As you enter the Passalacqua plant courtyard you see a green oasis with a magnolia and a rose garden that climbs the wall. The fragrance of freshly roasted coffee comes out of the chimneys intoxicating your mind with pleasure.
It all began in ’48, after the war, with a nation adrift and tremendous poverty. In order to feed his family, grandfather Samuel worked as a trade representative, while his three sons Biagio, Yor Armando and Emilio, young and full of enthusiasm, bravely faced post-war labour shortage. Then came an opportunity: buying an old machine that roasted 5 kg of coffee every twenty minutes and starting a new business.
Today, coffee arriving from Colombia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Java, Vietnam, etc. reaches the Passalacqua roasting plant and then goes all over the world.
Today, just as yesterday, the family business is an exciting place where you are immediately transported into a metaphysical dimension of beauty where rigour, loyalty, a sense of community in the work and the pursuit of good coffee are our core values. Wherever the little American Indian is licking his lips: the symbol of our company, founded in 1948 by grandfather Samuele.
He was the one who decided to capture a young boy’s delighted expression after tasting a sip of our coffee during a visit to our plant. Our logo, now so widespread in the world, was born.
Then and now, as dearest Uncle Biagio always repeated, we feel as craftsmen, interpreters of the best Neapolitan coffee tradition.
“Italy’s best coffee“is how sixties writer Mario Soldati described Passalacqua coffee on Turin’s La Stampa newspaper, after having one in the bar Mexico in Piazza Dante in Naples, our first, historic retail place. Since then, we are committed to preserving the superior quality of Neapolitan coffee every day, making us the true safekeepers.
HISTORY OF THE TRADEMARK
Passalacqua’s little American Indian licking his lips is one of the classic brands that take Naples into the world. Born of Samuele Passalacqua’s intuition, inspired by a happy incident at our roasting plant.
MAKING COFFEE THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY
We have always been faithful to the Neapolitan tradition, not only in coffee production but also in its extraction. In our coffee plant we only make coffee with the classic Neapolitan maker, the old system our grandparents used. Like a family we take “machine shifts”, and all together we are always happy to take a break with a cup of coffee.