How do we actually ensure our high quality at Cellini Caffè?

Insight into quality assurance

Ciao. My name is Umberto Durante. I am the Roasting Master and Head of Quality at Cellini Caffè. For half my life, I and my team have been ensuring excellent and reliable espresso enjoyment at Cellini.

green coffee selection

One of my most important tasks is the careful selection of green coffee for the aromatic Cellini Caffè blends. I pay particular attention to my claim of always maintaining a consistently high cup quality. With expertise and passion for good coffee, I am supported in the green coffee selection by my small team, consisting of Giovanni and Sara.

analysis

Before we jointly decide on green coffee from a specific country of origin, a sample is sent to our in-house laboratory, which I examine precisely according to specified parameters: eg color and weight of the individual beans – every detail is analyzed conscientiously.

Analysis of the green coffee in our Cellini Caffè laboratory

The size is what matters

Another important criterion for evaluating green coffee is the size of the coffee bean, which can be measured using an old tool: the Crivello.

How does this work? Very easily:

1. I distribute green coffee beans on a stack with sieve frames, whereby the top sieve has the largest hole size and the perforation is smaller from frame to frame.

2. After that, I shake the stack three times in each direction. The sieve frame on which most of the beans are left tells me the size.

The size does not necessarily have an influence on the taste, but it is taken as an indication of slow growth at high altitude – which in turn is a quality feature of good highland coffee varieties. Most of the coffee we buy comes from the highlands.

Sifting the coffee beans with the “Crivello”

Sample roasting & organoleptic raw material test “Brazilian style”

With the so-called Brazilian method, the sample is first roasted. We then grind the roasted coffee and pour hot water over it.

After the brewing process is over, we taste the coffee. We sip the coffee with a “cupping spoon”. The tasting notes then flow into our selection. Only those “green coffee lots” that meet all of our standards make it onto our order slip. With the careful selection of green coffee, my team and I lay the foundation for the unmistakable Cellini aroma in your coffee cup. This is how a Cellini coffee is created, to which we give all our love over time, from the green bean to the finished cup.

Sara and Giovanni tasting, the so-called “cupping”

The following applies to the crema: quality instead of quantity

Many coffee lovers consider the amount of crema to be a particularly important quality feature of a good coffee. But that’s not always the case! It is like the cover of a book and should not be used exclusively for the evaluation.

Robusta beans tend to make a lot more crema than Arabica beans. However, this crema is denser, more beautifully drawn and more stable. Experience shows that when assessing a coffee, the look of the crema tells a lot more about the coffee than the sheer quantity. I am of the opinion “if you like the coffee, the crema is the icing on the cake”.

Tip: You can really taste a coffee or espresso if you stir the crema with a spoon just before enjoying it.

Why should you stir espresso?

During extraction, the aromas from the different aroma families are distributed unevenly in the cup. The crema is on top of that. Bitter substances and fruit acids are bound in the crema. If you don’t stir your coffee, the crema will spread its intense aroma over your taste buds with the first sip. This overstimulation means that the complex and subtle coffee aromas can no longer be perceived.

The result: Our Cellini Caffè for your moment of pleasure

I wish you a lot of joy with our coffee compositions, we certainly have the right mixture according to your taste!

Ci vediamo!

your Umberto Durante