The Thousands

Possibly the most polite war in the history of wars is the Atomic war, for the hearts and minds of people who love a particular coffee machine designed in the late 40s by Giordano Robbiati. Weirdly, this international war is happening mostly in Australia, between Sorrentina, Bon, and Otto.

It’s remaining polite for a few reasons I think; firstly because of the way people love this machine. There’s this book about it, there’s this blog and this site and these, and on ebay they regularly go for a thousand bucks. Secondly, because the new players in this game, clearly big fans, know they’re riding big, Italian modernist coat-tails.

**There are a lot of myths about the Atomic, fuelled by the Robbiati family not wanting to discuss its history. Some say the original moulds were recently found in a barn. Some believe the factory burnt down in the 1980s, but this is disputed.

The good news is that it’s easy to ignore this polite vying for authenticity when you’ve got one of these on your stove, spurting out excellent espresso or just sitting there, looking for all the world like the war is over and there’s hope in your heart for a new Europe.