Lavazza

Overview

Lavazza was founded in 1895 when Luigi Lavazza, then a 36-year-old self-taught chemist from Murisengo, bought the Drogheria Paissa Olivero grocery store at Via San Tommaso 10 in central Turin and began experimenting with coffee blending — a practice that did not yet exist for domestic consumption. Now run by the third and fourth generations of the Lavazza family from the Cino Zucchi-designed Nuvola headquarters, the company is the seventh-largest coffee roaster in the world with €2.2bn+ in revenue and roughly 36–47% share of the Italian retail market.

Known for

• Founded 1895 in Turin by Luigi Lavazza at Via San Tommaso 10
• Pioneer of the modern coffee blend — combining beans from multiple origins for a consistent cup
• Italy's #1 coffee company for over half a century
• Settimo Torinese opened 1965 as the largest roasting plant in Europe at the time
• Acquired Carte Noire and Merrild from JDE in 2016, 80% of Kicking Horse Coffee in 2017, Mars Drinks (now Lavazza Professional) in 2018

Why it matters

Lavazza is the company that codified the espresso blend — Luigi Lavazza is widely credited with inventing the practice of combining beans from different origins for domestic consumption, which is now the template for almost every coffee brand on the planet. It is the Italian household standard, the largest roasting platform in the country, and through its 130-year continuous family ownership and Nuvola HQ a living institution rather than a museum piece.

Production

destoning

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head roaster

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color sorting

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roaster machine

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filter equipment

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cupping frequency

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roastery location

Settimo Torinese, Gattinara, Pozzilli (Italy) plus Basingstoke (UK), Westchester (US) and other plants

espresso equipment

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annual volume tonnes

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Café

Via San Tommaso 10, Turin

Recognitions

• ¡Tierra! sustainability line — Rainforest Alliance certified
• Lavazza Foundation — 30+ projects in 19 producing countries

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavazza
• https://www.lavazzagroup.com/en/who-we-are/our-history/the-groups-journey/the-origins.html
• https://www.lavazza.com/en/lavazza-world/company/history
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Lavazza
• https://www.italyonthisday.com/2017/04/luigi-lavazza-coffee-maker.html
• https://www.thevisitorcentre.com/post/the-visitor-centre-today-is-lavazza-museum