YESTERDAY AND TODAY, MASTERS OF QUALITY

From the original coffee roasting factory that opened in the centre of Vercelli in the ‘50s to the present-day factory, Mokaor’s history is the story of a great passion for coffee. From the ‘oven-toasted’ blend created by founder Cavalier Cassi to the many types of coffee handled personally by his daughter Ornella Cassi and son-in-law Gianni Alessio, who today run the company, this passion for coffee has been handed down from generation to generation for sixty years.
Today, with the same care and attention as in the beginning, Mokaor produces a wide variety of superb espresso blends for both the local and international markets, to be enjoyed both in coffee bars and at home.
A vast range of products, and a treasure trove of taste.

THE ‘50s: COFFEE ROASTING
IN THE CENTER OF VERCELLI

Many leading coffee manufacturers in Italy started out as small coffee roasters with an adjoining grocery shop.
Likewise, Mokaor’s history also began with a shop on the main street of Vercelli, Corso Libertà. Here, in 1954, Cavalier Giuseppe Cassi opened his Torrefazione, where coffee was roasted and sold to the public, on the ground floor of an old building dating back to the 15th Century. The original shop is still open to the public, although production was soon moved to larger premises following the success of the company.

THE ‘60s: THE CAVALIERE’S BLEND

In the late ’50s Cavalier Cassi added to his coffee roasting business that of the sale of coffee machines for coffee bars. However, as a great connoisseur of coffee he could not find a blend for coffee machines that fully satisfied him. He began to experiment with different blends and processes in his family’s roasting business, and soon he got to the root of the problem: the coffee was over-roasted, and this spoiled its aroma.
He tried, therefore, to roast the beans less, ‘oven-toasting’ them to a lighter degree than the blends of other manufacturers. Then he identified the best blends among the various types of coffee, and found his own ideal blend, well-balanced and pleasing to the palate, perfect for coffee bars. Mokaor Coffee was an overnight success locally, so much so that many people began to come to Vercelli from the surrounding towns just to buy it.

FROM THE ’80s TO TODAY:
A MODERN COFFEE ROASTING COMPANY WITH AN ARTISANAL SPIRIT

Mokaor’s success steadily increased over the following decades, until in the mid-‘80s it became necessary once again to expand its manufacturing plants.
So the company moved to a new building in Via Milano, Vercelli, with a technologically advanced roasting plant. In the early ‘90s Cavalier Cassi handed over the reins of the company to his son-in-law, Gianni Alessio, who had worked there since the ‘70s. Although the company was now a great deal larger and more productive both in Italy and abroad, Mokaor continued to be a family business firmly rooted in its local area, the province of Vercelli. Even today, every morning Mr. Alessio personally tastes all the Mokaor blends himself, to guarantee the highest standards of quality and the best tasting coffee possible.