A common legend assigns the discovery of coffee to an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi (around 300 AD). He observed that his flock was very active when the animals ate certain red berries.
He decided to taste them and learned the energetic effect of coffee berries. Little by little the habit to use coffee berries as energetic food spread and people learned that a tasty drink could be prepared by roasting the berries and then brewing them.

From Ethiopia the use of coffee spread to the Near East, when the first coffee plantations started in Yemen. Later the cultivation spread to Arabia and Egypt, where drinking coffee (or “Kahweh”) soon became a daily habit.
Only from the early 17th Century did coffee become popular in Europe and its popularity grew very quickly. At the beginning of 1600 coffee houses sprang up everywhere, especially in Italy, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany.

Before – in 1570 -, coffee had been introduced in Europe by a Venetian physician, Prospero Alpini. Venice was the first Italian town to appreciate it and to have public places where to taste the drink. Soon coffee houses became very popular, the oldest, Cafè Florian, has been offering the precious drink until present times under the porches of Piazza S.Marco. In Italy, among the aristocrats coffee became soon a precious gift to be offered as symbol of friendship or love. Coffee culture spread across the Italian peninsula, and other cities had their coffee houses: among them Caffè Greco in Rome, Caffè Pedrocchi in Padua, Caffè San Carlo in Turin. Famous people and men of letters used to spend their time there, thus conferring those places further fame and appeal.
The first domestic appliance to prepare coffee at home was invented in 1691 in Napoli: the famous caffettiera napoletana . People used that metallic tool, clean water and 4-5 grams of finely grounded coffee to prepare three or four cups of coffee at the same time, and taste the drink at home: soon an aromatic cup of coffee at the end of the meal became a ritual in Italy.

Coffee was thus freed from the reputation of an “aristocratic drink” and its diffusion spread across all social classes. From an exclusive moment, it became a daily habit in which you gave yourself up to the pleasure of a fortifying drink. Espresso coffee was combined with other ingredients; most famous coffee based drinks have Italian names: Espresso, Cappuccino, Macchiato. Across the centuries Italy has become the official ambassador of the Espresso philosophy.

Nowadays Italy leads coffee import – export activities and some among the world most important and appreciated roasters are Italian. N&W products are part of the Espresso philosophy: the technologies for the drink preparation have been developed in order to respect the refined taste of our customers and the tradition of the true Italian espresso, even if this respect has not prevented us to find innovative solutions that meets worldwide tastes and expectations.

In everyday life, at work or during free time, we always find the right moment to indulge in this great little pleasure. So, shall we have a coffee?

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To enjoy perfect coffee you need to know the raw material and appreciate the variety of blends.
Coffee is a beverage produced by roasting, grinding and infusing the seeds of some small tropical trees belonging to the genus “Coffea”, which is a member of the “Rubiaceae” family. There are more than 100 types of coffeas, but the most common are the “arabica” coffea and coffea canephora, more commonly known as “robusta”.

The main coffee producing countries are located in the hot and humid climate zone between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn: that is in Central America, South America, Africa and Asia.
The fruits of the coffee are similar to cherries in size and color, with a thin layer of sweet pulp that surrounding the seed. The seed of the Arabica species is oval-shaped, green or green / blue; that of Robusta is rounder and yellow or yellow / brown in color. Compared to Arabica, Robusta is more resistant and tolerates higher temperatures and more abundant rainfall.
Harvesting the fruits can be performed manually or with automatic machines. Immediately after harvesting, the “cherries” are processed in two ways: “dry” (allowed to dry in the sun for about 20 days or two / three days in special kilns, and then peeled; the coffee thus obtained is called “natural”) or “wet” (washed and picked clean mechanically, left to ferment for 36 hours in water, re-washed, left to dry in the sun and put through peeling machines; coffee thus obtained is called “washed”).

Roasting (from the Latin “torridum facere”, meaning “raise to high temperatures”) consists of cooking beans to 200/220° C for a certain period of time. This step is necessary to make them aromatic and crumbly (their weight drops by 20% as a result of dehydration), ready for grinding.
In order to obtain best results uses a very traditional roasting process (more than 15 mins). This traditional method enables the release of more aromas because it produces Stucker and Maillard chemical reactions, which cannot be obtained through the shorter roastings (less than 10 mins) widely used by the large coffee roasting firms to produce ground coffees for supermarkets.

Grinding is an essential factor for the quality of our cup of coffee: only if it is carried out at the time of use will it guarantee maximum flavor and a successful “espresso” coffee (made on the spot). A perfect granule size should enable the delivery of coffee in about 22-30 seconds, supplying a drink with a volume ranging from 20 to 35 ml. A good espresso is prepared from 7 to 7.5 grams of product.

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