Collection: Coffee Barbera 1870

It was 1870 when Domenico Barbera made his first experiences with a small coffee roasting machine on the streets of southern Italy. With the accuracy of a northern Italian, being a native of Piedmont, and with the cheerfulness typical of southern Italy, he enchanted his customers with his fragrant and aromatic coffee. This is how he got the affectionate nickname, il mago, the magician, which to this day aptly describes the enchanting effect of coffee. His first roasting machine, called the Tornado, could roast up to 30 kg of coffee at once. She was Domenico's pride and always filled him with joy. Before he died much too young and unexpectedly, he was able to pass on his knowledge and, above all, his enthusiasm for coffee roasting to his children. Both have survived to this day in the family business that bears his name.

One of Domenico's sons, Antonio Barbera, took over the family business after his father's death: quality, excellent taste and the establishment of the Barbera brand made coffee one of the most popular drinks in southern Italy in the period between the two world wars. Even in the post-war period, the company, whose building had to be rebuilt due to major damage, remained successful. The aim was to make coffee known throughout the Italian peninsula.

In 1947, Antonio and his son Letterio opened a new facility in Naples, the home of coffee. They took an entrepreneurial risk that ultimately paid off. The new roastery in Naples quickly became the basis for further development of the Italian mainland. Four years later, an additional warehouse was opened in Milan. From now on you could enjoy the popular Barbera coffee everywhere in Italy.

Even under Antonio, production had progressed from hand-roasted to machine-roasted. Letterio's son Carmelo, who had studied food technology at Columbia University in New York, continued to drive this advance. Carmelo founded the first coffee food chemistry laboratory in Italy to obtain scientific knowledge about the coffee and to optimize the quality. Through this special commitment, Barbera Caffè also gained attention in the international trade press.

Enrico Barbera, Carmelo's son, began in 1982 to further advance the globalization of the company, which had become a public limited company in 1978. This development began with the purchase of the coffee company "Tris Coffee" in order to expand the market share in the Italian trade. In addition, the Barbera brand was now offered on the international market for the first time. Today, Barbera Caffè is sold in over 55 countries on five continents and enjoys great popularity due to its award-winning quality. The next big step in the company's history followed in 2003 with the founding of the Café Barbera franchise company. The first coffee shop was opened in Dubai, now one of more than 30 worldwide.

Today, in the sixth generation, Elio are responsible for the national and international expansion of the Barbera brand. The aim is to identify new markets and business ideas. In this context, they are also responsible for social media and online activities. In addition, they continue to develop the Barbera brand in order to keep it up to date and at the same time take into account the long tradition of the company. The daily satisfaction of customers worldwide is still in the foreground today.

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