Simone Guidi, Specialty vision
Born in 1987, in Florence, founder of La Sosta Specialty Coffee.
His passion for coffee began by chance more than ten years ago while he was working as a bartender in a café in Florence, where he was asked for a cappuccino as an aperitif.
Having no idea how to prepare a cappuccino, Simone realised his great shortcoming. This event prompted him to start a path to fill this gap, literally taking him around the world to train.
This is where his adventure began.
In 2012 Simone started working as a bartender, switching from night work to morning work.
From 2014 to 2017 he is one of the co-founders of a professional coffee education school in Florence, where he becomes an Authorised Trainer for the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) for all modules: Barista, Brewing, Sensory, Green and Roasting.
From 2013 to 2019 he participated in the Italian coffee championships for most of the categories, obtaining excellent placements and often even the final, in order: Cup Tasting, Latte Art, Roasting, Brewers Cup.
In 2014 he entered a renowned Florentine artisanal roasting company for the first time and being fascinated by it, he started working there as an assistant roaster.
2015 is the year of change.
Just 10 days after placing 2nd at the Italian Brewers Cup final, Simone says goodbye to Italy in the direction of Melbourne, Australia, the coffee capital of the world.
In Melbourne, Simone returned as a "barista".
He quickly became head-barista and in April of the same year made his first trip to a plantation on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.
On his return to Melbourne, Simone began his collaboration as Assistant-Roaster in the Specialty Coffee Division of GENOVESE COFFEE.
This path led him to deepen his understanding of Specialty Coffee culture, roasting and tasting.
Genovese has given Simone a great opportunity, and in response, he commits himself with dedication: this will be the secret of his great professional growth.
In 2016, Simone returned to Florence and embarked full-time on the road to becoming a roaster: he returned to the artisanal roastery where he had previously worked as an assistant in 2014 in the position of Chief Roaster.
His Australian experience combined with his daily work as a taster and roaster is so enlightening for him that on 30 September 2016 he decides to launch his own line of coffee called LA SOSTA SPECIALTY COFFEE, considering that the average quality of coffee in Italy was getting lower and lower.
So at the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, in addition to offering training and services to companies, he started to produce and distribute his coffee in Florence, like a real artisanal roasting company.
From 2017 to 2019 Simone collaborates with several companies in the coffee sector to improve their production processes: coffee producers in origin (e.g. Honduras, Brazil, Colombia), importers of raw coffee, espresso machine manufacturers, medium-large roasters, training schools and traditional and specialty coffee shops.
At the beginning of 2017 Simone also becomes Arabica Q-GRADER, i.e. certified professional taster for Arabica coffee.
In January 2018, Simone also becomes COFFEE PRO, a professional figure in the industry supporting DALLA CORTE, an espresso machine manufacturer in Milan.
From 2016 to 2020, Simone grew the LA SOSTA project by renting the space of other Florentine coffee roasters, where he was able to produce his own Specialty coffees.
In July 2019, Simone and the Genovese family, the Australian roasting company where Simone received the "Specialty brand", decide to set up the company G100 together, which also supports the LA SOSTA SPECIALTY COFFEE project.
In June 2020, LA SOSTA SPECIALTY COFFEE finally opened, a laboratory specialising in Specialty coffee production and education towards a renewed coffee culture, a destination for Italian and international coffee enthusiasts and professionals.
