There has been a major paradigm shift in coffee consumption around the world. It has ceased to be a consumer product that competed in terms of price and was valued on a binary scale: good or bad, I like it or I don’t like it. Since the second decade of the 21st century, speciality coffee has burst forth with a vengeance. From the outset, speciality coffees are good and have given rise to a new profession or a new professional specialisation: the barista. This is a person who knows the product and understands how to grind and prepare it, according to its variety, origin, treatment at origin of the green coffee, and the final roast. Meanwhile, a coffee is no longer a cup of espresso made at the bar or that pot brewed once or twice a day at home; coffee, that leached chorreador-style delicacy, is now prepared according to very precise rituals in order to extract the flavours and aromas. The 21st century has also seen the emergence of capsules, which have changed the perception of coffee. In the beginning, it was all about Nespresso; now the standard method is compatible capsules.
Speciality coffee has also changed the industry that supplies roasts and many cult coffee varieties from mythical countries. Speciality coffee has also meant the renaissance of coffee shops, where espressos and filter coffees with guarantees of the utmost sensory quality are sipped. In the Girona region, especially in Girona itself, these spaces have emerged thanks to elite cyclists and athletes, champions of major international races and medallists at the Olympic Games and world championships.
Like an oil slick, good coffee has spilled across into traditional bars and restaurants. Days start better with a great coffee, and meals and after-dinner conversations finish on a high note.
Coffee with the 2020-2021 Girona Excel·lent seal
Barista Pro 96 Premium
Cafés Cornellà, a company founded in 1920, has roasted this 100% Arabica bean coffee with professional baristas and the catering sector in mind, to make an iconic espresso coffee: persistent fine-bubbled crema with a reddish-roasted colour, crossed by the dark brindle.
Company: Pere Cornellà, SAU
Mahogany Ethiopia filter coffee
In 1991 Cafés Cornellà created the Mahogany line of premium coffees, when the gourmet coffee market was still in the minority. It has revived it at a time when the level of consumer demand has shifted to estate coffees, specific varieties and particular roasts. Lightly acidic, aromatic with citrus, combined with tropical fruit, honey and cane sugar, Ethiopia from the Limu Koss estate is made from 100% ancestral Arabica varieties.
Company: Pere Cornellà, SAU
Mahogany Thailand espresso
The obsession for the best espresso coffee has led Cafés Cornellà to join social projects committed to producers, looking for a specific farm on which to grow coffee for an extraordinary espresso coffee. This is how they arrived at the Akha Hill Tribe estate, in the Dong Pangkhon area, in the Thai region of Chiang Rai, where they grow the Caturra, Catimor, Bourbon and typical Arabica varieties, under organic and fair trade certification. The first sip reveals mango, followed by cardamom and then a huge spectrum of tropical flavours. It is immediately clear why these are considered the tastiest coffees on the planet.
Company: Pere Cornellà, SAU
Infusions.
The tradition of medicinal herbs goes back a long way, to when herbal medicine was the most common form of healthcare. Time passed, herbal traditions evolved, and the most aromatic ones survived. Sometimes they were infused into teas and sometimes they were macerated with spirits. Infusions and liqueurs, pleasant in terms of both taste and aroma, to which beneficial health effects were also attributed. Ethnobotanical studies attest to, and explain very well, why each plant was used, when it could be harvested, its biochemical composition and its pharmacological properties. The catalogue of these scientific compilations of ancestral folk wisdom is very extensive. Joaquim Codina, Pius Font i Quer, Oriol de Bolós, Josep Vigo, Joan Vallès their disciples, all leading botanists, have also spoken and continue to speak.
Infusions, of a single species or a mixture of herbs, are often the alternative finale to a meal. They also provide a relaxed alternative to coffee and are a healthy alternative to soft drinks. Gardens and terraces are often planted with different species of herbs for cooking or for making herbal teas or liqueurs. Although they can be eaten fresh when they are at their peak, they are usually harvested and left to dry in a cool, dry place. As a result, in recent years, companies have appeared that supply them to us all year round, in keeping with the curative tradition.
In general, they involve infusions of a single species, but they are also made from blends, following the tradition. One of the most popular, and the one for which there is most choice on the market, is the ratafia infusion, which concentrates the basic ingredients of the most popular herbal liqueur in one infusion.
Infusions with the 2020-2021 Girona Excel·lent seal
Alma chamomile
Organic-certified chamomile tea is available in 1.5 g single-dose pyramids that are fully compostable. This chamomile infusion has an intense and delicate floral flavour, making it ideal during breaks at any time or at the end of a meal. Coffee Center has been dedicated to the pleasures of the after-dinner experience for more than thirty years.
Company: Coffee Center, SL
Fresca Bio with mint
Pep Mascarós, a long-time innovator and renewalist in the world of herbal teas, founded TeGust in La Bisbal d’Empordà in 2014. This infusion, made entirely with organically grown herbs, is an example: to the mixture of mints (hybrids of peppermint and pennyroyal), he has added fennel, marigold and stevia leaf, which provides the necessary sweetness in these 1.5 g biodegradable single-dose pyramids.
Company: TeGust Nature, SL
Posidó
Emporarom, Aromes de l’Empordà, is a company born from the union of several producers of aromatic and medicinal plants. For their products they seek local and sustainable crops. Posidó is an infusion presented in 2 g single-dose pyramids, with thyme, fennel, rosemary, elder, pennyroyal and bean herb, made from plants used ancestrally in L’Empordà.
Company: Emporion, SL
Ratafia infusion
The Santa Coloma de Farners Original 1842 Ratafia infusion is made with the ingredients listed in the original recipe from the 19th century manuscript by Francisco Rosquelles: cinnamon, green anise, star anise, mint, fennel, juniper, cloves, nutmeg, lemon verbena and stevia leaf. It comes in 3 g biodegradable single-dose pyramids. It is the result of an agreement between Pep Mascarós and the Cofradía de la Ratafia de Santa Coloma.
Company: TeGust Nature, SL
El jurat del tast de cafès.
Anna Vicens
Presidenta de l’Associació Catalana de Sommeliers
Lluís Coll
Professor de l’Escola d’Hostaleria i Turisme de Girona
Àlex Carlos
Sommelier d’El Celler de Can Roca, de Girona
Clara Antúnez
Barista i sommelier Assessora de La Gastronòmica
Manel Guirado
Professor i periodista gastronòmic
