COFFEE. Valdostan Coffee

The Lucianaz family and their artisanal coffee

The Café Ollietti and the Lucianaz family represent a union that is now part of the history of coffee in the Aosta Valley, a brand that reminds us of the tropical origins of this delicious artisanal product of excellent quality.

This is the story of afamily business. Since 1962 the Lucianaz family has been carrying on the historic Valdostan brand Caffè Ollietti in the town of Charvensod.

The blend with its intense, rounded flavor was created by Eugenio Lucianaz, the founder of the family, who carefully selected delicate qualities of Arabica coffee from Central America and valuable varieties of robusta coffee, grown instead in Central Africa.

The artisanal roasting of Ollietti Coffee

The company is now run by Paola and Diego, Eugenio’s children.

Roasting is still done in the traditional way in an artisanal drum roasting machine.

There are no electronic sensors to control the degree of roasting: it is in theartisans’ expert sense of smell that lies the real secret of perfect “cooking.” Simply by listening to the crunching of the beans, they know exactly when the blend is ready.

The process is certainly longer and more laborious than the industrial one, but this is precisely one of the strengths of Ollietti‘s artisanal coffee: the slow roasting process and the small size of the machine allow for perfectly and evenly roasted beans, an essential requirement for theunmistakable aroma to be released when the coffee is brewed.

And don’t think that the husk that comes off the beans during roasting is thrown away!

The Lucianaz family is against waste and there is not a single thing that is not reused during production.

In fact, the skin of coffee beans, despite not tasting great, is rich in nutrients and Eugenio, instead of wasting it, uses it to fertilize the vineyard.

The tradition of “café alla valdostana”

Have you ever heard of the traditional “café alla valdostana”?

Probably not: very few people now carry on this ancient tradition, even in the Aosta Valley itself.

It is a special local drink invented in the mists of time to “warm the ears” together with friends on cold winter nights.

“Valle d’Aosta style coffee” consists of coffee laced with grappa, lemon zest, sugar and plenty of spices.

Preparation requires the use of an object symbolic ofcraftsmanship in the Aosta Valley, the Friendship Cup: this is a large, pot-bellied wooden bowl with handles to support it and characterized by the presence of spouts on the sides and a finely carved lid .

The rim of the Friendship Cup should be sprinkled with sugar and schnapps. After that, a flame is lit on the rim and the flaming drink is served.

At this point, the cup is ready and is passed around as a sign of friendship, passing it from hand to hand, without laying it on the table. In this way, everyone receives their ration of “Valdostan coffee,” very often even more than once .

It never happens that we always sip coffee from the same spout, but this does not turn out to be a problem, on the contrary. It is precisely this that creates a stronger friendship, greater togetherness and intense involvement in the practice of the ritual.