Mr. Espresso Founder Carlo Di Ruocco. All images courtesy of Mr. Espresso.
Carlo Di Ruocco, the Italian-born founder of the California roasting company Mr. Espresso who helped introduce espresso to a generation of Americans, died in his sleep on Jan. 17 at the age of 90.
The second-youngest of seven brothers and sisters raised in Salerno, Italy, Di Ruocco married Marie Francoise and had two children before immigrating to the United States, where the couple’s third child was born. The three children — Luigi, John and Laura — continue to run the Mr. Espresso company today.
After a career in the elevator industry, Carlo Di Ruocco eventually turned his attention to coffee, importing a handful of espresso machines directly to the family’s California Bay Area home in 1978, selling some of the first espresso machines to be used in California restaurants and cafes.
That would plant the seed for a family business that eventually expanded into equipment distribution, training, coffee roasting and retail coffee under the name Mr. Espresso, a nickname initially given to Di Ruocco by wholesale clients, according to the company. After more than four decades of roasting and equipment service, the company launched the first Mr. Espresso retail cafe in 2023.
As a roasting company, Mr. Espresso championed “wood-fired” coffee roasting, with oak logs burning beneath the drum roaster. The company helped usher in espresso appreciation in the Bay Area and beyond, while finding favor among some of the area’s leading restaurants and restaurateurs, including chefs Alice Waters, Bradley Ogden and Paul Bertolli.
“Carlo’s passion wasn’t just about coffee, it was about building a family legacy,” the company wrote in a remembrance of its founder. “Mr. Espresso has always been family-owned and operated since its founding, with Carlo’s values of quality, tradition, and community carried on by his children, Laura, John, and Luigi — all of whom are actively involved in the company today. Over the decades, Carlo’s influence extended far beyond our roastery to shape the way Americans experience coffee today.”
Carlo Di Ruocco was the 2015 recipient of the Alfred Peet Award from the Specialty Coffee Association of America (now the SCA), honoring service to the coffee industry. In 2009, Di Ruocco received an honorary knighthood from the Italian government for his contributions to Italian espresso in the U.S.
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