I am a coffee addict, I love the ritual of the hot cup taken by the barista and placed under the steaming jet, slow and aromatic that will help my day starting with the right tone. During the day I repeat the experience at least three times, whether it is espresso at the bar or prepared with mocha, and in the evening I switch to decaffeinated to avoid suffering from nighttime sleeplessness.
I read a beautiful book recently, by Giuseppina Torregrossa, it's called "The secret mixture of the Olivares house": it fascinated me a lot, it is palpable between the pages the scent of roasting, the magic of coffee grounds and the affects that gravitate around. These exotic grains tell stories of far away countries, it is a plant that is not part of the Italian vegetation but that gives the Italians moments of convivial and pleasant with friends.
In Veneto we have a great example of a family dedicated to roasting and coffee magic: Goppion.
It all began in 1859 when Luigi was born, an orphan and unrecognized, to whom, for a series of unknown and only hypothesized combinations, the surname of Goppion was placed. As soon as he was able, he opens a bar-restaurant with a grocery store where he begins to toast the coffee beans in the iron ball on the fireplace. Luigi was joined in time by his son Pietro and by nephews Angelo, Giuseppe, Luigi, Giovanni, Olivo e Ottorino. Shortly before the end of Colonialism, Angelo and then Giovanni moved to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, where he grows one of the best coffee in the world, and here he begins to develop his passion.
Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Angelo and Giovanni returned to Treviso and in 1948 bought the small Torrefazione Trevigiana Caffè, a brand to which the name 'Fratelli Goppion' was added. In the same years, Ottorino and Olivo left for Venezuela and in Caracas they founded the roasting "Cafè San Antonio - Hermanos Goppion".
Twenty years later it is the "Fratelli Goppion Industria del Caffè" banner, accompanied by a sign that has now become familiar - the red "G" designed in 1965 by the architect Umberto Facchini - which sums up the history and vocation of these three generations.
Since 1983 Goppion Coffee is a limited liability company run by the family that arrived, in 2000, in its fifth generation.
Four are the main lines in which the offer is divided: for the Bar, for consumption at home, in the office and for gift ideas. The more representative mix of the company are: Native, Ja.Bl.Mo, Espresso Italiano C.S.C, Dolce.
To tell the beauty of the coffee ritual, I prepared an Affogato: a dessert of the past, you cannot even see it anymore and it is not prepared to finish the meals of the days of celebration, but it has a disarming charm and simplicity, the fragrant coffee aroma and the pure sweetness of fiordilatte ice cream. Prepare it as I did, you will cause several smiles.
Put some thick glasses in the freezer for half an hour. Prepare a nice mocha of coffee, to be turned on when all the guests have arrived. At the moment of serving, take the glasses out of the freezer, pour a shot of Amaretto di Saronno liqueur onto each other, place two scoops of fiordilatte ice cream or vanilla ice cream or even hazelnut ice cream, and at the last second pour the hot coffee. It will create a delicious fusion of flavors, refreshing and invigorating.
