Coffee has played an unquestionable role in gastronomy since the 19th century. This product became universal in the 20th century. And the 21st century is the century of perfection.
During the French Revolution, the perfect coffee was defined as a beverage that had to have romantic virtues: it necessarily had to be black as night or the devil and as hot as hell. And eventually, strong as sin, bitter as life, pure as an angel, sweet as love… This sweetness used to come from the sugar that was added.
Currently, producers, roasters and baristas have become learned that the coffee bean is a fruit. There is no single, uniform, highly roasted, black coffee. There are many coffees with subtle, genuine flavours, as varied as the wines from each vineyard area in the world. There are coffees reminiscent of chocolate, liquorice, certain spices, sweet fruit, red berries or citrus flavours. Just as there are white, red, rosé, sparkling and sweet wines, there are coffees for making espresso, for brewing, for drinking with milk or ice or for preparing cold…
Today, producers, roasters, baristas and consumers have become aware that fair prices bring social benefits and promote sustainable, balanced plantations. This is the specialty coffee movement. Particularly in the Girona region, specialty coffee has become popular among elite cyclists and athletes, winners of the Giro or stages of the Tour, runners for major teams, and medal winners at the Olympic Games and world championships.
Coffee with the 2025-2026 Girona Excel·lent seal
96 Barista Pro RFA Premium Grade
Cafès Cornellà, a company founded in 1920 in Girona, has developed the Barista Pro range, a series of coffees with 100% Arabica beans specially roasted to make an espresso full of nuances. With a dense body, a smooth fine bubble crema, reddish, with elegant lines of brindle tone, fragrant and floral notes of cocoa and liquorice, and a touch of acidity. The 96 is a blend of coffees with the best provenance: Brazil Bourbon, Honduras SHG, Ethiopia Sidamo, Guatemala Volcán de Oro and Colombia Supremo.
Company: Cafès Cornellà
Medicinal herbs
The region’s traditional fondness for medicinal herbs, such as aromatic ones for flavouring dishes or for preparing a soothing tea, has inspired numerous books and studies on ethnobotany. Our territory has always been passionate about ethnobotany, long before it became known as a multidisciplinary science. This field bridges scientific and popular knowledge, exploring the fascinating connections between culture, religion, history, plants (botany), traditional remedies (pharmacy), cooking, and even language (the vernacular names of plants and dialectal variants).
Medicinal herbs are the basis of ratafia and many other liquors. However, they are not only used for alcoholic beverages or healing drinks, they are also used in teas. However, teas are very often offered for their known pharmaceutical properties and as an alternative to coffee.
Teas or waters are usually made from a single plant species —chamomile, mint, linden, lemon verbena…—, but increasingly creative blends are also being crafted. Their digestive or relaxing properties are generally highlighted, because they are designed for after-dinner conversations around the table, which, as everyone knows, Mediterraneans love to do!
Herbs have always been used in cooking, with each family guarding its own secret blends for grandma’s macaroni, the Sunday roast or the dishes served on special festive occasions.
The abundance of medicinal herbs showcases the rich landscape in the Girona regions, and its diverse microclimates stretching from sea level to the alpine peaks in the Cerdanya Pyrenees.
Medicinal herbs are essential in cooking, as seasoning, for preparing liqueurs, for medicinal infusions and, ultimately, for sustaining bees.
Medicinal herbs with the 2025-2026 Girona Excel·lent seal
Ratafia Original Formula
Ratafia has always been one of the most iconic alcoholic drinks in Catalonia, as it is considered a digestif. Alma Teas & Herbal Infusions achieves the symphony of flavours of ratafia with a blend of the essential herbs that would be macerated in alcohol. So we find tastes of star anise, licorice, fennel, green anise, cinnamon, orange blossom, mallow flower, decaffeinated coffee, lemon verbena, rosemary, orange peel and vanilla. This infusion prepared in biodegradable pyramid bags allows you to savour all the flavours of ratafia, without the alcohol, whether that is because you are working, because you are driving, or because you don’t want to drink.
Company: Alma Teas & Herbal Infusions
Digest Bio with Linyola Chamomile
TeGust, an innovative and transformational company in the world of infusions, was founded in 2014 in La Bisbal d’Empordà. This chamomile is prepared exclusively with chamomile flowers from the Parc de les Olors de Linyola, the most famous of all chamomiles in the country. It is packaged in biodegradable pyramidal bags of a single ration of one and a half grams. Infuse in 200 or 250 millilitres of water at 98 ºC for four minutes.
Company: TeGust Nature, SL
Empordà organic lemon verbena tea
This lemon verbena tea from TeGust Nature is citrussy and refreshing, with a very elegant green colour. It comes from the Parc de les Olors near Castell beach, in Palamós, where all the precepts of organic farming are followed. TeGust encourages its suppliers from the Parcs de les Olors de Catalunya network to recover traditional species and increase biodiversity in the agricultural environment.
Company: TeGust Nature, SL
Herb mixture for meat and pasta
Emporarom, Aromes de l’Empordà, is a company established in 2018 from the union of different producers of aromatic and medicinal plants to market medicinal herbs grown in the Empordà region. Farmers Guillem Castañé and Pere Coll produce all the plants in their fields in L’Escala, Les Olives, Sant Sadurní de l’Heura and La Tallada. In addition, at Mas Sastruc, in L’Escala, they have the Camp de les Aromes, where there are activities based on medicinal and aromatic plants. This mixture for meat and pasta is a selection of organic Mediterranean plants and herbs that give a special touch to a red meat or pasta dishes, the result of the collaboration with the Artisan Butchers and Butchers Guild of the counties of Girona.
Company: Emporarom – Aromes de l’Empordà
