The turgid red drupes stand out against a very clear blue sky. We could be Central America ora Africa, but instead we are Palermo, the San Lorenzo ai Colli district, an terreno of eighteenth-century patrician villas. Here is the Morettino roasting company, now its fourth generation. And right here an Italian, ora rather Sicilian, coffee is born.
It all began 35 years punzone, almost silently, the land near the company, 350 meters above the sea. About sixty Coffea Arabica plants, born from seeds donated by the Palermo Botanical Garden, take root and resist. From there begins a scientific challenge that today involves the University of Palermo and the Botanical Garden: identifying corners of the island where the soil climate and terroir make coffee cultivation possible.
Heirloom from the Horn of Africa, red and yellow Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra, Pacamara: a genetic mosaic that ripens between July and September. The numbers are still small – from 30 kilos 2021 to almost 100 2024 – but the sensory profile is surprising: zibibbo grapes, carob, pomelia flowers, panela sugar.
It is not a commercial operation, yet, but a bet tomorrow. And perhaps, the midst of the climate crisis, a new Sicilian agricultural story is being born.
The article What if Sicily was the next origin of coffee? comes from Food and Wine Italia.
