Specialty Coffee in Florence
In 2016, Simone Guidi, founder of “LA SOSTA SPECIALTY COFFEE” came back to Florence, after the most important professional and personal experience of his life: one year and a half in Melbourne, Australia, to improve his knowledge of the Specialty Coffees and on the coffee roasting process.
Full of energy to keep this “Specialty life”, Simone, supported by his friend Matteo Goretti, started to think about the development of a personal brand of Specialty coffees in Florence.
Simone’s idea is to create a “Specialy moment”, a stop from the daily crazy routing and “be able to dedicate a moment to yourself and enjoy the moment”; thanks to that idea Matteo created the name of the brand “La Sosta” a Specialty stop without any rush, for the right physical and mental refill.
Simone, thinking of a logo that can represent the concept of “Sosta Specialty”, finds his inspiration in the Sea Turtle who, swimming with no timing and no concern, express peace and comfort.
Capable to surrender every observer with her in the present represent the best idea of “enjoy just the moment you are living”.
The drawing of this idea was realized by Alessandro Arbi, a full artist that found its way in the tattoo world, who as soon as he knew about La Sosta felt in love with Specialties.
It's he the artist who realized the final logo: “Tartachicco” (Turtle grain), a sea turtle with its tortoise-shell shaped like an Arabica coffee grain.
During the L’EROICA cycle event in Gaiole in Chianti, LA SOSTA starts for the very first time to prepare its Specialty Espresso and American coffees in a Coffee Bar inside a small stand in cooperation with LA STRANA OFFICINA and ROLLING DREAMERS, two famous brands in Florence.
30th September 2016 LA SOSTA SPECIALTY COFFEE officially born in Florence.
Few days after this first experience, Manuela Cerullo, Gelato chef and owner of “LA VIA DEL GELATO” decided to follow La Sosta philosophy, thinking that it perfectly match with its own philosophy and supply chain of “handmade Ice cream”.
She starts in this way to flank its handmade ice cream together with Espresso coffee, becoming the first official store for the specialty coffees of La Sosta in Florence
Few months later, also the Chef of the restaurant “L’INSOLITA TRATTORIA 3 SOLDI” and 4th generation owner Lorenzo Romano, decide to end its experience-dinners with a special coffee able to complete the peculiarity and the talent of its cuisine.
During the second half of the 2019 year, the cooperation of Simone with the Genovese coffee family, born in Melbourne and never ended, gives the chance to LA Sosta to grow faster maintaining the same values that inspire the project at the beginning: to produce a Specialty coffee in Florence, aiming to sensitize and educate the costumers toward a renewed coffee culture with an “Australian Touch”.
La Sosta makes its debut in the international world at the HOST fair in Milan 2019 edition and after only a month at the MILAN COFFEE FESTIVAL 2019 fair.
LA SOSTA, January 2020, has been hosted also at the SIGEP fair in Rimini.
11th May 2020, Caffetteria Emmeti became the first café in Florence to offer its guests Specialy coffees La Sosta. Tommaso Falli and Mattia Barchielli, associate since 20214 decided for a big change: leave the old costumes and start to be part of La Sosta project.
Mattia was already a big passionate and already part of the project helping Simone in all the fairs done in the past.
27th June 2020, LA SOSTA opened a new headquarter, “Torrefazione Laboratorio”, situated in the green Florentine countryside of Cascine del Riccio, only 8km far away from the Florentine Cathedral.
