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(Via Vittorio Merighi, 5, 37138 Verona, IT)
IMHO THE BEST.
Not only is this my absolute favorite commerce/place in Verona -- for the most amazing warmth and genuineness in the people who work here and with the passion and care in how they execute their craft (I have spent hours here the two times I've dared to chance an entry!) -- but my favorite coffee bean roastery EVER.
This coffee roastery is 4th-generation family run, located in an apartment on the ground floor of a residential apartment building on a small residential street (where it first started) about 150-m from Porta Palio and near the Canale Camuzzoni. They are listed in the phone book and on Google Maps with an address but don't have a website nor Facebook page. And actually, you can't officially buy direct from them if you arrive at their doorstep (but bring some cash if you do tempt your luck and they let you in -- although they are so wonderfully friendly that it seems like they are open to visits for enthusiasts, as long as they are not too busy. Roasting is in the mornings!). They produce less roasted coffee in a year than the big corporations like Illy and Lavazza Coffee do in a few hours! And they supply fine food establishments and fine cafés, and are hard to get outside of Italy
Laboratorio di Torrefazione Giamaica Caffè was founded in 1947 by Giovanni Erbesti. Up to 2018, it was run by Erbesti's nephew Gianni Frasi (who is in a Haitian blues band, JPB, but died in Dec. 2018 -- obituary or more detailed article) with his wife Claudia, and his stepson the talented master roaster Simone Fumagalli. The Laboratorio is now managed by Simone.
The Laboratorio only uses Arabica beans, though sourced by importers, are checked at the source to ensure quality. The beans are vacuumed from a storage from underneath the flooboards directly into the drum of the roaster. There is only one roaster, a vintage Vittoria from Bologna -- and unlike those used by most roasting companies, this is an open-flame roaster, i.e. the beans are roasted with a cone of open flames, which means that the master roaster must be that much more attentive. A maximum of 50 kg of beans can be roasted at any one time for a variable 15 minutes, as judged by the master roaster who checks in the sight window and specimens periodically.
Simone at the helm of the Vittoria
After roasting, the beans are left to cool naturally for 48 hours. Here, coffee is an art and philosophy!
On site is a 1961 Faema E61 espresso machine (named after the 1961 eclipse in Italy), on which Simone meticulously spent a good 10 minutes cleaning, both grinder and machine, before pulling a shot from his favorite beans for me. "Sugar?" he asks. Oh, goodness, no, never! "Brava!"
They package single-bean coffees and have house blends (and as well as decaf).
I spent hours talking to the wonderful Simone and a bit to Simone's charming mom Claudia, but I didn't take photos when I visited the place (wish I did), so some photos along with some info were collected from Franco Ziliani's blog, Paola and Ariana's blog Le Delizie Itineranti, an interview with Gianni Frasi on Velia's Cooking Style, Wein Direktimporter Schole, online food store Latte e, the online news site Gazza Galosa, the FB page created by fans, the Laboratorio's abandoned attempt to create a website.
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