the PRINCE - modern Specialty Coffee x traditional Italian Espresso

by Ivanco Uncovski

6.10am, 6 October 2022 
Florence, Italy.

The city is still asleep.

Jetlagged, I sit on a narrow balcony above a cobblestone alley, watching the light move slowly over the rooftops.

Below, shutters lift and tables scrape stone as the café across from me opens for the day. (Impressively early for Italy)

I head down for an espresso.

Inside, the café turns out to also be a small coffee roaster, the barista is the owner and head roaster himself. He had spent a few years living across Australia before returning home to open this place, so we hit it off. He walks me through the space and invites me to join a cupping of coffees he’s working on. We spend the next couple of hours together, talking shop and exchanging ideas. 

I walk away thinking, for all the noise of modern Specialty Coffee, traditional Italian Espresso is still the icon of our industry, still found everywhere and still trusted without explanation.

Question popped in my mind, was what would a blend of modern Specialty Coffee (knowledge, processing and roasting) with traditional Italian Espresso look like?

Later that night, after a Bistecca alla Fiorentina and a good bottle of Chianti with my wife, we passed a small bookshop. Inside, the first book I see on the shelf is the PRINCE by Niccolò Machiavelli.