Coffee History in Italy: The Vicenza Botanist Behind Europe’s First Coffee Plant Illustration

Inside this story: THE FIRST COFFEE ILLUSTRATION · COFFEE IN EGYPT · THE ORIGINS OF COFFEE · COFFEE ARRIVES IN EUROPE · BEFORE ESPRESSO · Where can you see Prospero Alpini's original illustration

The Italian town behind the coffee story

Prospero Alpini an Italian physician and botanist was born in province of Vicenza (Marostica) on 23 November 1553. The town, in the province of Vicenza, is better known internationally for its medieval castles and historic chess tradition, but it also has a place in the history of one of the world's most popular drinks. His work offers a remarkable Italian chapter in the global history of coffee, from its African origins to the European coffeehouse and, centuries later, espresso.  The Centro Studi Prospero Alpini continues to research and document his work, while local cultural initiatives bring his botanical interests to contemporary audiences. 

 The first European coffee portrait, minus the berries

In 1592, a botanical book printed in Venice introduced European readers to an extraordinary plant from Egypt. Its name was bon, its roasted seeds produced a popular drink called caova, and the drawing accompanying the description had a curious omission: there were no coffee berries. The man responsible for the publication was Prospero Alpini (1553–1616), a physician and botanist born in Marostica, a historic town in the province of Vicenza, northern Italy.

Between 1580 and 1584, Alpini lived in Cairo as a physician to the Venetian consul Giorgio Emo. His interest extended well beyond medicine. He studied Egyptian plants, their commercial importance and the remedies prepared from them, recording practices that were still unfamiliar to European botanists.

In the garden of a man named Halibei, he encountered the plant from which Egyptians prepared coffee. His discoveries eventually appeared in two books published in Venice: De medicina Aegyptiorum (1591), which discussed the medicinal uses of coffee, and De plantis Aegypti (1592), which included the celebrated botanical illustration.

The original drawing was made by an unidentified Venetian artist. According to the University of Padua, the illustration showed a coffee branch without the berries. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, explains why the missing fruit matters: what we call coffee beans are actually seeds contained inside coffee cherries.

Caova: what coffee was called in sixteenth century Egypt

Alpini recorded something that coffee lovers would recognise immediately: coffee drinking was already a social custom. He described a decoction made from roasted seeds called bon or ban. Egyptians and Arabs drank this beverage, caova, in place of wine, and it was sold in public establishments. The scene was familiar centuries before European café culture developed: people gathering to drink coffee, with the preparation and enjoyment of the beverage woven into everyday society.

Alpini also documented the medical properties attributed to coffee at the time, particularly its effects on digestion and the stomach. These were historical medical beliefs, rather than evidence for contemporary health claims. His account is valuable precisely because it records what people were drinking, how they prepared it and where they enjoyed it. The book itself was written as a dialogue with Melchiorre Guilandino, Alpini’s former teacher at the University of Padua. Coffee appeared among the Egyptian plants that the European medical world was eager to understand.

Where did coffee originally come from?

Coffee's botanical origins lead to northeastern Africa.

According to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Coffea arabica is native to Ethiopia and South Sudan, with populations also associated with northern Kenya. Its natural habitat includes highland forests where wild Arabica coffee still grows. Yemen became a major centre for its cultivation, preparation and commercial distribution. By the fifteenth century, coffee drinking was established in the region, and the port of Mocha became closely associated with the international coffee trade. Its popularity spread through the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and the Ottoman world, where coffeehouses developed into important places for conversation and social life.

The distinction matters: coffee originated as a plant in Africa, developed into a major drinking tradition in the Arabian Peninsula and reached European readers through travellers, physicians, merchants and books.

Prospero Alpini belonged to that last chapter.

Who introduced coffee to Europe?

The history involves several people and different kinds of firsts. In 1582, German physician and traveller Leonhard Rauwolf published an account of the dark coffee drink he had encountered in Aleppo, in present day Syria. Ten years later, Alpini's botanical study gave European readers the first known printed illustration of a coffee branch. A 2025 study by Fernando E. Vega, published in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, confirms the distinction. Alpini's illustration depicted a branch rather than an entire tree. The earliest known printed depiction of a complete coffee plant, including its roots, appeared in a book by Swiss botanist Dominique Chabrée in 1666.

An intriguing succession of illustrations follows:

1592: Prospero Alpini publishes the first known printed European image of a coffee branch, without berries.

1605: Charles de l’Écluse publishes a representation including the coffee fruits, according to the University of Padua.

1666: Dominique Chabrée publishes the earliest currently identified illustration of the entire coffee plant, including its roots.

The progression is a small history of botanical knowledge itself. European scholars were learning to recognise a plant that was already economically and culturally important elsewhere.

From Venetian books to Italian espresso

The Italian connection to coffee predates the invention of espresso by several centuries. Alpini's observations were printed in Venice in 1591 and 1592. Coffeehouses subsequently became fixtures of European city life, particularly during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In Venice, Caffè Florian opened in St Mark's Square on 29 December 1720, becoming one of Italy's most celebrated surviving coffeehouses. The technology behind espresso arrived considerably later. In 1884, Angelo Moriondo of Turin patented an early steam powered coffee machine. Luigi Bezzera and Desiderio Pavoni contributed important developments in the early twentieth century, helping establish the preparation of coffee directly into individual cups. The Smithsonian's history of the espresso machine documents this evolution from mechanical innovation to the Italian coffee bar. For coffee lovers, these are two complementary histories: the origins of the plant and the beverage, and the much more recent Italian invention of a particular way of preparing it.

One drink, many cultures

Coffee's history also explains why a cup in Athens, Istanbul or Vicenza can be such a different experience. Traditional Turkish coffee, inscribed by UNESCO on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013, is prepared from finely ground coffee brewed slowly in a pot, usually served in small cups with water. Its customs are closely associated with hospitality, conversation and social occasions.

Traditional Greek coffee is prepared in a small pot called a briki, often served with a glass of cold water. Greece's national tourism organisation also records another modern Greek favourite: freddo espresso, prepared with espresso and ice. 

Italian espresso follows a different preparation method, using pressure to extract coffee through finely ground beans. These traditions belong to different communities and histories, yet they share an enduring fascination with the same plant.

And one of its earliest European botanical portraits remains connected to Marostica, in Vicenza.

Coffee history FAQ

Who first illustrated the coffee plant in Europe?

Prospero Alpini published the earliest known printed European illustration of a coffee branch in De plantis Aegypti, Venice, 1592. He was born in Marostica, in the province of Vicenza, Italy. The illustration showed leaves and branches without the coffee berries.

Who was the first European to write about coffee?

German physician Leonhard Rauwolf described coffee as a drink in a publication from 1582, following his travels in the Middle East. Prospero Alpini subsequently published influential medical and botanical accounts in 1591 and 1592.

Where was coffee invented?

Coffee has no reliably documented individual inventor. The Arabica coffee plant is native to northeastern Africa, especially Ethiopia and South Sudan. Yemen played a major historical role in cultivating coffee and establishing the beverage as a widespread social and commercial product.

Did an Italian discover coffee?

Coffee was consumed in Africa and the Middle East before Prospero Alpini's publications. His contribution was to early European scientific knowledge of the plant, particularly the illustrated botanical description published in 1592.

What was coffee called before espresso?

Prospero Alpini recorded the name caova for the coffee drink consumed in Egypt during the sixteenth century. He called the seeds bon or ban. These are historical names found in his account, rather than universal names used everywhere coffee was consumed.

Are coffee beans actually beans?

Botanically, coffee beans are seeds, usually found in pairs inside the fruit of the coffee plant. The fruits are commonly called coffee cherries. The seeds are processed and roasted to produce the coffee used in beverages.

When was espresso invented in Italy?

An important early patent for a steam powered coffee machine was granted to Angelo Moriondo in Turin in 1884. Further developments by Luigi Bezzera and Desiderio Pavoni in the early twentieth century helped establish the individual espresso preparation associated with Italian cafés.

Where can you see Prospero Alpini's original coffee illustration?

The Wellcome Collection preserves a digitised copy of the 1592 De plantis Aegypti, available online as a public domain work. The MUMAC coffee machine museum in Binasco, near Milan, also holds an original edition in its specialist coffee library.