Italy Between Tradition and Innovation: Is It Possible to Grow Coffee?

For many years, Italy has been a world coffee icon, becoming famous for its espresso culture and refined roasting methods. Typically, the Italian coffee industry has focused on roasting imported green coffee beans while current happenings indicate that they are considering an innovative approach by cultivating it in the country itself thus adding another dimension to their rich traditions.

Coffee Varieties and Emerging Trends

Espresso blends dominate the Italian coffee market with those usually containing both Robusta and Arabica beans. The North of Italy prefers higher Arabica contents in their blends while Southern Italy often opts for stronger Robusta blends. Popular Arabica types are Brazilian Natural, Colombian Washed, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Guatemalan Antigua etc whereas common sources of Robusta include Vietnam, India and Uganda.

Emerging trends point to a growing interest in single origin Arabicas from Central America and Eastern Africa as well as increasing demand for specialty and micro-lot coffees. Sales in this sector alone went up by 18% in 2023 indicating further diversity and refinement in terms of tastes that consumers like more. Even though dark roast remains dominant especially with espresso blends medium roasts are gaining traction mainly attributed to filter coffee as well as single origin offerings.

A ‘Powerful ‘Robust’ Tradition in the Coffee Industry

Roasting is the main focus of Italian coffee production with over 700 companies involved in the business by 2023. These range from big industrial roast houses to small scale craft operations. In addition, Italian roasters processed approximately 6K tons of green coffee beans just in 2023 indicating high levels of experience and capacity for coffee roasting.

As a result, regional distribution of roasting firms is quite diverse with Lombardy being home to 25% of the businesses followed by Veneto at 18%, Emilia-Romagna at15% while Piedmont is fourth at 12%. The remaining thirty percent are divided among several other regions.

Market dynamics indicate that approximately sixty five percent (65%) come from the largest ten companies, leaving thirty five percent (35%) for small and medium-scale producers. Interestingly, there has been a significant increase towards single-origin roasts and artisan micro-roasteries as an indication for more people looking for distinct, good quality coffee experiences.

Local Coffee Bean Cultivation: A Bold Experiment

Italian adventurousness in relation to coffee goes beyond the art of roasting. Though not a conventional coffee growing country, Italy is attempting some interesting experimental coffee farming activities:

Sicilian Coffee Project: Located in Palermo, Sicily, this project focuses on Arabica (Bourbon and Typica cultivars) and has been producing a few dozen kilograms (30kg in 2021) of green coffee annually since 2015. The goal of this effort is to determine whether or not it is possible for Sicily to grow its own coffee beans given its completely peculiar climate. Find out more here.

Toscano Coffee Project: Situated in Grosseto, Tuscany, this project began in 2020 and cultivates the Arabica Gesha cultivar under greenhouse conditions. The first harvest took place in 2023, which brought about 15 kg of green seeds.

Vertical Farming Initiative: Based in Milan, Lombardy, this innovative project began in 2022 and investigates the potential of growing various Arabica cultivars indoors. It represents an anticipatory attitude towards coffee production although it is still at the testing stage. Find out more here.