ILLYCAFFÈ PRESS KIT

Passion, p. 2 The history, the Illy family, the company today

Quality, p.6 One blend, 100% Arabica

Sustainability, p. 7 Quality and sustainability, an indissoluble pair

Science, p. 10 Science and innovation in the world of coffee

Knowledge, p. 12 Università del Caffè and Ernesto Illy Foundation

Experience, p. 14 The perfect cup of coffee, everywhere, with any preparation

Art, p. 17 Kalogathia : excellence goes well with beauty

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PASSION

"Delighting people who love the quality of life thanks to the best coffee that nature can offer, enhanced even more by the most advanced technologies: this is Illycaffè mission, passion, and obsession. My family has been committed to this challenge for four generations: give a smile at each cup of coffee” says Andrea Illy. illycaffè is the reference for the excellence and culture of coffee. Thanks to the constant innovation and the quality of its products, it aims at growing and becoming high quality leader at global level, and at the same time at creating value for all its stakeholders. illycaffè most important values are its passion for excellence which means love for what is beautiful and well made, and for ethics, which means building long-term value through sustainability, transparence, and people enhancement.

In its unrelenting quest for perfection, illy has built a world made of ethics, intelligence, experience, taste, science, and art, all focused on coffee.

Every day, with illy a little action such as sipping a cup of coffee has become a moment of pure revelation, thanks to the harmony between the pleasure of the senses and the intellectual and aesthetic pleasure, tasting happiness sip after sip. It is a spark, an inspiration, an incentive to look for happiness in every day’s life. It’s an invitation to live each moment in an extraordinary way. This is what live happilly means.

A bit of history A cup of illy coffee is only the final result of a long and well-constructed project, the fruit of the long fascination for excellence begun in 1933, when Francesco Illy, coming from Hungary, arrived in Trieste in the First World War as soldier of the Austro-Hungarian Army. He chose this city to establish its business in the cocoa and coffee industries, and at last he set his mind only on the latter. He had a very simple idea in his mind: to produce the best coffee in the world. And to market it worldwide. This is how illycaffè was born.

Some years after the end of the Second World War, the reins of the company went to Ernesto Illy, the son of the founder, who created year after year a research lab which later on became the breeding ground of patents and innovations. Ernesto’s passion for quality coffee and its diffusion made the international media call him “Papa Bean” and “Herald of the espresso”.

The death of Ernesto Illy, in February 2008, caused huge emotion worldwide in all those people who had met him, and in the coffee world. To remind him, in February 2009 the Ernesto Illy Foundation was established with the goal of developing and improving the heritage of ideas, activities, and programs that he has left as his moral legacy.

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illycaffè today illycaffè is based in Trieste. In 2005, Andrea Illy is appointed Chairman and Managing Director of the company, whose internationalization he has successfully pursued by innovating its processes, its culture, and the search for quality. illycaffè produces and markets worldwide only one blend of high quality coffee, made of nine kinds of pure Arabica. The unmistakable taste and aroma of illy are born from the perfect balance of these ingredients coming from South America, Central America, India, Africa, and China. Taste and aroma are always the same in each cup of coffee sipped in any country of the planet. In order to increase each profile of its blend, in 2010 the company has created the Monoarabica line of products, and has started to sell three out of nine Arabicas: those from Brazil, Ethiopia, and Guatemala.

Worldwide, more than 7 million coffee cups are enjoyed every day, made with the illy blend for HoReCa channels (hotels, restaurants, caffès), for home, the office and on the go. Depending on the channel, the illy blend is available in cans (of either beans or ground coffee), capsules, and pods. Illy coffee is sold in over 140 countries, in each of the five continents, and it is available in more than a hundred thousand bars.

The company has direct and indirect control over eleven sister companies and gives work to almost 1084 people: in 2014 it has had a consolidated turnover of 391 million Euros. The exports have topped 62% of the global sales.

Around illycaffè, the Illy family has built the holding Gruppo illy Spa, that gathers in a pole of taste some companies of excellence, such as Domori (high quality chocolate), Dammann Frères (French tea maker), and Mastrojanni (wine farm of Montalcino). Besides, it has a share in Agrimontana (confectioner of high quality products, among which marrons glacés and jams), and in Grom (extra-high quality ice-cream maker). Riccardo Illy is Chairman of Gruppo illy.

The world in a cup of coffee Everything in illy begins with the quality of coffee. The company purchases directly its coffee from the farmers, in an economic, social, and environmental sustainability process that goes all the way down the supply chain, from the bean to the cup. Thanks to this process, illycaffè has been the first company in the world to obtain in 2011 from DNV Business Assurance the certification of “ Responsible Supply Chain Process ”, that states its approach to sustainability in every activity, with a special attention to the supply chain. The focuses of this innovative standard are the quality of the produced coffee and the creation of value for all its stakeholders.

In order to produce and to market the best coffee that nature can offer, illycaffè pays the greatest attention and focuses on science and to researches applied to the raw materials and to all the producing processes, from selection to preparation, so that many innovations that have marked the history of coffee in the past eighty years were created by illy. The company is committed to this through its Research and Innovation Division , with the Ernesto Illy Foundation, and what's more with many agreements with academies, scientific institutions, and universities.

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In order to improve and to spread the knowledge and culture of coffee, in 2000 illycaffè has created Università del Caffè, that spreads its heritage of competences to coffee producers and growers, coffee bar businessmen and baristas, restaurants and hotels, and to consumers and connoisseurs as well. In 14 years of business, it has trained more than 158 thousand people worldwide.

In order for the consumers to always experience an exclusive and extraordinary cup of illy coffee – at the bar, at home, or at the office – illycaffè has created many products and projects for each place, situation, and preparation. The program Artisti del Gusto distinguishes the most excellent coffee bars at international level; the Espressamente illy chain with 230 stores in over 30 countries; and the Gambero Rosso Guide to the Italian Coffee Bars.

Among the home dedicated products and systems there is Iperespresso , that allows to make an espresso of fresh features, such as smoothness, full-body, and aromas, with a rich, persistent and velvety cream. Coffee makers and systems have been developed for the office by Mitaca, a company born by a joint-venture of illycaffè (which owns 50% of its shares). And, last but not least, illy issimo , the “ ready to drink ” coffee available worldwide, allows everybody to enjoy coffee anywhere, thanks to a joint-venture between illycaffè (50%) and The Coca Cola Company.

Its aim to perfection, its passion for beauty and what is well made have spurred illy to enhance the pleasure of the senses given by coffee to involve the sight and the brain as well, mainly through art , in a synesthesian experience in which all senses mix and blend with the intellectual pleasure. This is how in 1992 the illy Art Collections were born, the famous cups designed by artists. On the surface of the icon- coffee cup more than 70 famous representatives of the international contemporary art have expressed themselves, from Michelangelo Pistoletto to Marina Abramović, from Anish Kapoor to Daniel Buren, from Robert Rauschenberg to Jeff Koons, from Jan Fabre to James Rosenquist, from Jannis Kounellis to Julian Schnabel, from Louise Bourgeois to William Kentridge. The icon-cup of coffee was designed by the architect and designer Matteo Thun. illy has been actively helping to enhance and promote contemporary art for more than twenty years now, by working side by side with famous and emerging artists, by creating its own projects (such as Galleria illy), by sponsoring great events and international exhibitions – such as the Biennial of Venice and the most significant art fairs (among which Artissima, ARCO Madrid, Frieze Art Fair, Armory Show, SP-Arte) - , and by offering visibility to the art and the artists of the emerging countries, with its project illySustainArt .

Expo 2015 illycaffè is the official partner of Expo 2015, it will be in charge of the creation and management of contents, exhibitions and events associated with coffee in the Coffee Cluster common area.

Besides, Expo 2015 will be part of the promotional and development program of ICO (International Coffee Organization) market, the reference for the coffee industry.

The Universal Exposition of Milan – “Feeding the planet. Energy for life” - will give special visibility to traditions, creativity, and innovation in the food industry. illy’s contribution fits perfectly with this context: it has a well-constructed program, aimed at spreading the culture of coffee and its critical importance to the global social and economic systems. illycaffè has been chosen as Expo 2015 partner for its holistic approach to this subject, in order to give value to the 4

participation of the guest countries, and to make the collaboration among different cultures easier, in agreement with the Expo leading values.

This will be the biggest event ever dedicated to coffee, and the whole project will be marked by a special attention to sustainability.

In order to enhance the ultimate espresso experience and blend the aesthetic and the tasting pleasures, on this occasion a new special edition of coffee cups dedicated to Expo 2015 will be launched.

On the occasion of Expo 2015, the first Global Coffee Forum will be organized by EXPO, ICO (International Coffee Organization), Fiera Milano and Ministero dell'Agricoltura. Moreover the International Coffee Council agreed to hold an International Coffee Day each year on 1 October. The 1st International Coffee Day will take place on 1 October 2015.

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QUALITY

Always well-balanced in its constant combination of sour and bitter, the illy taste has an immediately perceived sweet shade. Its rich and fascinating body is felt by the palate with a tactile feeling of pure pleasure. As in a symphony, then, the announced theme is declined and enriched by the soloists with tones of flowers, fruits, caramel, toasted bread, chocolate, almonds, and honey. All these tones get together smoothly in a sweet final feeling, also – and most of all – for those who like to drink plain coffee.

One blend, the symphony of nine soloists The unmistakable illy taste and aroma, always the same in every cup and in every spot of the world, are the result of the masterly blending of the best Arabica coffee varieties, coming from the producing countries in South America, Central America, India, Africa, and China.

The illy blend enhances at the best its nine soloists, just as each of the nine Arabica coffee varieties that make this aroma symphony gives its contribution to enhance the harmony and the final result, by giving a special note, a nuance, a distinctive tone. Between the single-origin and the illy blend there is the same difference that you can notice between a sonata for soloist and a symphony. The richness of the symphony is not only in the soloists’ talent, but also in the conductor’s interpretation, and first of all in the composer’s orchestration. While the different origins enhance the illy blend, also the contrary is true: the illy blend uses and enhances at best its nine soloists.

The best coffee, the best technologies

For 80 years illy has been led by passion and by the pursuit of quality, to the point that those features show up in every aspect of its work, from the coffee bean to the coffee cup.

Since 1935, for instance, illy has introduced its pressurized cans, that allow to preserve more than a thousand aromatic components of illy coffee, to keep the scent, to give roundness, sweetness, and increase the intensity to its taste.

In order to preserve all the coffee aromas, in 1932 illy invented the pressurized can, which maintains its fragrance just the same for long, and at the same time gives roundness, sweetness and intensity to its taste. To be absolutely sure that only the best coffees get into the illy blend, its research laboratories have studied all their features from many points of view (chemistry, biology, technology, and physiology), in a Research and Innovation Division acknowledged worldwide among the excellence centers.

To avoid that even one bean could alter the taste of its blend, the company checks them one by one, through an electronic selection system that can process hundreds of beans per second. What’s more, each lot of product is then subject to 125 checks and to 8 sensorial tastings as well.

In order to obtain the best beans that nature can offer, illycaffè directly purchases them from the coffee growers, without go-betweens, after having trained them to produce coffee of quality while respecting the environment, and recognizes them gains appropriate to the produced quality.

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SUSTAINABILITY illycaffè has made of ethics and quality its core values. At the beginning of the Eighties, when Ernesto Illy was searching far and wide Brazil to look for the perfect beans, and had started to teach coffee growers how to obtain them and to explain that there was a market willing to pay for them in a proper way, he was led by a concept of entrepreneurship that puts the ethic dimension at the core of its activities.

Today ethics and sustainability are values that permeate the way to be a company.

This is why in 2011, the first among all the companies of the world, illycaffè has obtained the “Responsible Supply Chain Process” certification by DNV Business Assurance, the market leading certification body which puts at the center of sustainability the quality of coffee and the value creation for all the involved stakeholders – with a special focus on the growing and selection phases of the green coffee that illy directly buys from 15 countries and 40 areas of productions.

The sustainability certification standard developed by DNV Business Assurance – the first of its kind – has taken illycaffè supply chain as reference and model, and has compared it with the current guidelines and the emerging criteria of business sustainability and responsibility, and with the certification standard activities as well.

Social, economic, and environmental sustainability The exclusive and unique approach of illycaffè to sustainability rests on three main pillars: selection and direct working relations with the best producers of Arabica coffee; know-how transfer , and training to quality production while always respecting the environment; remuneration for the quality produced, and the pledge to provide them with a profit anyway, so to make their production sustainable. This vision goes very far back in years: in fact, since the Eighties illycaffè has always purchased 100% of its raw materials directly from the producers, without go-betweens and outside the commodity international market. illycaffè supply chain is therefore exclusive, based only on exclusive and excellent qualitative standards, to the point that they are considered out of the market and the Brazilian growers - as a joke - say that “they do not exist”.

In the coffee producing countries, illy is the real engine, able to set off the development of big regions. In Brazil – that still at the beginning of the Nineties was producing coffee in big quantities, but low in quality – illy has begun in 1991 an incentive mechanism which brought the Brazilian coffee bean to a much higher quality, recognized and appreciated at global level. This mechanism is the Premio Ernesto Illy para Qualidade do Café para Espresso : every year illycaffè awards the growers who have had the best quality harvest. Thanks to this award, some regions of this country – such as the Cerrado and the Da Mata areas – have made a name for themselves in the coffee quality scenario.

In Ethiopia , known for its thousands of small coffee growers, illy offers its support both through educational activities and the development of local communities: for instance, it has helped to build coffee washing stations, roads, schools and a rural medical dispensary. As for research, Fondazione Ernesto Illy,

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illycaffè and the Addis Ababa University have launched a project to study and select the original varieties of the Ethiopian coffee, in order to help preserving and developing the original varieties of Arabica coffee, all along with a collection of wild plants born in the wild forests of Ethiopia.

In the producing countries, illycaffè promotes agronomic techniques at low environmental impact, which involve the adoption of processes and methods consistent with the protection of the environment and the food safety, also by using the smallest amount of synthetic products.

The respect for the environment is unmistakable at the production plant as well: in 2003 the plant of Trieste has obtained the ISO 14001 certification, which certifies the presence of a system of environmental management. In 2004 the company has voluntarily chosen to agree and to implement the EMAS Rule, and in 2005 it won the EMAS award for its commitment in production-related environmental improvements.

100% of the power used in the Trieste factory comes from renewable sources. In 2011 one of northern Italy’s biggest photovoltaic systems has been installed into the Distripark logistic centre. Additionally, the company recovers the heat produced during its coffee bean roasting to produce heating power.

In June 2012, illycaffè has signed a voluntary agreement with the Italian Ministry of the Environment and the Protection of the Land and Italian Sea that aims at reviewing, cutting, and neutralizing the impact of the coffee industry on the environment. The main purpose of this project is to define and to establish a system to manage carbon emissions that may become a standard for all companies working in the coffee industry. This is a further step that once again reflects the well rooted commitment of illycaffè to sustainability.

In 2013 and 2014 illycaffé was named as World's Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute, an independent center of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance.

In 2014, globally, illycaffè has been considered the company that stands out the most for its commitment to social and environmental responsibility towards coffee growing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. This is the conclusion of a detailed independent research project on the world's leading coffee brands conducted by the international consortium ICRT (International Consumer Research & Testing), which groups together a variety of consumer associations, including the Italian organisation, Altroconsumo.

In order to communicate the approach to sustainability, illycaffè in 2014 produced “A Small Section of the World” documentary, which tells about how a cup of coffee has changed the lives of many women and has allowed them to rise to their potential. Lesley Chilcott, producer of Waiting for Superman (2010) and winner of the Oscar for her co-production of An Inconvenient Truth (2006), is the director of this gripping story, sung by the voice of Alanis Morissette, one of the most honoured rock artists of all time. The documentary focuses on the women of ASOMOBI (Asociacion de Mujeres Organizadas de Biolley), the association of women coffee producers that live in Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica. Their story unfolds over the course of 17 years, and the documentary illustrates how women are a fundamental part of coffee culture, in every single process, from start to finish.

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Value report

To illy the leading principle of its business philosophy is the creation of value for all actors involved along the producing chain . The Sustainable Value Report (http://valuereport.illy.com/) describes in details all strategies and good practices through which illycaffè implements sustainability in its many accepted meanings: economic, social, and environmental. It explains how the company pursues the economic sustainability at different levels, with a special attention to the producing countries where the company directly purchases, without intermediaries, almost all the green coffee needed for its production (with the sole exception of Ethiopia, where the political system does not allow a direct contact with coffee growers). It tells how illycaffè supports and creates sustainability at social level by insisting on the concept of growth and of know-how transfer. It describes the adopted initiatives, along the producing chain, to reduce as much as possible the environmental impact of its activities.

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SCIENCE

There are only two ingredients at play here – water at 90°C and 50 beans of ground coffee – but a lot of complexities and endless interpretations as well. In order to guarantee the unmistakable and inimitable taste of its blend, illy has always been committed to studies and researches on coffee and all its productive processes, from selection to preparation, through a multidisciplinary approach that involves many study subjects, among which agronomy, botanic, physics, mathematics, chemistry, biochemistry, biology, statistics, and computer science.

In time, the company has signed deals and agreements with scientific institutes, private companies and famous universities such as Oxford and Cambridge: all have found in illycaffè and in its plants the fertile ground to develop new initiatives and research projects. illycaffè is also committed inside the most influential international coffee organizations: ASIC (Association for Science and Information on Coffee); ICO (International Coffee Organization), where Andrea Illy acts as Chairman of the Promotion and Market Development Committee since 2012; and ISIC (Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee).

Science and innovation in the world of coffee Three out of eight extremely advanced innovations which have changed for good the way of making, thinking and tasting coffee in the past century are due to illycaffè.

Two of them were ideas of the company’s founder, Francesco Illy: in 1935 “ illetta ”, a professional espresso coffee maker, the first of its kind for espresso coffee; and “ pressurization ”, a technological system used even today by the company, by which the air inside the package is substituted by inert gas under pressure. The process traps inside the aromas of the freshly ground coffee and secures them in the package so to blend with the coffee oils, and to give roundness, sweetness and depth to the taste, and to maintain its aroma for long. Pressurization allowed the coffee exports beyond the production area, and begun the international vocation of the company.

The third innovation of illycaffè begun in the Seventies: the industrialization of the paper coffee pod , the first example of a perfectly dozed quantity of coffee - for the first time in a simple-to-use package there was the perfect dose of coffee at the right pressure – in order to prepare the best espresso ever. In the Nineties, the coffee pod became an industrial international standard (E.S.E. – Easy Serving Espresso) and today it represents the only “open” system for espresso coffee prepared with paper pods. A standard which many coffee roasters and espresso machine makers have joined of their own will.

The recent creation of Iperespresso , that allows preparing also at home an extraordinary aromatic, intense and full-bodied espresso, topped with a rich, long-lasting and velvety cream that can last for over fifteen minutes, is just a further innovation. This system is based on a capsule that has a two-phase extraction of coffee, called “ hyperinfusion ” and “ emulsion ”, a process completely different from “ percolation ”, the traditional preparation by which espresso is obtained. With Iperespresso the third generation espresso was thus born.

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Coffee is an extremely complex beverage, made of 1550 chemical substances (800 of them volatile), which have to blend harmonically in order to improve its aroma, and over 13 chemical-physical variables that may have an impact on the preparation. The Research & Innovation Unit of illycaffè – a famous center of excellence at international level - deals every day with this complexity in two quality laboratories, in Trieste and in Sao Paulo in Brazil, and in four research centers: Aromalab, SensoryLab, Biolab, and TechLab.

According to an independent study conducted at global level in the coffee industry, illycaffè is at the third place of the international classification for the number of patents in the coffee field (source: European Patent Office, February 2010).

The Ernesto Illy Foundation Passion and the interest for research are distinctive traits of illycaffè since its beginnings and have improved much more under the direction of Ernesto Illy. After his graduation in chemistry, Ernesto Illy knew how to look at coffee with the scientist’s eye in order to see the unexplored details and complexities of its study subject, and he committed his whole life to understand them.

After his death, in 2008, The Ernesto Illy Foundation has kept alive his commitment to the scientific research and it has sponsored important projects of partnership with universities, institutions, and bodies of excellence.

The Foundation is involved in a research project on Computational Toxicology, in collaboration with Sissa, the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati di Trieste). It participates to a network of international studies (International Coffee Genome Network), focused on a program of coffee genome sequencing .

In Ethiopia, The Ernesto Illy Foundation, illycaffè and the University of Addis Ababa have launched a project to protect the varieties of Ethiopian coffee, by taking into account the close link with the socio- environmental conditions that have allowed and improved its development. The main purpose of this initiative is to promote the protection and development of the original varieties of Arabica coffee, besides protecting on site the germplasm of some primeval varieties of coffee in the wild forests of Ethiopia.

As for training, the Foundation has promoted with a group of partners of excellence in the educational field the Master in Coffee Science and Economics .

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KNOWLEDGE

How is it possible to obtain the perfect coffee? How to recognize it? Which is the best water to use? How to distinguish its aromas? What is the perfect ground level for coffee beans? Which agronomic techniques are more appropriate to obtain the maximum quality, while reducing at the least its environmental impact?

Since its foundation eighty years ago, illy has always improved and developed a precious heritage of knowledge that can answer to all the above listed questions and more. Curator of this knowledge is Università del Caffè , which since 2000 has been committed to promote and to spread the culture of coffee to growers, baristas, and coffee lovers, by playing a crucial role in the sustainability policy and in the creation of value always implemented by the company.

In illy’s opinion, in fact, knowledge has not only to be maintained, but also shared, since it is the real engine of the virtuous circle of quality: in order to make an excellent coffee, the producer has to know all the best growing techniques and to protect the environment. In order to prepare and serve an excellent coffee, the barista has to know all the basic rules and tricks. In order to enjoy it completely, the consumer has to recognize and find it. When one discovers and understands the value of quality, he cannot go back and be satisfied anymore. That’s why spreading the knowledge of coffee is to illycaffè a strategic and a competitive plus.

In 14 years of business more than 158 thousand people have fed this virtuous circle, by enriching their culture of coffee under the teachings of international experts and technicians of Università del Caffè.

The classes have different levels of analysis and contents, and are addressed to growers, baristas, and consumers. The courses are held in the headquarters of Trieste and in 22 other places in the world: Austria (Vienna), Brazil ( São Paulo ), India (Bangalore), China (Shanghai), South Korea (Seoul), Egypt (Cairo), The Netherlands (Rotterdam), France (Paris), Germany (Munich), Great Britain (London), United States of America (New York), Greece (Athens), Turkey (Istanbul), Mexico (Mexico City), Czech Republic (Prague), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), South Africa (Johannesburg), Indonesia (Jakarta), Thailand (Bangkok), Spain (Barcelona), Chile (Santiago), and Latvia (Riga).

Fondazione Ernesto Illy is also the keeper and the promoter of the knowledge and culture of coffee: in 2010 it has started the Master in Coffee Science and Economics in collaboration with the University of Trieste, the University of Udine, Università del Caffè, SISSA (the International School for Advanced Studies of Trieste - Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati di Trieste), the Biomolecular Consortium (Area Science Park – Trieste), and the Trieste Coffee Cluster (Distretto industriale del caffè della provincia di Trieste). The inter-athenaeum Master of II level offers a deeper and multidisciplinary preparation to those people who are interested in working in the world of coffee – and in general in the agroindustrial sector - and it is addressed to graduates of all countries and of course coming from the coffee producing countries. The Foundation has set up several scholarships to help the young students coming from the emerging countries to attend the Master.

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EXPERIENCE

The illy taste is a perfect balance between sourness and bitterness. Its sweetness is immediately perceived. Its full-body is rich and captivating, and has fruity and flowery notes, joined by scents of caramel, toasted bread, chocolate, almond and honey that merge harmonically in a final sweet sensation.

Preparing coffee and enjoying it – at the coffee bar, at home, at the office – thanks to illy becomes a unique sensorial experience. In every region of the world, in any possible occasion, with any kind of preparation.

illy coffee illy is well known all over the world for its unique blend, made of nine precious varieties of Arabica coffee, always the same, cup after cup.

The illy blend is available in three different roasting levels. The medium roasting level has a peculiar soft taste, and is sold in a package marked in red. For coffee consumers who like a deeper and stronger taste, the same blend of Arabica is available in a stronger roasting level, in a package marked in black. The illy blend is available in a decaffeinated version as well, in a package recognizable by its green color.

In order to enhance each profile of its blend, and to let everyone appreciate the shades of its taste, in 2010 illy has created the Monoarabica line, that includes the varieties of Arabica coffee that make the traditional illy blend. At present, Monoarabica offers three coffees with a strong personality, and each of them tells something about its country of origin: Brazil, Guatemala and Ethiopia.

Last, but not least, an exceptional coffee comes from El Salvador: idillyum is a rare and precious Arabica Laurina (Bourbon variety), extraordinary and exclusive because it has a very natural low level of caffeine and it is available in small quantities, due to the peculiar weather and growing conditions that it requires.

illy at the coffee bar Each illy bar offers the exclusive taste of the illy blend, prepared in a perfect way and served in the famous coffee cup designed by Matteo Thun, a small art work.

In an espresso cup, the barista may enhance the quintessence of coffee: a concentrate of aroma, body and taste in 25-30 milliliters, thanks to the pressure of nine atmospheres, seven grams of coffee blend, and 30 seconds of preparation. Just a few seconds more or less; only lightly different ground beans, either too big or too small may change its taste in an irremediable way. Università del Caffè offers to baristas education, training and different levels of knowledge, with respects to all the features of the profession: from the basic historic and botanic issues to the preparation of the perfect espresso and cappuccino, from the coffee devices and machines to the tasting techniques, from the basics of marketing to the rules of bar managing.

Many issues matter in the success of a coffee bar: not only the quality of what is served, but also the accuracy in the service and the care of the place. In order to enhance and recognize them, illycaffè has

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launched many projects: the program Artisti del Gusto, by which it reward s and marks at international level the bars of excellence; espressamente illy , a network that at present includes 230 stores in over 30 countries that represent in the world the culture of the “Italian coffee” according to illy; the Bar d’Italia del Gambero Rosso Guide , that for 15 years now has been awarding the best Italian bars, and helping consumers to choose the best ones.

Espressamente illy

The bar is a living place, made of welcoming and warmth. It’s a meeting place in the Italian society and everyday life. It belongs to the Italian image in the world, to its soul, culture, and professionalism. espressamente illy represents to illy the embodiment of the “Italian coffee”, and it is a franchising network of outlets based on the pursuit of quality in every aspect: in the offer, in the environment, in the service. With espressamente illy the bar becomes a “boutique café”: a place to enjoy, whose coffee, food, environment, and culture blend in order to tell worldwide the illy brand and the Italian style of life. In these bars, consumers may order a quick excellent espresso prepared by illy baristas, and can take their time, enjoying a lunch break, meeting people and socializing with them, relaxing and even working connected to the Web world by Wi-Fi. The project is inspired to two concepts: Boutique Café , in the most important cities of the world, is a place to enjoy, where coffee, food, environment, and culture blend in order to tell to the world the illy philosophy and the Italian lifestyle; Premium transit is a place to enjoy a relaxing break at the main airports, shopping centers, and museums. Beginning with 2013, the offer of Boutique Cafés has been enriched by the “Food Collection” menu, a proposal set up by the best Italian illy bars, by working out with the best and most typical Italian ingredients, representing their origins and the country’s gastronomic excellence, and they will increasingly be offered worldwide. The first Food Collection is signed by Luigi Biasetto, of the ancient Padua confectioner’s shop with the same name; by the baristas Cristiano Murena of the Murena Suite of Genua and by Nereo Balestriero dell’Antica Pasticceria Torinese di Palmanova of Udine, all present in and awarded by the “Italy Bar Guide” espressamente illy started in 2003 and today is present in 230 coffee bars in 30 countries, and in the most important cities of the world, such as Rome, Paris, London, Toronto, San Francisco, Miami, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Beijing. illy at home With illy, even a simple action of every day, such as drinking a cup of coffee, may become an extraordinary moment, rich of feelings and in suggestions, which offers a smile at each sip. Even more when it is enjoyed in the privacy of one’s home.

The illy blend for home is available in cans of 250 and 125 grams, in three versions (mild and strong roasting, and decaffeinated), with different grounding, depending on the preparation method – espresso or mocha – and also in beans . The three single-origin coffees of the Monoarabica Line – Brazil, Ethiopia, and Guatemala – are available in the 125 gram coffee cans.

The illy blend, the Monoarabicas and idillyum are available also in the Iperespresso capsules, to let everyone taste a well-done espresso at home as well. Iperespresso is a preparation system protected by 5 patents, and based on a special capsule with an extraction chamber that through two phases (hyperinfusion and emulsion) allows making an espresso with always new features of palability, texture and aroma, and with a rich, long-lasting and velvety cream.

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Before Iperespresso, in the Seventies illy had already marketed for the first time a pod of perfectly dosed coffee , the Easy Serving Espresso (ESE). For the first time ever, an easy-to-use device contained, in a paper container easy to use, the ideal dose of coffee, the optimal pressure for ground coffee, in order to prepare a perfect espresso, even if the barista is not such. In this format, the illy blend is available in the three versions: mild and strong roasting, and decaffeinated.

Now, in order to make an illy espresso there is only one missing thing: the coffee machine. The company has introduced three different espresso machines to use at home, all defined by clean and stylish shapes: the X1 , a classic of the Italian design, created in 1995 and produced still today for every method of preparation (Iperespresso, E.S.E. pod, ground coffee); the Y1.1 Touch Iperespresso , an evolution of the Y1 that in 2011 has won the Red Dot Design Award; the Y3 Iperespresso ; the Y5 Milk Iperespresso (the evolution of Y5 Iperespresso); the Kiss , a real jewel representing the perfect mix between design and technology. illy at the office illy is present in the business of coffee at the office thanks to its share of 50% in Mitaca, which has invented the I-Espresso System and the Mitaca Professional System . The first was thought for small offices, the second for big companies. Each system is made by a coffee machine that works with patented capsules of ground espresso coffee, packed one by one in a protected atmosphere.

illy issimo illy issimo is a line of “ready to drink” coffee beverages to be enjoyed cold, and it is the result of a joint- venture between illycaffè and The Coca-Cola Company, that has sealed in a can all the aroma of illy coffee. Available in over twenty countries in the world, illy issimo is designed to appeal the young, the travelling and cosmopolitan generations, to which it offers a new way to enjoy coffee “on the go”, outside and on a journey, on a boat and at lesson at university, in a business meeting and at the pc. Anywhere and always, without being forced to give up to the real quality and the intense pleasure of illy coffee.

Retail according to illy

The company distributes its products in a selective way, in places that easily express and represent its world: the best illy bars, the online shop www.shop.illy.com , espressamente illy and, since 2011, the illyshop , true flagship stores.

The illyshops are places where consumers can meet the brand, all illy products are offered and available, and on a regular basis tasting experiences are set up in collaboration with Università del Caffè.

The illyshops can be either corners or “shop-in-shop”, in preexistent shopping centers – e.g. La Rinascente Piazza Duomo in Milan, Italy, and Printemps Haussmann in Paris, France - or real boutiques dedicated exclusively to illy, such as the illyshop in Galleria San Carlo in Milan.

The project has evolved in illyteca , a concept store for all the companies of Gruppo illy (illycaffè, Domori, Dammann Frères, Mastrojanni, Agrimontana). At present there are two illyteca in Italy, in Trieste and Brescia.

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ART

Twenty years ago, influenced by an idea of Francesco Illy, a group of artist expressed its creativity on the surface of the coffee cup designed for illy by Matteo Thun. This is how the first illy Art Collection was born: since then it has changed for good a daily life object such as the cup in a white canvas, where more than 70 celebrated and appreciated artists of international reputation have tested themselves: from Michelangelo Pistoletto to Marina Abramović, from Anish Kapoor to Daniel Buren, from Robert Rauschenberg to Jeff Koons, from Jan Fabre to James Rosenquist, from Jannis Kounellis to Julian Schnabel, and from Louise Bourgeois to William Kentridge . This project has involved some young artists as well, such as Norma Jeane and Shizuka Yokomizo, for whom the collaboration with illy has become an important chance to gain more visibility and to grow in the international art panorama.

The values which have led the company to open a privileged communication channel with the world of contemporary art are based on the extensive interpretation of the “culture of coffee” concept. The beverage which wakes us up every morning, thanks to the incentive provided by caffeine, all along the day takes another meaning: it embodies the pure pleasure of a rite. The same coffee that wakes our senses from a physiologic point of view becomes a chance to meet, to chat, and to stimulate the brain. Therefore, it has physiological, aesthetic, social, and intellectual values.

With illy Art Collection, the company of Trieste has pursued this philosophy and achieved the goal of making an object apt to synthesize and to reinterpret the culture of coffee. Therefore, whoever sips an illy espresso in an Art Collection coffee cup joins in only one action the aroma and the taste of its blend to the full aesthetic, visual, tactile, and close experience with contemporary art. Excellence is married to beauty, and they achieve the ideal perfection that the Greek philosophy called kalokagathia .

The Art Collection coffee cup (and later on the cans as well), enriched by its graphic or conceptual sign, is the place where two different languages of the illy universe converge and blend: the espresso science and the culture of coffee.

As natural consequence of this approach, illy has set its mind to become an active part in spreading contemporary art, by sponsoring important international exhibitions, and by working side by side with famous artists and emerging talents as well, and implementing new projects.

The Venice Biennial and other important international art fairs In 1997 and in the editions of 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 illycaffè has been partner in Italy of the Venice Biennial of Visual Arts, where it has sponsored projects and built spots to take a break, to enjoy a cup of coffee, and to put the visual suggestions in order.

In 1997 illycaffè has coproduced the sculpture “ Valentine Perfume ”, an aluminium statue of seven meters, positioned at the entrance of the Biennial, and made by Claes Oldenburg, the famous representative of Pop Art, and by his wife Coosje van Bruggen. That same year illy dedicated a special prize to emerging artists.

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In 2003 illy has organized its participation with some initiatives that all together stress the viewer’s central position, on the same wavelength of the exhibition show theme: “Sogni e conflitti: la dittatura dello spettatore” (Dreams and conflicts: the viewer’s dictatorship). This is how the illymind project was born, a space dedicated to the viewers’ minds, where anyone can relax, think upon the perceptions felt while visiting the exhibition, socialize or just take a break before visiting the next work of art.

In 2007, illymind evolved into Push Button House , a work of art designed by the American artist and architect Adam Kalkin: a compact container that changed by simply pressing a button and opened as a flower in a viable and perfectly furnished space.

In 2011, during the collateral events of the 54 th International Art Exhibition of the Biennial of Venice, illycaffè participated to “ Ascension ”, the work of Anish Kapoor, a site-specific installation marked by a whirling white smoke inside the magnificent Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore. illy has attended all major international contemporary art events, such as the Armory Show (New York), Frieze (London), the Art Forum (Berlin), Art Rotterdam. By working side by side with the curators and coordinators of these important events, illycaffè has given visibility to emerging artists with its Premio illySustainArt , awarded at Arco Madrid, SP-Arte (Sao Paulo) to young talents, for whom 11 years ago it created the illy “Present Future” Prize within Artissima (Turin).

Galleria illy Galleria illy represents in a tangible way illy’s involvement and commitment in the art, culture, and science worlds, and it is the synthesis of its passion for excellence.

It is a temporary space, a salon that offers to all visitors illy’s values and contents at the widest angle as possible: a rich program of art, literature, and science; events with celebrities of design and haute cuisine famous at international level; tastings and courses of Università del Caffè.

Galleria illy has been already opened in New York, Milan, Trieste, Berlin, Istanbul, London and Beijing.

illy SustainArt To expand its range of actions in contemporary art and to spread among the international art community its approach to sustainable growth, illycaffè in 2007 has launched illySustainArt, a project that offers to the artists of the emerging countries chances to be more visible.

The core of the project is the Website www.illysustainArt.org , a showcase open to the contemporary art world, which aims at becoming a reference point, a meeting place, a cultural exchange occasion for artists and curators coming from emerging countries. In this place they have the chance to show their works to famous celebrities in the global contemporary art panorama: Meskerem Assegued, Carlo Bach, Carlos Basualdo, Suman Gopinath, Gerardo Mosquera, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mariangela Mendez Prencke, and Angela Vettese.

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The IllySustainArt Prize goes in this same direction: the company awards it to an artist and a curator registered at the Website www.illysustainArt.org and to emerging talents selected on the occasion of significant international events, among which Arco Madrid, SP-Arte Sao Paulo, and Art Rotterdam.

Sebastião Salgado Among the arts, photography distinguishes itself for its narrative power, its ability to tell stories, to describe a territory, to convey an emotion as no documentary film will ever be able to do. illy has decided to develop this communicative strength and to bring to the public attention the coffee growers’ life and work, the beauty of the countries where it purchases its coffee, with reportage of pictures by Sebastião Salgado started in 2003. In the past years, this great photographer has therefore visited Brazil, India, Ethiopia, Guatemala and Colombia. His pictures have been collected and displayed in exhibitions set up in Milan, Rome, London, Paris, and Berlin. In 2012 his pictures shot in China will be displayed. His reportage - a homage paid to people, history, traditions, and nature of the coffee producing countries - will be displayed in the common area of Expo 2015.

illywords They enrich even more the illy world: words are useful to illy, especially when they give life to illywords, a platform where ideas and experiences can be exchanged, and where people meet and talk; a magazine through which the company has a constant dialogue with the worlds of art and culture. Each issue of illywords is about a different subject and writers, artists, designers, businessmen can express their points of view and their experiences. At each issue, the graphic and the images are exclusively re-designed by students of the international schools of design.

In order to involve in this open dialogue the Web as a whole, the blog version www.illywords.com is online since 2010. In 2015 a special number of illywords will be dedicated to Expo dealing with the themes and contents of Coffee Cluster.

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