Today we find ourselves in Pedaso, in the province of Fermo, to get to know more closely Simone Meriggi, one of the partners of Torrefazione Perfero, who granted us a brief interview to tell us his point of view on the world of specialty coffee and beyond.
Torrefazione Perfero is a reference point in the Italian specialty movement. The selection by Torrefazione Perfero focuses on traceable single-origin coffees and roasting profiles calibrated to bring out genuine and surprising aromas. Discover 5 perfect secrets of their philosophy.
How was Perfero born? What’s your story?
Perfero was born in 2010; it’s the story of two friends who have known each other practically forever. It started a bit as a game, each of us had our own job. I was teaching at the university but had to return to Italy for family reasons. In the meantime, alongside the university, I had fun working as an export manager for some Italian companies in the coffee sector. So I brought that experience here. We started roasting 15 years ago. We were lucky because we started collaborating right away with a British company. We roasted for them. They demanded coffees that didn’t yet exist here in Italy, the ones we today call specialties. So we got to know the various selections of Arabicas and the many farms that produced them, often in microlots or in small quantities anyway. This opened up a world for us, and that’s where we started to become what we are today.
What are the main criteria you use to select the beans?
When we started in Italy, there was no one selling green coffee, especially the kind suitable for specialty. So at first we got it a bit from Germany, a bit from France, a bit from England, then in the end we saw that there was a cooperative in Fano, in the Marche region, that was importing coffees but had projects in the countries of origin. We joined them, becoming partners in this cooperative ourselves. We went directly to the countries of origin to see the plantations and meet the producers. With the help of agronomists specialized in this sector, we selected the coffees little by little over time.
So you have a direct relationship with the farms?
Yes, of course. We have built trust-based relationships that allow us to know the variety, area, type of processing, and above all the farms provide us with coffee already selected for the various defects that might be present, and this is something fundamental for us.
Today there seems to be greater attention and awareness on the part of consumers regarding roasting. What kind of roasting do you prefer and why?
Well, first of all, you always have to respect what the customer likes. In Italy, as we know, it’s customary to use very dark roasts that tend to burn the bean itself. So in this case you have to distinguish whether burning the coffee serves to cover defects in the green coffee. If the starting coffee is very low quality, I burn it to cover those smells, those notes of mold, of wet rag and everything that can’t then be pleasant on the palate. The roast we do is absolutely not dark, the oils never come to the surface, because if the oil inside the coffee surfaces, oxidation starts immediately, within a very short time. So we make sure that all our coffees are dry, the oil stays inside and doesn’t go rancid on the outside, altering the taste. But you have to find the right compromise, knowing the bean, the area, the terroir, the exposure, etc., so that the coffee isn’t burnt but is developed and therefore delivers all its qualities.
But this is hard for the consumer to understand.
The consumer will never be able to understand it, also because consumers very often buy pre-ground coffee and especially in pods or capsules, and they can’t see it.
How important is coffee traceability to you? And what’s the situation today from this point of view?
As for the coffee we buy, as you’ll see later, we write on the bag the name of the producer, the varietal, the area and the date of production. Traceability, today, is almost impossible not to guarantee. Even a simple QR code is enough; it’s super easy. At least it is for us who buy relatively small quantities directly from the producers. Things get more complex when a large company buys from a consortium that brings together hundreds of producers. There, the coffee is all put together and shipped directly in containers to then be cleaned up here in Italy. In that case the only thing we can say is maybe that it’s a Brazil, a Colombia, a Vietnam, an Ivory Coast, but little more.
So the difference between a roastery like yours and an industrial one is considerable when it comes to traceability.
For sure we can guarantee this more easily because the quantities are much smaller than industrial ones.
Speaking of specialty coffee, how much does education and consumer awareness count for appreciating it? I’m asking you this because I’ve often noticed that in the first approaches to specialty, the taste is very different from what people are used to, and the consumer often takes a step back, branding the experience as negative.
Absolutely true; I even remember the first times some people said to me “is this syrup, is it medicine?”
The first impression for many at the beginning is that it’s very acidic.
Exactly. Coffee, high-altitude Arabica, is acidic. There’s the acidity of fruit. We Italians aren’t used to acidity. Bitter is fine, sweet is fine, but acidic less so. In my opinion, the skill of a roaster in Italy also lies in not exasperating the acidity through a correct roast curve, thanks to which we can bring out the sweetness of Arabica, attenuating its acidity. Acidity has to be there, though; it’s a typical characteristic. It should be said that if we want to bring people closer to specialty, we can’t have them jump from a bitter coffee, leaning toward burnt, to maybe a top-quality but hyper-acidic one. Because if I put sugar in the bitter one I can attenuate it, while with a hyper-acidic coffee it could actually make the taste worse.
But here the barista’s skill comes into play, right?
Exactly. On our part we try not to ruin that coffee by enhancing it a bit through roasting. But then there’s the barista. The barista, besides making the coffee in the most precise way, having the right machine, keeping it well maintained, clean, doing all the right steps, keeping the grinder clean, choosing the right dose without skimping on that one gram less, has to do something very important. They have to tell the story of the coffee! What happened with wine, with beer or with other excellences? Why has wine been so successful? Because it was told as a story. Then it’s true that you can love or not love some wines, and it’s the same with specialty coffee. You either love them or you don’t, but there’s a reasoning behind it. There’s a whole body of work, but you have to tell me about it. Let me give you an example: we have a Nepal that’s 40 km from Kathmandu. The journey between the cultivation and the city is so rugged that it takes the farmer 5 hours to cover it. I have to explain to you that that poor person, to bring me the coffee to Kathmandu, makes a huge effort, and it’s only fair to pay them adequately.
Do you think there’s growing attention toward specialty coffee in Italy?
Yes, we’ve gone from a product that wasn’t accepted at all to having several bars, collaborators, friends, home customers who ask us for coffee and who want to experiment with it in all its facets. We’re interested in creating a community because only in this way can we increase the final consumer’s awareness and maybe spare them low-quality coffees.
Do you have future plans to expand or introduce new things?
Always, maybe even too much! For example, a very niche product will soon be released thanks to a collaboration between us and some local growers. It will be a spirit (alcoholic, then) typical of the Piceno area, because it will combine our coffee with a local excellence, the Arancia Bionda del Piceno (Piceno Blonde Orange). There are very few trees, but they’ve been cultivated since the 1600s in enclosed gardens in our territory, kept almost like jewels. It will be a very limited production but of great cultural value for us. Then there are the fair-trade projects we have in Nepal, India, Guatemala, Uganda. With many of them we’ve become real friends; we’ve grown together. And we want to continue doing it together with those who’ve followed us until now and with those who will want to in the future.
The passion and dedication of Simone Meriggi and the entire Perfero team emerge clearly from the words of this interview: a genuine love for specialty coffee, based on quality, transparency and respect for the work of the producers. A roastery that looks to the future with innovative projects but always rooted in the territory and in human relationships.
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Torrefazione Perfero: Philosophy and Specialty Approach
Torrefazione Perfero’s philosophy is built on meticulous selection of single-origin beans and roasting profiles calibrated to the tenth of a degree. Each blend by Torrefazione Perfero is born from repeated cup-tasting sessions, to bring out the aromatic characteristics of the green coffee without covering them up. Torrefazione Perfero prefers light-medium roasts that enhance floral, fruity and dark chocolate notes. The direct relationship with the producers at origin is one of the distinctive elements that make Torrefazione Perfero a reference point in the Italian specialty movement. For international certifications and protocols, consult the Specialty Coffee Association standards. Also discover Bugan Coffee Lab Bergamo for another leading Italian specialty roaster.
