The Espresso Chronicles: Venice
“The Espresso Chronicles is a blog mini series about my pursuit for the perfect espresso in Italy. The series dives into the evolution and growth of the specialty coffee market and sheds a light on how it directly effects Italy, both culturally and politically. I share my firsthand account of my experiences along with a technical perspective of the absolute highest quality specialty coffees I encountered in each city along my journey. Disclaimer: The Content of this blog is raw and brutally honest, if you’re overly sensative or in extreme denial in regards to your perception of coffee in Italy, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, you may want to close this window and continue on with what you were previously doing. Reader discretion is advised”.
Ponte della Libertà
Crossing over the only bridge connecting Venice to the mainland, a sense of irony and a sense of nostalgia rushes over me as the train slowly winds down to a slow, creeping halt. I sit there for a few extra minutes in a completely empty train, staring out the window; I try to take it all in. Attempting to comprehend where I am and prepare my mind for the adventure I am about to embark on, I take a deep breath and it hits me, I’m in fucking Venice.
Venice is largely responsible for introducing the global coffee trade to the world, as well as heavily influencing the conception of the Italian coffee culture due to Venetian merchants trading goods with the Arab world. Once finally receiving the blessing of Pope Clement VIII in 1600, coffee was now recognized and deemed tolerable to drink by a larger part of the European population. Venice is also the city that changed my life forever, in so many ways I could have never possibly imagined thinking back on it now. It was in Venice I discovered my deep rooted passion for coffee, just as so many others have before me.
Caffè Florian
Caffè Florian is one of the oldest cafés to date in Italy. It holds a very expensive piece of real estate nestled inside the famous city square, Piazza San Marco, across from the Basilica di San Marco. Caffè Florian profoundly boasts a level of luxury and elegance to a degree that is almost unfathomable and insurmountable to achieve, even by today’s standards. Caffè Florian is the café you stop at when in Venice. It’s not for, or about the coffee. It’s for an experience that’s so unique and indescribable, it’s as if time has frozen in the 18th century. The atmosphere of elegantly dressed waiters in white coat tuxedos, with napkins draped over their arms as they do in the most luxurious three-star Michelin restaurants, definitely demonstrates their keen eye to detail in regards to the service they provide. The walls are lined with masterful, elaborate pieces of art and are furnished to precision, depicting the early days of Caffè Florian’s beginnings. While you sit back and enjoy the most breathtaking scenery, attempting to wrap your mind around how much history lies amongst your surroundings, the pianist plays and serenades all the guests. Then it hits you: this is the moment we all yearn for, the moment we work our asses off for all year long for a chance to experience. This is when time stops and you wish it would stay this way. The stillness, complete tranquility, and satisfaction felt in a perfect moment isn’t a rare find at Caffe Florian.
Torrefazione Cannaregio
There’s something so alluring and mystical when it comes to the smell of fresh roasted coffee. It’s like being a block away from the vicinity of a bakery with freshly baked loafs of bread right out of the oven. Like Ratatoullie, you let the aromas sweep you off your feet and guide you to the source of that aroma. Cannaregio has been known to have this effect on people. It’s also your best bet to leave Venice with a lasting good flavor in your mouth when departing the lagoon by train. For one, you can’t beat the location. Cannaregio is right next to the train station and for .90 centesimi (almost 1 Euro) you won’t find a better shot of espresso anywhere else in the vicinity. Venice is heavily saturated with coffee bars but don’t be fooled; there are only four that can be credited with carrying single origin coffees and only two that have fresh coffee roasted daily on the entire lagoon. Cannaregio happens to be one of them.
Caffè Del Doge
Before I dive into my experience inside Caffe Del Doge, it would only be appropriate to share a little about its owner, Benardo Della Mea. Bernardo Della Mea is one of the early adaptors and pioneers of the specialty coffee movement in Italy. His company joined the Specialty Coffee Association of America in 1997, and the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe in 2004. Bernardo Della Mea played a vital role in my life, sparking my interest in specialty coffee and encouraging me to dive into the world of coffee roasting back in 2010. His café, Caffe Del Doge, is off the beaten path and tucked away inside the inner belly of what is known as the “true Venice”. Definitively the absolute highest quality coffee in Venice comes out of this shop.
The coffee offerings of Caffè Del Doge span the globe, ranging from coffees of Ethiopia to Jamaica and India to Cuba, along with some very clean complex Central & South American coffees. Della Mea’s approach to espresso quality control and testing coffees might seem unorthodox to other members of the specialty coffee community, because cupping is typically the general practice when performing quality control. Della Mea instead runs test brews of espresso with all the different samples and blends at different roast profiles to replicate what he would actually serve to his customers. His approach allows the ability to decisively pinpoint any unbalances present in a roast profile as well as detect any unbalances of flavors inside a blend. Traditionally espresso tasting is the common practice in Italy when roasters are fine tuning their blends and their choices of origin when constructing a coffee targeted for brewing an espresso.
Anytime you come to Venice you’re guaranteed a unique experience (the city is built on water, and no city even comes close to it in that regard), but when you come to Caffè Del Doge you’re in for several other important experiences that I am sure will leave a lasting impresion of this city in your mind. You’re guaranteed an authentic visual of the real city of Venice, outside of all the tourist contraptions and gondola rides you’ll pass by. You will also encounter private gardens enclosed by hand-sculpted iron gates, intricate, hand-crafted, ancient wooden doors, and amazing gothic arches and distinctly unique window shutters along the way. You’ll find out the true meaning of tranquility when you hear the sounds of an unpopulated canal and empty walkways free of tourists, and listen to the distant echoes of the city bouncing off the walls of the colorful buildngs that line the canals. Finally, when you arrive to Caffè Del Doge, you have an array of unique premium coffees that are boated in everyday that are freshly roasted. This cafè is definitely worth the trip and the memory. You’re in for one hell of an espresso when you come to this shop. Along the way, don’t forget to stop somewhere and have an “ombra” (Venetian for a “glass of wine”). Cheers!
Other notable shops in Venice worth a stop:
Cà Vè Caffe-Cafè Venezia
Dersut Caffè-Bottega del Caffè Dersut
