Ernesto Illy, 82, who as chairman of Illycaffe, maker of an expensive brand of coffee, was renowned as a scientific perfectionist of coffee, died Sunday in Trieste, Italy. The family did not want to disclose the cause of death.
"Our coffee is twice as expensive as the run-of-the-mill stuff, at least," Illy told the New York Times in 2001. "Our goal is perfect beans, zero defects, and we think we get close to that."
"Fine espresso paints the tongue," he said of his favorite drink, which he made a product of precision.
Illy was praised for his leadership role in the industry. "He ran what amounted to the Bell Labs of coffee in Trieste," Corby Kummer, author of "The Joy of Coffee," said of Illy in a telephone interview Tuesday. "He was an international leader in the science of grading and choosing the coffee; in promoting research on how coffee should be grown; on engineering the machines and the way it's roasted and brewed."
The Illy company sponsors an annual competition in Brazil for the grower of the best green coffee, with a prize of $30,000.
NEW YORK TIMES
