Godfather of coffee cups

Good design and good coffee are two indisputable facts of Italian life and they come together in the limited edition espresso cups commissioned from famous artists by the illy coffee company. Every year the Italian family-run company invites an artist to design a set of cups to go with its espresso coffee, which, it claims, is the best in the world.

illy coffee is available in about 200 cafes around Ireland and has a band of dedicated followers, some of who buy it in bulk from the sole distributor, Food Solutions, in Dundalk.

Of course we don't come near to the Italians in coffee consumption. Italians pride themselves on being the coffee connoisseurs of the world. They are the ultimate coffee purists, believing that coffee should be consumed pure, unadulterated by milk or froth, as an espresso. The espresso is served in a tiny cup. Like a shot of alcohol, it should be drunk very very quickly, for maximum effect. It is perfect for giving the body a short sharp shock in the morning, to kick-start the day. It is also thought to help with digestion, and to promote mental and physical stimulation.

Coffee is a hugely important part of the Italian way of life and the country has over 200,000 cafes. The cafe is where Italians go to meet, chat, and socialise over numerous cups of coffee. Preparing a good coffee is a fairly intense process, involving grinding to the right consistency and working up the right pressure in the coffee machine. Espresso drinkers are a discerning lot, prone to obsessing over grain densities and how to get the perfect creamy head.

illy has been in the business of producing coffee for over 50 years, since its founder, Francesco Illy, set up illycaffe in Trieste in the 1930s. He introduced pressurised cannisters that kept ground coffee from losing its flavour and the same method is used by the company today. Now a multi-million pound business, illy is in a class of its own, creating sumptuous television and film commercials, hosting conferences and employing artists and personalities to reinforce its glam-art image.

Movie director Francis Ford Coppola designed this year's illy espresso cups, adding his name to a list that includes artists Robert Rauschenberg and Paolo Rossetti and film maker Federico Fellini.

Coppola, who made The Godfather series of films, is passionate about food and drink and co-owns a restaurant with Robert de Niro and Robin Williams.

In designing the cups, he used the basic ingredients of a typical Italian meal, such as red peppers, olive leaves, peas and peppercorns and, of course, coffee beans. Other cups in the series, some of which are now collectors items worth hundreds of pounds, include David Bryne's silver cups, cups depicting typical Italian faces by Sandro Chia and cups printed with a map of the Italian riviera by artist James Rosenquist.

The Francis Ford Coppola coffee cups are available at approximately £67 for six, plus a cannister of illy coffee from Chakra Cafe, Castle Street, Cork; Kitchen Complements, Chatham Street, Dublin 2; In a Nutsehll Cafe, New Ross; gift shop, Howth or from the illy distributor, Food Solutions, Dundalk.