in coffee, in the crop and in the machinery, a new chapter in their lives, in their careers.
The Rise of Espresso portrays the epic allure around this beverage, which - from a ritual entrenched in Italian culture and in convivial experiences - turns into a social drink to, then, become a global phenomenon over time. This leads to a rapid expansion of the coffee market and of its evolution, which eventually culminates in today’s great attention people place towards coffee as a raw material, towards the social and economic implications at origin, all the way to addressing quality control during the roasting stage and, eventually, to quality in the cup.
These worlds - that of (coffee) production and consumption, were originally very distant from each other.
These worlds have continued to talk to one another, and to interact for a shared purpose, that of making such an iconic drink, espresso coffee, increasingly more popular and sustainable around the globe.
Guido Bernardinelli
Creative Producer
Director's
Statement
When I was approached to make a documentary about espresso culture, which has spread around the world thanks to Italian migrants, I was very excited. At that time I was writing a documentary about my grandfather, a migrant himself and a barista for 40 years, in love with his work and especially with his espresso machine. My grandfather – and coffee – were central to my childhood: I spent the first years of my life in his coffee bar, while my young parents finished their college degrees. My grandfather even built me a special raised platform, so that I could learn to make espresso before I was tall enough to reach the arm of the machine. I never did manage to learn how to make coffee like his, nor did I become a barista; but I learned a lot of other things from my grandfather, such as how to tell stories. He used to do it verbally, to entertain his customers. I, who was more introverted, chose to do it by being behind the camera. My grandfather’s coffee machine was, in many ways, his camera too: through it he used to communicate to his customers, and through them learned about the world… he who, apart from his years spent as a bricklayer in Switzerland in order to make enough money to buy his café, had never traveled. In many of the people in this documentary, I see glimpses of my grandfather: in their resourcefulness, initiative, creativity, passion, and self-sacrifice. All for a cup of coffee! Each one of them contributed to creating an industry that, out of Italian creativity, has given birth to a global market that now consumes more than 2 billion cups of espressobased beverages every day.
I feel honored to have taken part in such a beautiful project and I am convinced that my grandfather Raffaele, who passed away just days before Accademia Del Caffè Espresso contacted me, somehow made this possible.
Enrico Ventrice
Director
