THE RETROGUSTO

CHOCOLATEY

FRUITY

MILD

LONG-LASTING

OUR AWARD-WINNING
SIGNATURE TASTE

"Our products have grown together with our family history."

CAFFÈ MARTELLA

The Story of
Caffè Martella

OUR ROOTS

1940

A family with a passion for coffee, this is Caffè Martella. It all began in the early 1940s when Azeglio Martella decided to open a grocery store near Rome. Right from the start he offered his customers coffee for sale and his idea turned out to be promising.

THE ORIGIN OF OUR ROASTERY

FIRST BAR IN CIAMPINO
1950

Azeglio deepened and studied the art of coffee with increasing passion while his customer base grew and became loyal. In 1950 he took an important step and decided to open his first bar. It was no coincidence that the location chosen was Ciampino, a town on the outskirts of Rome that had become multi-ethnic since it hosted Rome's only international airport at the time. Here, in a small adjacent room, the first machine was installed to experiment with new blends and to roast coffee. Success was immediate and Azeglio's coffee bar became the centre of Ciampino.

CAFFÈ MARTELLA INTERNATIONAL

1990

Azeglio's imprinting spread to the whole family. His son Giancarlo and grandchildren David and Cristian followed his footsteps and transformed the original small roastery into a company that produces and distributes to famous bars in Italy as well as consumers all over the world. However, growth has not changed the vocation of the Martella family, that has preserved its enthusiasm for innovation and quality. Furthermore, the production of Caffè Martella has been particularly focused on sustainability for years.

DISCOVER THE ART OF ROASTING COFFE

Caffè Martella selects and blends different coffee beans in the ratio we have created ourselves during the past years, in order to produce a perfect and unique balance of flavors in your coffee cup later on. Our production process by hand allows us to treat our products with traditional care, patiently respecting the times before and after roasting, leaving room for gradual cooling, preserving all the natural flavors. Especially by roasting slowly at low temperatures, we are able to produce a better and perhaps unique product. In fact, we consciously avoid ultra-modern technologies that would allow a faster roasting process, in order to remain faithful to our traditional craftsmanship.

Classifying a coffee blend only according to the percentage of Arabica is too short-sighted. It is mistakenly assumed that the 100% Arabica blends are the best, without considering that there are countless Arabica varieties of varying quality and acidity. Robusta coffees, on the other hand, have a higher caffeine content, a fuller flavor with chocolaty nuances and an incomparable crema. A virtuous blend must therefore strike a perfect balance between the subtlety and acidity of the best Arabica and the body, creaminess and intense flavor of the best Robusta. Caffè Martella has always created its blends according to these principles.

"Un amore di Caffè."

CRISTIAN & DAVID MARTELLA

Caffè Martella
Next Generation

MAXIMUM CLASS

BEST IMPORTED COFFEE
2008

Over a hundred roasters competed for the title of best imported coffee in Germany in 2008. The prize, offered by the coffee association SCAE, headed by Dr. Stefen Schwarz, was awarded to our Maximum Class blend, the flagship of Caffè Martella. That was the icing on the cake of a journey that had begun 70 years earlier.

OUR BIO BLEND WAS INVENTED

2016

Out of respect to producers, so that fair trade does not remain just an empty word, as well as out of respect for the environment, which lives from actions and not from words, our BIO coffee blend was created. A project that has been developed for over a year, with the particular aim of making the entire supply chain transparent, traceable fair and above all sustainable. The blend was created to emphasize the concept that "BIO" means 100% sustainability on the one hand and 100% quality Italian espresso on the other.

100% GREEN ENERGY

2017

The entire production finally relies on 100% renewable energy sources certified by the GO Guarantee of Origin. This certifies the environmental sustainability of the production facilities in compliance with Directive 2009/28/EC and the decision of the Authority for Electricity and Gas-ARG/elt 104/115 in accordance with the Carbon Sink Protocol, based on the international Gold Standard certification. Green is not only on labels, but also in every daily gesture.

DECAFFEINATO

A SOLVABLE CHALLENGE
2018

Thanks to an exclusive patented method, we use a decaffeination process that is free of conventional synthetic chemicals. This innovative process involves only a series of washing operations of green coffee beans with slightly heated water. This process provides no health concerns from contaminant residues compared to conventional decaffeination processes, while reducing the caffeine content to under 0.1% without compromising taste and quality.

OUR MACHINERY AND TRAINED EYES

To continue our traditional production process, together with our partners we have developed our own individual roasting machines, that we use every day for roasting our coffee. The whole development process took a year and a half in total, where we had to gather all our experience of many years. This way we were able to develop a roasting machine that works with modern energy-saving technology and at the same time preserves the roasting quality from the early days of Caffè Martella. After all, we know no other way. Our cast iron rotary drums are all produced exclusively in Italy and are lined with refractory bricks using patented know-how. The energy-saving roasting is carried out by indirect heating, i.e. by convection which can take place thanks to a double-walled roasting cylinder. This ensures an absolutely homogeneous roasting of the final product.

Roasting times are strictly controlled and maintained by our experts according to our own quality specifications. Basically, the roasting process is carried out on a scientific basis, where each team member performs his own tasks. Roasting coffee by hand is an absolute matter of feeling and thus it is not the machine that decides when the product is ready, but the trained and experienced eye. As a matter of fact, weather, temperature, humidity and daytime play a decisive role in coffee roasting. Immediately after roasting, the coffee is cooled by air, which immediately stops the roasting process in a controlled manner. Afterwards, we let the roasted coffee beans rest for a while, so that the aroma can fully develop, until they are finally filled into bags.

"The old town of Marino is where we produce our coffee."

CAFFÈ MARTELLA

Caffè Martella
Today

TRADITIONAL ITALIAN ESPRESSO

100% GREEN AND TRANSPARENT

Our products are as authentic and traditional as they have always been, even if the company is always focused on future and innovation. Thanks to the investments made in recent years, Caffè Martella is now a certified sustainable and 100% green company, since we obtain our electricity exclusively from renewable energy sources and we produce our coffee only with absolute respect for the environment and all participants in our supply chain. In addition, all plastic accessories have been removed from our product line and have been replaced with wood, glass and any biodegradable materials. So our passion for making hand-roasted coffee has not changed over the years. Together with traditional quality and uncompromising transparency, these are our strengths that have accompanied our family business for years.

OUR HEADQUARTERS

CASTELLI ROMANI
INSTEAD OF INDUSTRIAL AREA

Over 450 years ago, Marc Antonio, from the Roman noble family of Colonna, was a direct descendant of Isabella Colonna, who, with the help of Clement X and her brother Onofrio, initiated the construction of the monastery in Marino. Today, part of the convent houses the offices and showroom of Caffè Martella. Here we welcome our guests and customers to enjoy our coffee on the terrace with a beautiful view over the city of Rome.
We have chosen intentionally to give new life to an ancient building from the 16th century, because the high and bright spaces of its historical architecture inspire us every day to produce our coffee. It also allowed us to avoid unnecessary soil sealing for the construction of a new headquarter, in line with our sustainable philosophy.