Growing up, Italian coffee was always the benchmark of quality.

Home of espresso and countless coffee-related brands, Italy created coffee culture. 

My opinions of Italian coffee completely changed though when I lived in Australia and discovered speciality coffee. Now my idea of quality wasn’t the strength or bitterness of the coffee, but rather the complexities and the delicate notes that can be perceived in certain speciality coffees. 

Italian roasts are typically dark and sometimes over-roasted coffee beans, you will see some Italian coffees looking almost black and shiny. The coffee that is normally used especially in big Italian brands is below par and poorly produced, but when it’s roasted to that level it doesn’t really matter what the coffee is, it’s just going to taste burnt and roasty anyway.

Terrone are here to change the way people think of Italian coffee. They roast all of their coffee to the profile that best highlights the attributes in the green bean. They unify their heritage of coffee culture with advanced roasting techniques and high-quality coffee beans to give Terrone a unique edge over the rest of the crowd. 

Their roastery based in Tottenham, London has been going since 2012 which is quite a while in speciality coffee terms. The 15kg Giesen coffee roaster is at the heart of their production.

How did it all begin and what is your first memory of coffee?

I wanted to bring the Italian coffee culture into specialty coffee. 

My first memory of specialty coffee was in a coffee shop in Portland, Oregon, where they were roasting coffee on the back of the shop and selling it on the front. That’s where I tasted the real filter coffee for the first time.

Where did the name Terrone come from?

Wanting to celebrate the heritage of Italian culture, I choose this name that refers to Italian soil workers, but it is also a surname.

The biggest challenge of starting up a roastery?

The biggest challenge has been explaining to new customers, coming from a poor quality coffee background, the value of high quality coffee and convincing them to pay an higher price for this.  

Three words to sum up Terrone?

Modern, Sustainable, Heritage

Favourite all-time origin/region/lot?

Guatemala Hueuetenango

Any coffees that have stood out recently?

Ywangan Myanmar

Is there anyone famous that buys your coffee?

James Lewis - artist

What would you like to see happen in the coffee industry over the next ten years? 

Making roasting on origins more viable and sustainable.

What does the future have in store for Terrone?

The future is to scale our business keeping quality and control but wider the customer based.

The Nariño coffee from Terrone originates from the municipality of Albán, in Northern Nariño. 

The coffee was produced by the Cifuentes family that have a 3.5-hectare coffee farm. Their farm is harvested by the family on which they also cultivate various fruit trees that provide shade for the coffee plants. Although the yield of coffee would inevitably increase if they stripped back all of the other plants other than coffee, they have chosen to keep the indigenous crops that bring biodiversity to the farm.

The Cifuentes family are dedicated to producing high-quality micro-lot coffee. They are aware of the increase in price that exporters will pay for well-processed coffee and make sure that all of the micro-lots are carefully fermented and sun-dried.

When I very first tasted this Colombian coffee on the cupping table there was a beautiful aroma of honeycomb when I broke the crust of the cup, which reminded me of a crunchie (what a chocolate bar!). I usually find it hard to put my finger on any notes at this stage but /i always now I’m in for a treat if I do.

When the coffee settles and the coffee is cool enough to drink, the delicious body of the Nariño works its way around your palate. 

It is fairly subtle to start with, the flavours only really start to take hold in the mid-sip. Notes of peach layer together with the sweetness of the crunchie.

The acidity is mellow but not muted, there is an after taste of dark chocolate that rounds off the whole coffee beautifully.

A coffee that just really works and was thoroughly enjoyed all the way through. 

The coffee really does the processing and the meticulous roasting justice. The roast profile was slightly darker than some of the other coffees that I have tasted from Terrone, however, this adds a little bit more body to the profile of the cup which draws out some delicious flavours.

I loved cupping this coffee, I would always advise giving coffee tasting a go if you have the time. Otherwise, it works really well across the board, especially as an espresso coffee beans.