Italy's Unexpected Coffee Capital

In Trieste, past and present merge, mix and often clash. As a border city on the north-eastern corner of Italy, close to Slovenia and Croatia, and facing the Adriatic Sea, Trieste has long been a meeting point of ideas, beliefs, traditions and flavors.

Epochs and cultures collide all around you – in the architecture, in the languages spoken on the streets and even in the coffee. Compared to other parts of Italy, where espressos disappear as soon as they are brewed, in Trieste drinking coffee is an unhurried ritual.

Several authors have written their masterpieces while sitting at a table in one of Trieste’s cafès with an espresso in front of them. Claudio Magris, one of the city’s most famous contemporary literary figures, wrote Danubio at the Caffè Tommaseo. This is where our coffee-inspired tour of Trieste begins.

A "nero in B" served at Trieste's historic Caffè Tommaseo.

Agnese Baini

Caffè Tommaseo is the oldest of the city’s historic cafès. It was opened in 1825 by Tommaso Marcato, who transformed the place into the elegant space it continues be: marble tables, dark wood Thonet chairs, large Belgian mirrors and stucco on every wall. I walk in and take a seat, with my book to read while I wait for the waitress to take my order. “Un nero lungo in B, please,” I say.

When Caffè Tommaseo opened its doors for the first time, Trieste was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and, thanks to its port and its trade, it grew from a small town to a large and rich city. There are seven historic cafès in Trieste. These places belong to the nineteenth century, yet they still carry the splendor and melancholic atmosphere of their golden age. I feel a little out of place in this solemn silence, but in a few seconds I am immersed in my reading.

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The waitress arrives with a tray containing my long espresso, served in a glass: this is how I like to drink it, but there are many ways to order coffee in Trieste. “Nero” is the simple espresso, “Capo” stands for macchiato, and if you just want a little drop of milk, you have to order a “Gocciato.”. Add “In B” to signal that you’d like your coffee in a glass instead of a ceramic cup. These names come from the German language, and Habsburg culture – especially of the Viennese kind – has had a great influence on Trieste’s coffee culture, from the slowness with which the drink is approached to the sophistication of the places where it's drunk. 

Trieste cosmopolitan character is visible in the city's diverse architecture.

In 1719, Emperor Charles VI declared the city a “free port” of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with concessions on duties and taxes for imported goods. Thanks to this special legislation, Trieste established itself as an important international port and goods began to arrive from all over the world.

Coffee, in particular, arrived from Ethiopia and Yemen. Today, almost half of Italy’s coffee is shipped through the port of Trieste, which has been home to warehouses, roasting and processing factories for more than two centuries, as well as sites for all the activities related to the trade of this substance.

As trade grew, so did Trieste’s coffee culture. Caffè Tommaseo was followed by Antico Caffè San Marco, founded in 1914 by Marco Lovrinovich. Half of the space is now a bookshop, where book presentations and debates are often hosted. I look at the people sitting at the tables while the waiter prepares my coffee on an Elektra machine with a retro charm. 

The interior of the Caffè San Marco, a century-old coffee house in Trieste.

As you enter Trieste’s famous cafès you may be led to think that the city’s relationship with coffee is stuck in the past – in another century, even another empire. While there is definitely a strong connection with the Austro-Hungarian heritage, more and more people are working to modernize the city’s coffee culture. This contradiction is part of Trieste’s identity, and you’ll see as soon as you start speaking with locals involved in the coffee industry.

As I was researching this story, a friend introduced me to coffee designer Bianca Maria Maschio, who sells her own roasts under the brand Bianca Tosta. We texted on Instagram and agreed to meet at her Coffee Lab, where she hosts workshops and tastings. As soon as I arrived, Bianca greeted me with a coffee. 

“I’m trying to raise awareness about ingredients and processing methods, with a focus on the provenance of raw materials and the well-being of plantation workers,” says Bianca. “We drink coffee without thinking that it is actually produced in distant places and that it has travelled a long way before reaching us”.

Coffee designer Bianca Maria Maschio roasts been and runs workshops from her studio Bianca Tosta.

Agnese Baini

I signed up for one of Bianca’s espresso tastings to learn more about the transformation of Trieste’s coffee scene. One Saturday morning I wandered into the San Giacomo district to see Bianca presenting five different types of espresso, each served in two different cups: a taller and narrower one for the noses, and a lower and wider one for the palate.

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“I guide people through a sensory analysis that involves all the senses to identify what is a good coffee, but also which coffee best suits everyone’s taste,” says Bianca. “In the beginning, only a few people can distinguish the scents, for example, because it is a matter of reactivating the olfactory memory, it just has to be awakened at the right time.” That was a very difficult part for me, but after two hours with Bianca I was able to distinguish elements such as body, acidity, sweetness and persistence in an espresso. Thanks to her love for coffee, I will never be able to drink one without thinking of her.

“Where can you get a good coffee in Trieste?” I ask Bianca. Pagna is a bakery that opened at the end of 2022. The owner, Pedja Kostic, is originally from Belgrade, with a background in the United States and a passion for natural baking. The place is on a pedestrian street in the centre, not far from San Marco, although it is somewhat hidden under a portico, where there is a large marble table for customers. 

At Pagna, coffee comes with a side of freshly baked pastries.

Agnese Baini

Thomas Gon is waiting for me, one of the employees who has brought his passion for coffee to Pagna. He introduces me to an Ethiopian coffee from the Saint Romain roastery, a small company from Brittany. “We always have coffees from local roasters as well as from abroad, especially from small roasters with whom we can work directly”, he tells me. For example, they worked with the Swedish roaster Drop to get a roast more suited to Italian tastes. 

He shows me Drop’s bags to explain what “specialty coffee” actually means: “With their labels, they are completely transparent about the product, you can read who produced the coffee, in what area, at what altitude, as well as when it was harvested. In addition to the variety and processing, they also indicate how much they paid for the raw coffee”.

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I ask him how the people of Trieste, who are so attached to their traditions, have received Pagna’s coffee. “The younger generations tend to be more curious and understand the concept of quality research,” Thomas replies. 

I leave Pagna and walk towards Cittavecchia, to go back in time again. I walk through the centre, passing several cafès – every street has a few – and I see people sitting at tables chatting, as if the hustle and bustle of modern life has stopped in front of a cup.

Torrefazione La Triestina has been roasting coffee in Trieste for over half a century.

The Cittavecchia district is home to the Torrefazione La Triestina, opened in 1948. It's the oldest artisan coffee roastery in Trieste. The family that runs it today bought it 13 years ago, preserving the atmosphere of the 1960s and the traditional coffee.

Matteo Slatich, the owner’s son, welcomes me with a smile behind the counter to tell me about the business. He shows me the silos with six different types of coffee, one of which is decaffeinated. The best seller is the “Super Blend La Triestina Gold Version,” a 90% Arabica coffee, but it is also possible to create personalized blends.

Matteo Slatich now runs Torrefazione La Triestina with his family.

Agnese Baini

I thank him and say goodbye, while returning to the city’s main square, Piazza Unità d’Italia, a few hundred meters away: we pride ourselves on being the largest square facing the sea in Europe and it is indeed enchanting.

On the right, facing the Adriatic, is the last historic café on my itinerary, Caffè degli Specchi, opened in 1839. A rope separates the customers sitting at the tables from the passers-by. If you want to sit down here, you’ll have to wait for a waiter to assign you a table. But look closely and you’ll notice that waiters are not the only workers on site. Three robots are carrying dirty cups, saucers and glasses to the washroom. This is Trieste’s relationship with coffee in a nutshell – a contradiction between tradition and modernity.

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