Seventeen Coffees in Seven Cities

I love finding good espresso on the road (and at home).  I started shooting these illy moments out of thin air while sitting there sipping a coffee and it became a sort of subject matter for me.  The espressamente illy bars are always a welcome sight (especially in airports) and the chrome and the red make for great images.  This slideshow has shots from Dubai, Shanghai, Italy, Spain, France, Greece, and USA.

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illy break in Shanghai

A great place for breakfast or lunch in Shanghai is Wagas (it’s a small chain and there probably about 8 or so around Shanghai).  Excellent food and they serve illy fresh from the nitrogen pressurized cans.  If you think about it this is an amazing shot because the coffee beans come from Brasil, it’s roasted in Italy, shipped to China, and consumed by an American – and it’s only about a few milliliters of coffee.  Click the photo and you’ll almost be able to smell it.

Espresso Bar Milan

I have a hard time resisting a good shot of illy espresso.  Whenever I’m out and about if there is a cafe serving illy in a machine like one of these I try to take a 5 minute pause from what I’m doing and throw one back.  This machine happens to be in Milan in a bar not to far from the Piazza del Duomo.  Years ago I had the opportunity to tour the illy factory in Trieste, Italy where the coffee beans are sorted and roasted and I can tell you that the amount of work that goes into making that short cup of espresso in incredible.  What’s cool about a lot of places (but particularly in Italy) is you can easily find places like this with machines like this just walking around a city.  That cup was delicious.

The illy bar at CDG

… Have been a long time fan of illy espresso and the Espressamente illy experience.  Actually have a small collection of illy bars from a bunch of different cities as subject matter.  They’re always hip.