Can Coffee Be Perfect?
Even before it meets my lips, I am looking for signs of perfection in a cup of illy. They appear in tiny details, in the frothy crema atop an espresso and in the thousands of aromas that the illy blend gathers in a demitasse. True perfection may be an impossible dream, but that does not deter me from its pursuit. The perfect coffee is my mission, my passion and my obsession. So, peering into a cup of illy, I must ask myself: How can this be better?
My grandfather Francesco Illy was the first to ask this question. It led him to establish illycaffé in Trieste, Italy, in 1933, and inspired him to invent the modern method for making high-pressure espresso, the silky, complex and aromatic drink we know today. It led us to craft a singular illy blend of nine highest-order Arabica beans, ensuring a consistency and balance that surpasses what can be found from a single source. For 82 years, a succession of Illy family has embraced and advanced the pursuit of perfection, using the best technology at the points of growing, sorting, roasting, packaging and brewing in order to make coffee for lovers of goodness and beauty around the world.
How can this be even better?
At illy, we pioneered the idea that a perfect cup of coffee needs to go beyond pleasing the palate. We believe it should build a better world. Since 1991, we purchase our coffee directly from the hands of growers. Illy selects the growers we work with based on the quality of their beans, then cultivates personal and exclusive relationships so that every cent we spend, and every bean we buy, contributes to a greater good. These farmers live and work in the remote cradles of coffee — Columbia, Costa Rica, Brazil, India. Here, the best of nature and humanity come together to give the precious coffee bean a meaningful life. By practicing responsible business from grower to trader to roaster, coffee is our conduit for improving the lives of 25 million families in over 70 countries.
Like fine wine, illy is not a beverage, but an elixir of happiness. The perfect coffee engages the senses and satisfies the soul. It is a dream that should be savored and shared. The taste of illy is my delicious dream — for a world that is fair, beautiful and good, where the aroma of coffee is a symbol of harmony.
— Andrea Illy, Chairman and CEO of illycaffè S.p.A.
