The Scent of Coffee: A Journey Across the Sea to Start Our Days
About 80% of people drink coffee in Italy.
The remaining 20% are probably children!
Joking aside, coffee is much more than a beverage: it is a daily ritual, a cultural habit that starts our day. Italy is often called the homeland of coffee, even though it is not a primary producer.
But where does the aroma that wakes us up every day, come from?
What journey does it take to reach us?
From the Plantation to the Port: The Origin of Coffee
We discussed this with Matteo Bianchi who is a coffee trader at Lavazza, one of the symbols of Italian coffee worldwide.
As a company we manage part of the maritime transport of coffee beans from Vietnam, the world’s second-largest producer after Brazil and the main supplier of Robusta coffee: a traffic of several hundred containers per year.
Robusta, compared to Arabica, has a more intense and robust flavor, characteristics that pairs perfectly with the Italian espresso style. It grows at lower altitudes and is more resilient to environmental conditions and yields more per plant. Arabica grows at higher altitudes, is more delicate and less resistant to external factors.
Vietnam also cultivates Arabica, but in much smaller quantities: about a third of Robusta production, roughly one million sacks.
Harvesting and Processing: A Delicate Phase
Coffee plantations are mainly located in the central-southern part of Vietnam. October and January is the harvest season and one of the most delicate phases of the entire production process.
Coffee cherries are picked using a technique called stripping: the picker runs their hand along the branches, collecting all the cherries in a single motion. These are then transferred to areas, where they are left to dry under the sun.
Rain or high humidity can seriously compromise the harvest, making this stage particularly critical.
Subsequently, the beans are extracted from the fruit (usually two per cherry) and transported to the mills, where moisture control, removal of external residues, and sorting by size and quality take place.
The Sea Voyage to Europe
Now the coffee is ready to embark on its long journey to Italy.
Transport from Vietnam is mainly by 20-foot containers, each holding about 320 sacks of 60 kg, or up to 21 tons in bulk.
A feeder service initially connects the port of departure to Singapore, where containers are transferred to larger vessels serving the Far East–Europe routes.
To preserve product quality, coffee is loaded according to specific standards set by the importer, aiming to minimize moisture damage.
Common solutions include:
- internal craft paper linings;
- absorbent bags (dry bags) to prevent condensation.
Arrival in Italy and Quality Checks
The sea journey from Ho Chi Minh City to Genoa takes about 26 days on average (over 40 days if routed around Africa via Suez). Upon arrival, the containers are handled by specialized customs operators, who manage the necessary documentation for external transit, allowing the goods to circulate within the European Union without immediate payment of customs duties.
The coffee is then transferred to customs warehouses in Liguria and Piedmont, where custom procedures are completed.
Here samples are taken for:
- physical–organoleptic analysis;
- chemical compliance checks;
health inspections in accordance with current regulations (DPR 470).
Only after passing all tests can the coffee continue its journey.
From Roasting to the Cup
Finally, the beans arrive at Lavazza’s Piedmont plants, including Settimo Torinese and Gattinara, where they are transformed into the finished product.
The coffee is blended, roasted, and packaged in various forms: ground, whole bean, or in capsules. There is also a plant dedicated exclusively to decaffeination, located in the province of Isernia.
A journey of thousands of kilometers that ends every morning, with aroma of coffee filling our homes.