A day of tastings, debates, live shows, masterclasses and insights, to explore the uniqueness of three extremely similar worlds, all made of passion, love for the land and respect for the raw material, but still divided by clearly different degrees of perception and awareness. Return the Palermo Coffee Festivalthe event entirely dedicated to the world of Specialty Coffee and the sustainable coffee, oil and wine supply chains.
There is something that coffee, wine and oil have in common
Appointment on Saturday 1 June, from 10am to 6pm at the Botanical Garden of the Sicilian capital where approximately 50 exhibitors chosen from the best micro roasteries scattered across ItalySicilian wine cellars and producers of Evo oil. Together with them there will be artisan producers of flours from ancient grains, tropical fruits, tea and tobacco, aromatic medicinal plants, Sicilian spirits and Modica chocolate. Everyone will try to tell a new Sicily, theme of the Festival, made by visionary and courageous producers who believed in this land, betting on new crops or rediscovering and valorising lost ones. Just as the Morettino roasting company did with its experimental project, carried out in collaboration with the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Palermo and the Botanical Garden, for the cultivation of native Sicilian coffee, which will also be one of the topics covered during the event.
Coffee needs to be better known
The aim of the Palermo Coffee Festival is to create and spread coffee culturea drink widely drunk in Italy, but still too little known and valorised, comparing it with the wine and oil supply chains which, instead, thanks to the dedication of the producers and their work of dissemination over time, they have managed to create around to these wonderful products, awareness and curiosity.
Masterclasses, tastings and coffee ice cream
To do this, some Masterclasses will be organized during the day: the first entitled “Slow Food Ethics, coffee cultivations in Sicily and the changing climate” dedicated to sustainable coffee supply chains and the projects of the Slow Food Coffee Coalition. Afterwards, the Coffee-Wine comparison masterclass will return, to explore what the two drinks have in common on a sensorial level: one of the main wine experts in Sicily, Luigi Salvo, AIS Sommelier and judge in international competitions, will lead some special tastings. The theme of the last one will be, instead, “Live distillation of Sicilian London Dry Gin”, led by Giuseppe La Fauci, master distiller of Distilleria Giovi who, armed with a still, will illustrate all the steps in the creation of Gin from the raw material to the distillate. Evo oil is also the protagonist with some educational ones that will lead the public to discover the “cultivar”, the different varieties of cultivated olives, often associated with a specific geographical area.
Coffee plantations in the Botanical Garden
A special mention must be made for the Botanical Garden, icon of the historical cultural heritage of Palermo, but also centerpiece of the event, where during the event you can visit and learn about the historic Coffea Arabica plants over 3 meters tall and kept in the Carolina Greenhouse, and the experimental coffee field which hosts 25 Coffea Arabica plants. The Botanical Garden is a unique place in the world: ten hectares of tropical gardens in the heart of the city, with over 12 thousand botanical species from all over the world, which over time have managed to adapt to the Sicilian climate. And right here, in the historic Colonial Gardens at the beginning of the twentieth century, they were made the first experiments with coffee cultivationwhich today, 120 years later, it has been decided to resume, thanks to the collaboration between the Botanical Garden, the University of Palermo and the Morettino roasting company which has been carrying out the experimental coffee plantation project in Sicily for years.
How to participate
All masterclasses are free, but are reserved for a limited number of people, so to take part it is necessary to book on the website dedicated to the event, a platform on which you can also find all the day’s appointments and the way to participate in the day.
