Montevideo · Uruguay
MVD Roaster
MVD Roaster roasts in Montevideo, Montevideo Department.
Since 2014 · Alvaro Planzo
Overview
MVD Roaster was founded in Montevideo in 2014 by Alvaro Planzo, who had become one of the first SCAE-certified Uruguayan baristas in 2013 after studying with World Barista Championship judge Juan Mario Carvajal. MVD pioneered third-wave coffee in a country where mate dominates and the Spanish-influenced torrefacto roast — sugar burned into low-grade beans — was the cafe norm, and now supplies cafes and high-profile restaurants across Uruguay including chef Francis Mallmann's Garzón.
Known for
- Founded 2014 by Alvaro Planzo — Uruguay's first dedicated specialty roaster
- Founder one of the first four SCAE-certified Uruguayans (2013)
- Supplier to chef Francis Mallmann's restaurant Garzón and to La Madriguera cafe
- Trained Uruguay's first wave of certified baristas — 60+ certifications between May and December 2017
- Anchor partner of Café Nomade and La Farmacia in spreading Montevideo's third wave
Why it matters
Uruguay is one of the few countries in Latin America that grows no coffee — its climate is too cool — and yerba mate is the cultural drink, so a domestic specialty industry had to be built from scratch, against a Spanish-coffee inheritance of torrefacto roast. MVD is the operation that did the building: the supplier behind most early Montevideo specialty cafes, the trainer behind the country's first wave of SCA-certified baristas, and the reason chef-driven destinations like Garzón could pour Uruguayan-roasted specialty rather than imports.
Production
- head roaster
- Alvaro Planzo
- roastery location
- Montevideo, Uruguay
Café
Montevideo (La Tostaduria)
Recognitions
- Founder Alvaro Planzo — one of the first four SCA-certified Uruguayans (2013)