Starting as a small artisan coffee roaster, the company grew at a great rate: from a million pods a year to two million pods a month in less than 14 years. A range of products fit for a multinational company, but with the quality of an Italian artisan coffee roaster.
There are many reasons for this success.
Gian Luca Venturelli Italian Coffee Roasting Company was founded in 1996 on the shores of Lake Garda (at Padenghe sul Garda), thanks to the passion and enterprise of Gian Luca Venturelli. The company grew rapidly, first at its facility in Roncadelle (Brescia) where, besides the equipment for roasting and grinding the coffee, innovative plant was installed for packaging the pods in paper, allowing the company to specialize in a way that would later prove to be a winner. The roasting company expanded further in 2004, moving to its new headquarters at Carpenedolo (Brescia), a short distance away from the other company, still run by Gian Luca Venturelli.
It was an inspired idea to connect the Lucaffé brand with an image which evokes charm and professionalism.
Particular care is taken in devising attractive and functional packaging. The wide range of appropriately designed accessories reinforces the Italian image of the product: the tradition of Italian espresso the way it is consumed in Italy by the Italians.
The selection and purchase of the coffee is taken care of by Gian Luca Venturelli. Gian Luca personally tastes all the samples that reach the company, and often travels abroad to visit plantations and producers.
We are directly responsible for every stage of the transport of the raw material to our plants. Some varieties, such as the precious Jamaica Blue Mountain, travel in small wooden barrels, to best preserve their unmistakable aroma.
The individual varieties of coffee are blended in carefully worked-out proportions. Our blends are the result of years of passionate research by Gian Luca Venturelli, and are offered in various types to satisfy a range of individual tastes. Besides our blends we also offer particularly prestigious single-origin coffees (Jamaica Blue Mountain, for example).
In processing our coffees we follow artisan practice: a gentle roasting which caresses the coffee. We obtain a product of the highest quality which is also extremely wholesome: the essential oils and aromas are protected and the beans as a result are well-developed and fragrant, with little residual moisture and a limited caffeine content.
Grinding is a delicate phase, and of great importance for the final result. We grind the coffee with the best mills available in the world. We grind the coffee in the absence of oxygen and at low temperature, gently and delicately.
To preserve the aromas for as long as possible, we are particularly careful about packaging our coffees, both those in pods and our coffee beans and ground coffees. Packaging is done in a protective atmosphere, with nitrogen being blown in to eliminate the oxygen and resist oxidation. In this way the aromas are preserved and the final drink can always boast an enviable crema. In particular, the use of paper pods always ensures that a successful Italian espresso is produced to the highest standards, even if it is done by someone who is not an expert, many many miles from where the beans were roasted.
The little Lucaffé man, in his variants for each blend, sticks in the memory of consumers and is now a symbol and synonym of quality.
Bar Molinari, located in the heart of the city of Modena, began roasting coffee on its own in 1911. The source of our success is therefore the passion, attentiveness, dedication and the high-quality that sets our artisan food products apart from others. Today, more than hundred years later – although utilizing the most modern industrial technology – we continue and, and will continue, to preserve that maniacal artisan devotion.
Our end purpose, the reason why we exist, now more than ever, is to satisfy the customer 100%. Caffè Molinari is synonymous with quality, excellence, technology, and historical passion associated with the world of coffee in more than 60 countries throughout the world.
The individual samples of the various batches of coffee are subject to careful sensory analysis by a panel of expert tasters, alongside and assisted by the Molinari family. Once the sample is approved, the respective batch is purchased and shipped to our premises after inspection by our local agent.
Caffè Molinari’s master roasters mix the batches of different origin before roasting. In order to keep the flavour constant over time – coffee being a natural product, with characteristics that vary from harvest to harvest depending on temperature, rainfalls etc. – the recipe is always adapted as a function of the flavour and aroma characteristics of the green coffees available.
All the coffee roasted during the day is packaged within the evening to preserve its aromatic characteristics. Caffè Molinari coffee is packaged in bags, pods, capsules, tins and cans in a protected atmosphere (blowing in nitrogen before closing the package in order to decrease the percentage of oxygen and humidity), thus protecting our coffee’s aroma until it reaches your cup!!!