That in Milan to drink a really good coffee you had to visit Cafezal was understood from the immediate success of the small roastery in via Solferino opened in 2017. What, however, still today appears to be a challenge for the brand is to bring knowledge of Specialty Coffee – the roasted coffee beans that receive over 80 points on a scale of 100 from the Specialty Coffee Association – to everyone.

In practice, they are the coffee beans that have been selected and cultivated in the best terroirs in the world in order to perfectly bring out aromas, sweet and bitter notes, silky and velvety body. This is Cafezal’s mission: to let you taste a special coffee and at the same time give you the tools to savor and understand the best single-origin grains.

Once, on a plantation, I met with a real guru of the sector, so I asked him how I could identify a good coffee. “If you have to add sugar, it is because it is not good” he replied, and even today this is my yardstick.

(Carlos Bitencourt, founder)

If we think of the path that other drinks have made, wine for example which, as it is globally recognized, take on completely different characteristics depending on its geographical origin, vintage and production method, we realize how far coffee still has to go in this sense and how many emotions it can still give us if we open the doors of (its) perception.

Cafezal, which in Portuguese means “coffee plantation”, was born from an idea of Carlos Bitencourt, an Italian-Brazilian entrepreneur who, while he was in London about 10 years ago, came into contact with the first European Specialty Coffees, fell in love with the idea, and decided to bring it to Italy, where, despite being the birthplace of the first cafes and espresso machines, it was still unknown.

Thus, Carlos and his team today select and hand-toast the best green coffee beans in the world, especially sweet and nut-based, becoming a point of reference not only for coffee lovers but also for restaurateurs in search of single origin and special blends to combine with their culinary creations, just like a wine or an oil.

After the opening of the first roasting-boutique in via Solferino in Brera, Cafezal launched in the summer of 2022 a new 500-square-meter Coffee Hub in Viale Premuda, also in Milan. A space to live from morning to evening, not only to drink a coffee, but also perfect for lunch or an aperitif, to buy fine blends or accessories and gadgets related to this world, and participate in cultural events dedicated to Specialty Coffees, such as meetings with producers and fun specialized courses, from the tricks to prepare a coffee artfully with the mocha to new extraction techniques such as Aeropress, Chemex and café passado.

Good but also beautiful. Carlos for his stores has, in fact, developed a particular design inspired by the symbols of Brasilia, both for the logo, two arched palms, and in the parabolic shapes of the decorative elements that recall the most important architectural buildings of the Brazilian capital, declined in vintage shapes with predominant blue and satin copper colors.

Shall we bet that after visiting Cafezal, asking for a coffee will no longer be the same?

The Secret

Coffee is the second commodity – a term that indicates a good for which there is demand but which is offered without qualitative differences – in the world after oil; 95% of the coffee consumed in Italy and in the world comes, in fact, from the so-called commodity grains.

Useful Info

Cafezal
Viale Premuda 14
20129 Milano

Via Solferino 27
20121 Milano

Espressos: from 1,50 euro
Salads: from 12 euro
Sandwiches & cold cuts platters: from 5 euro
Wine glass: from 6 euro