Essse

The history of ESSSE Caffe is the history of the Segafredo family

Essse Caffè

Robert Mormina - Justin Bahner - Anne Duhre - Pietro Buscaroli (Nephew from Francesco Segafredo)

You know the name Segafredo, right? It is the name of an Italian family from the town of Bassano del Grappa. In the early 1930s, Gaspare Segafredo decides to open a coffee roasting plant in Bologna, 90 km away. Via Galliera is the right place for the young man to realize his ideas in a modern city. The roasting company Gaspare Segafredo S.p.a. is founded. Unfortunately, he is soon forced to close the roastery in 1936 due to economic sanctions. These are also difficult political times in Italy and Gaspare is not willing to do anything but roast coffee. But immediately after the end of the war, he resumes production.

In 1943 Gaspare Segafredo dies much too early and his son Giampiero Segafredo has to take over the fortunes of the roasting company at the age of just 19. But he does this so imaginatively and courageously that Segafredo Caffe rises to become Italy's leading roaster for the HORECA sector (Hotels-Gastronomy-Catereing) already in the 1960s. He knows like no other how to motivate his employees to give their best. Countless prizes and awards for his excellent espresso coffees make him more and more popular. In 1967, Segafredo Spa was the first roaster in Italy to receive the Premio Dionisio d'Oro award in Rome for particularly fair and competent business. (Incidentally, together with San Pellegrino).

Traumatic experience

Giampiero SegafredoBut fate strikes again. In 1972, at the age of only 48, Giampiero Segafredo dies in a car accident. His son Francesco was only 20 years young at the time. And that's not all: 2 years later Francesco is kidnapped and only released 5 days later after paying a large ransom. The background and events are still a mystery today and lead to many speculations. However, we do not want to give them any room here. What is certain is that it was a traumatic experience for the young man, who now suddenly had to run a coffee dynasty.

Zanetti Spa, which already had business ties with Segafredo, initially helped to continue the roasting business. But the families cannot agree on the direction of the brand in the long run. To put it in simple terms: Zanetti wants mass and Segafredo wants class. The Segafredo family finally sells its brand to the Zanetti Group in 1977.

In 1979, the Segafredo family continues its own success story by founding the roasting company ESSSE Caffe.

The 3 S's of Essse Caffé

The decision to write Essse with three S's has of course a meaning. These 3 S stand for Scienza (Science), Sapienza (Knowledge) and Specializzazione (Specialization): three values that summarize the company's philosophy. It is based on decades of experience in coffee roasting and is constantly looking for innovations. For this reason, from the beginning Essse Caffé has taken advantage of the scientific expertise of the Faculties of Agriculture of the Universities of Bologna, Cesena and Foggia, with which it still collaborates today. The consistently high quality of the coffee blends and the pursuit of ever better organoleptic quality pay off.

Francesco Segafredo succeeds in bringing his Essse Caffe to the 5th place of Italian espresso coffees in the HoReCa - range.

In over thirty years of activity, the company has acquired a first-class reputation in the world of coffee. With the knowledge of the selection of the green coffee, the roasting process, the packaging until the coffee in the cup, all the steps are constantly optimized.

Today Essse Caffè is a successful brand, renowned in Italy and abroad.

Read here exclusive questions answered by Francesco Segafredo of Essse Caffé

What are the elements that make Essse Caffè so special? What is your favorite drink and why?

Franceso Segafredo:

"What makes Essse Caffè so special are its 3 S's: Scienza (Science), Sapienza (Knowledge) e Specializzazione (Specialization), three values that summarize a business philosophy based on experience and focused on innovation through the best quality of product and service.

Another element that makes Essse Caffè unique is the consistency of the product and its balance.

Every day our experts are in constant search of the best Arabica and Robusta beans from the different countries of origin, our roasting masters, supported in their work by the best technologies, make sure that Essse Caffè is always special.

These are the main elements that allow us to guarantee a product quality without compromise.

Another element that makes our coffee unique is the persistence, namely the memory that remains in each of us after tasting an espresso.

The persistence gives us the possibility to keep alive the emotions that an espresso leaves us with, coming from the fullness, the sweetness and all the aroma that is contained in a cup.

My favorite drink is undoubtedly the espresso, the symbol of Italian identity.

Essse Caffè Miscela MasiniEspresso is the most complex result you can get in a cup: It offers the perfect balance between a quality blend, a proper equipment and a prepared processor. At Essse Caffè we define ourselves as Ho.Re.Ca specialists because we work every day to ensure that these elements are constantly working in synergy.That's why our retraining, La Classe di Essse, is an integral part of the world of Essse Caffè and with which we train every day to 360 degrees the bar professionals who will work with our blends in their stores.

But Essse Caffè is not only espresso, but, thanks to its organoleptic characteristics, it is an extremely versatile coffee, in particular our Masini blend this achieves excellent performance even in more elaborate preparations, such as Italian cappuccino."

How do you see the coffee market of the future and what will be the role of Essse Caffe?

"To date, the global coffee market is estimated to be strong and growing. Factors such as increasing consumption of coffee outside the home, increase in e-commerce sales, growing preference for instant coffee and cold brew, growing demand for specialty and gourmet coffees should drive the market in the next 5 years. For us it is of

fundamental to observe trends and tendencies, to innovate and keep pace with change and changing needs. In this sense, we also learn the traditions of coffee consumption in the world, and we work daily to propose to our customers, new methods to process and offer coffee. However, in this constantly evolving scenario, the most important goal for us is to assert ourselves for what we have historically chosen and choose to be every day: the specialists of the traditional Espresso Italiano and its cult.

Even the single-serve market continues to experience significant growth, as it has become a consumption method present in almost every home and office, due to the ease of dispensing and the wide range of blends and complementary drinks. For this reason we have decided to transfer our know-how also to our espresso system in capsule form, with the aim of creating also through the capsule a pleasant pleasure with all the quality of our blends. When we talk about quality, we also talk about certifications, fundamental for Essse Caffè, because they allow us to monitor every step of our supply chain. The subject of certifications has always been central to the company, but today it is increasingly the focus for the customer, who pays attention to the origin of the coffee, the supply chain and ethics."