A new wave of coffee monocultures

It was nominated a World Heritage Site: the Italian espresso, widely consumed also in Ticino and throughout Switzerland. Globally, more than three billion cups are sipped every day. The «tazzina» is also a feature, or rather a work of art, and is by no means short for «tazza» (cup), which instead has an ancient Arab origin: the «tassah», a clay vessel in which all things were served. The name of the famous little cup with the fine rim and thick base, containing a maximum of 70 cc of our daily coffee dreams, derives from the Art Nouveau painter Luigi Tazzini, who came from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and took up residence as artistic director at the Florentine company Richard Ginori, where he created, at the beginning of the 20th century, the first real china coffee service.

Tazzini followed in the footsteps of Josiah Wedgwood, who, after inventing creamware, the very English style ceramic, also created a miniature set for serving tea. Which goes to prove how coffee and ceramics are a jet set couple. And yet, that black liquid extracted from wild African shrubs has always maintained a dual soul: from one side, it is an aristocratic beverage, while on the other, it is the tonic of all spirits - from the humblest to the highest. Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated to it the well-known sacred Kaffeekantate - which is also drunk in paper cups, making a fortune for some American commercial chains. For at least a thousand years, mankind has enjoyed mundane rituals, transgressive dreams and business deals around coffee. And it has become a cultural phenomenon, so potent that Japan, the temple of tea par excellence with its ceremony verging on the philosophical, is now third in the world for consumption of the «black powder». Actually, Japan is the epitome of everything coffee. Generation Zero denizens walk the crowded streets of Tokyo with Starbucks cups in hand, the corporate aristocracy is energized by massive imports of Blue Mountain, which is one of the finest and most expensive coffees in the world. It is produced in a mountainous area of Jamaica to the north of Kingston: the mists make this coffee very special, so sweet that it should be drunk without sugar. It arrives in Japan in wooden barrels which contain it as if it were a fine wine and in luxury Kissaten (coffee bars), where there are even sommeliers of the beverage. In order to have an idea of this, it would be useful to have a look at Kahisakan, the first coffee shop which was opened in 1888 in the suburbs of Tokyo. Hence, it will not be surprising to learn that Switzerland has also experienced a positive «contamination»: Emi Fukahori in Zurich, using her very own Mame, won the title of world best barista in 2018 owing to her extraordinary ability to mix coffee and blend infusions.

There are three distinct worlds of coffee: Italian-style espresso, the brainchild of a new technology that made it possible to instantly infuse powder under pressure; French-style or American-style coffee, which is coffee made by slow percolation; and Turkish-style coffee, which is more like tea. So which coffee should we drink? If we were to follow history, we should take the beans from the Mokha district in Yemen (the coffee machine invented ninety years ago by Alfonso Bialetti carries this name as a tribute to the cradle of the precious beans) and, better still, from the Kefa area in southwest Ethiopia. It is from these places that started the long journey of beans which were introduced in the world by the Arabs soon after the year 1000. It is said coffee arrived in Europe when the Turks besieged Vienna in 1683. According to a Polish officer Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, when the Ottomans retreated, he took possession of sacks of coffee. This was not the case, and if anything the Pole deserves credit for having provoked the invention of the cappuccino, which was created by the Franciscan friar Marco d’Aviano.

Sitting at the café that Kulczycki had opened, the monk mixed the dark brew with some cream and the result was a color like that of his habit: from that came the drink of the Capuchin monk. It was the Venetians who brought coffee to Europe at least a couple of centuries before. They sold it as a medicine by the weight of gold. The great expansion occurred with the arrival of the sacks in Livorno as well as in Trieste whereas on the Adriatic Sea, in Fano, the popular soul of coffee is alive with the Moretta, a very special combination of coffee and liqueurs, including Anisette. The Arabs had already introduced it to Sicily in the Middle Ages. In the countryside of Alcamo, a particular coffee is cultivated: the Caturra of Costa Rica, a variety of Arabica. The world’s most expensive coffees, fought over by connoisseurs for thousands of dollars, comes from the Far East and South America. And they are almost invariably waste products from the diet of certain animals. The most valuable variety (a cup can cost 100 dollars) is Black Ivory, from Thailand. It is only harvested in the Chiang Saen area and it is the by-product of elephants eating the coffee berries and then excreting the beans. To make one kilogram of beans the animal must consume at least 33 kilograms of berries. Another type of coffee can be found in the droppings of palm civets. It is produced in Indonesia, the cost is over one thousand dollars per kilo. There is a coffee dedicated to the Pope: its name is Yauco. It is grown in Puerto Rico by the descendants of the colonists. Extremely rare is Sant’Elena, whose name is dedicated to Napoleon. The best coffee of the world is considered as El Injerto, which is produced in minimum quantities in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Los Planes, cultivated in El Salvador, tastes of tangerine, the one from Hawaii, Kona, hails from the slopes of volcanoes and tastes of walnut. And Brazil? It has some extraordinary vintages. Fazenda Santa Ines cultivates organic plants of Catucai, Catuai yellow and red, Bourbon yellow and red, and Acaiá. Not to be missed is the one of Fazenda Sao Benedito, whereas an absolute must is the coffee of Hacienda La Esmeralda: most certainly one of the rarest in the world, it is produced in Boquete, Panama. So it is not enough to say «make me a coffee». We are used to only considering the two major varieties: Arabica and Robusta, but there are hundreds of coffee blends, grouped into sixty types, of which Liberica and Excelsa are now well marketed. Exclusive accessories have been created around coffee. Tableware, liqueurs and even cigars. To invite a friend for coffee, if it were a Black Ivory with a shot of Henri IV Dudognon Heritage cognac and followed by a smoke of Cohiba Behike, could cost around one hundred thousand francs. But with a good Italian espresso made at home using one of the most famous steam machines (a Pavoni, which was the first, or a Victoria Arduino), and served in Hermès or Ginori cups, with a fine Toscano as a cigar and an ever-present Anisetta Rosati, one can also achieve equal gastronomic happiness.

Carlo Cambi