MILAN – Endri and Tanya, the creators of the online platform for the community of the international specialty Coffeeinsurrection, have a common past: for 17 years they have revolutionized their lives for a passion for quality coffee. Leaving their jobs in a pharmaceutical warehouse, they slowly began to follow their true vocation: he is a chef, she is a specialty barista. A professional path that has taken them far away, outside Italy, where this reality is seriously perceived behind the counter. First in Berlin, at The Barn, their trip collided with Covid. A pandemic that undoubtedly hit the horeca department, but which however served them as “the right moment” to build a website born to become a meeting point site for all specialty lovers. We talked about it directly with the creative couple.
Coffeeinsurrection: an idea born from travel with an international vocation
They say: “Every time we visit a city we always inform ourselves in advance about the local specialty coffee scene and, although there are similar sites at least for what concerns European cities, we wanted something more “complete”, which not only listed places, but also provided some more information.
In finding ourselves choosing the cities to list, we just followed our hearts, starting from our favorites. Paris, New York, Berlin, Hawaii, and gradually many others. Right from the start we paid a special attention to Italy, trying to list as many places as possible, even in small towns or more remote areas.
We strongly believe in the potential of specialty coffee also in Italy: after all we are a population already accustomed to recognize tastes and flavors (as it happens in wine, for example), we love coffee and we consider ourselves experts on the subject. And let’s not forget that Italy hosts some specialty coffee champions at an international level (Alessandro Galtieri and Rubens Gardelli, just to name a couple), and that some Italian roasters are already well-known at European level.
So it seemed important to us to promote the situation of specialty coffee in Italy, both with the list of places but also with the help of the interviews that we publish in the “Coffee Insurrection Hero” column, which already contains more than one famous name of the Italian coffee scene, side by side to (more or less) well-known people from every corner of the world. ”
Why is Coffeeinsurrection in English and not in Italian?
“Because the website is designed to be usable by many (if not everyone), and English is the language that dominates in this field, as in many others. Even the SCA competitions, the most famous specialty coffee magazines and publications, blogs… everything is now mostly in English, and therefore it seemed the most logical choice.”
How did you structure and divide the site?
“The Coffee Insurrection website is made up of two main parts. In “Our Journey”, you can find the cities we map, divided by continent and nation. In each city there is a list of local specialty coffee shops and roasters. In the blog, there is everything else. Travel stories, insights on new extraction methods, recipes, and much more.
A fundamental part of our blog is the “Coffee Insurrection Hero” column in which we interview people belonging to the specialty coffee community from all over the world. But not just baristas, roasters, or coffee shop owners. There are also bloggers and SCA champions, and soon producers, and surprise guests, will also find space. We ask the same thirteen questions to everyone, to show the similarities and differences that can be found in our wonderful, little community.”
What is the goal of Coffee Insurrection and how do you plan to achieve it
“We have two main goals: to become a point of reference for the specialty community, and to help spread the specialty coffee around the world. As for the community, we want to make room for as many voices as possible, both with the list of places and with the interviews and the posts on the blog.
We are still a small global reality, and it is important that we all understand that it is not a matter of “one vs. each other” to be (let’s say) the best in town, but it is more a question of “us vs. them”. The specialty coffee world is based upon an attention to the entire production chain, a care about sustainability and an attention to the individual; and in a way is against large multinationals, against the exploitation of people and territories, against bad quality coffee. And here comes into play our second goal: trying to make the specialty world known to as many people as possible, intriguing them and showing them that there is another way.
For now the website is just Endri and I, so we rely heavily on our personal experiences (specialty coffees visited, people we know, etc …) and on what we already find online. Over time, we hope to become a more important reality, perhaps with new collaborators and sponsors, and with the idea of being able to travel more and more, visit coffee shops and coffee plantations, get to know roasters and baristas, learn more and more and share with those who follow us…”
Who is Coffeeinsurrection for and how to participate
“The website’s target is not only the specialty community, but also coffee enthusiasts and even the simple curious who want to learn something new. At the moment, we try to map all the places we find in each city but obviously we always miss some of them. This is why we rely heavily on the help of the community, to report new and old realities to us, or to simply tell us “I’m here too”.
Same goes with the interviews, and the blog. We want to be a voice for all members of the community. We want to talk about coffee, about experiences. We want to tell stories. We want our site (www.coffeeinsurrection.com) to become the voice of the community. Anyone who wants to contact us (proposing topics, asking us to review coffees, places and so on) and follow us, can easily do so through the Instagram Coffee Insurrection page, and through the homonymous page on other social networks.”
