The Musical connection

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So what’s the musical connection?

You’ve noticed the musical logo, and we’re pretty sure the musical connotations in the name Espresso Allegro haven’t escaped your attention either. While the name Espresso refers to ‘a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee’, Allegro is a musical term, derived from the Italian word meaning ‘cheerful’ or ‘brisk’.

More importantly, you’ll be able to listen to some uplifting music while your coffee is being prepared. Some people call it the ‘musical coffee van’, but most refer to us simply as Espresso Allegro.

My background in music

For 7 years I used to get up at 4.30am every Friday morning to present a classical music radio program on radio. The intimacy of radio is such that I could actually sense the presence of the listeners sharing their experiences of the music with me. It was like talking directly to them as they went about their morning business and that we were sharing the music together. Good music sets the tone of the whole day – just like a good cup of coffee.

During the morning Espresso Allegro run I start off with baroque music to keep me pumped and feeling alive, it’s fast and lively and makes the coffee flow more easily. My customers enjoy its uplifting effect too (the coffee and the music). Then as noon approaches I turn to the more traditional composers such as Mozart and Beethoven (who was a great coffee drinker himself), and by afternoon I’ll be onto the romantics, Chopin, Liszt and Brahms (you need a full-bodied dark roast to listen to Brahms). If I’m feeling in a particularly robust mood I might even go for some Shostakovich or Prokofiev, or perhaps even Mahler, and maybe a bit of opera. When that happens, you know the coffee’s going to be a lot stronger to match the mood!

Why the music on the Espresso Allegro van?

Just like coffee, music is for everybody, regardless of background, and can be enjoyed at any time of day. Let’s get rid of all that pomp, ceremony and stuffiness that surrounds classical music and enjoy it for what it is, something simply to be enjoyed

Just like coffee.

What the world needs... is great coffee!