For the month of April, we have our very first Italian roaster in the box. However, these coffees are very far from traditional Italian coffee. They are way better. Say hi to Nero Scuro!
How did Nero Scuro start?
Nero Scuro started out of a passion for coffee and hospitality. Silvia after a career in communication agencies, became a Cordon Bleu graduated in Patisserie, and managed operations and customers for several top-level pastry and coffee shops in Australia. Paolo, a coffee passionate, born industrial engineer, discovered that roasting comes down to manage chemical reactions in miniature scale. He started attending roasting courses and seminars all over the world since mid-2000 and eventually became involved with the Nordic roasting approach. At some point, in 2013, he bought a Probat roaster, only to eventually realize he would need a proper place to install and operate it.
At that point, we both thought it was a good idea starting a specialty coffee roastery as we could fruitfully combine our experiences, and so Nero Scuro was born. In reality, it took more than 6 months to find a proper place, and the guys at Probat were so kind to store the machine in their warehouse for the whole period.
Left image by @aryanjoshani on Instagram
What drove you to the specialty coffee business?
We actually started with specialty coffee from day one, as we were already aware of this trend having lived overseas and being in touch with the Nordic roasting style. We used, at the time, the exact same partners for green coffee that we use today, and the roasting style is pretty much the same as well. However, the market was pretty much non-existent in Italy at the time, and we had to struggle a lot during the first year to explain our concepts and to get the first customers.
Italy has a well-known coffee culture. How have you seen the specialty coffee scene evolve?
The majority of the Italian market is still focused on the classic dark roasted espresso. Nero Scuro started at a time when there were just a very few micro-roasteries, so it is fairly known in the segment. In the last 1-2 years, however, there has been a growing interest in the segment, with the opening of various independent coffee shops and also numerous roasting facilities. However, the segment is still very small.
Many of our subscribers are tasting Nero Scuro for the first time. What can we expect from this April’s coffees?
The coffees are a good example of Nero Scuro’s diverse coffee line-up, although they have in common the extremely high quality of the green, ethically sourced through our partner Nordic Approach. We believe you cannot achieve an outstanding roasted coffee if the green is not outstanding as well, therefore we always choose outstanding greens!
The coffees are roasted with specific profiles for filter and espresso: our filter coffees are roasted light yet well developed, while the espresso profiles are not nearly as dark as the traditional Italian espresso. In any case, we target a roast level just right to ensure a proper extraction while preserving all the sweetness and pleasant acidity of the cultivar. Finally, we like to work with coffees prepared with different processes, and they are all sampled in the April coffees. Qore Magarissa is a classic fruity fully washed Ethiopia, Costa Rica El Llano is a honey processed coffee and Burundi Sehe Collective is a natural processed lot. The latter appears, over the last months, the preferred preparation for many customers.
Looking ahead, what can we expect from Nero Scuro in the future?
Short term: install a bigger roasting machine and keep increasing the quality of our coffees. We’ve just bought a new small 500gr roaster for competition lots and for the more expensive coffees available on our website, like Panama Geshas.
We’ve just redesigned our logo and changed our coffee pouches with a more modern and distinguishable look.
We’re always working on new projects and ideas, stay tuned for what’s ahead ;-).
Nero Scuro’s new design and logo
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