HOW WE HAVE COME ABOUT

It is believed that an unborn child familiarises itself with voices and surroundings before actually being born. It was on my “Birth Date” that my Mother abandoned her position behind the Coffee machine and made her way to the St. Thomas’s in London where I was born. The sound of ‘grinders’ and the use of ‘knock out draws’ became ever more prominent in my life.

There were to be many days of going from nursery to the coffee bar where my mother would finish her days work before we could go home.

Now for some, This would sound quite a bore, but for me the experience of listening to different conversation and watching the expression on these customers faces change as they started to relax over a cup of coffee, was to be life changing.

By the age of ten my patience had failed me, I could not wait any longer so using the power of persuasion, as a child does with its parents, I was given two gifts in one. This was the chance to work a coffee machine and a plastic milk crate that was to become the platform of my career. At first it must have been quite comical to watch a young child standing on a milk crate producing a Cappuccino but in time I proved that my passion for coffee making was to satisfy a lot of customers and even more so, satisfy me.

As time passed and my Mothers and Fathers attempts to pioneer a new ‘Costa coffee culture’ in England flourished with the help of many good friends, our drive as one big family continued to supply our loyal customers with the perfect cup of coffee.

As many may already know, Costa Coffee was subsequently sold in 1997. This took my father a lot of courage but it was the right time for this to happen. After a great deal of consideration as to who would be the ideal successor to bring forward the Costa Brand the company that had taken lifetime of dedication was sold.

This was quite a surreal occasion and it was only after this had taken place that the reality set in.

It was not long before that I craved the smell and environment of the coffee roasting plant that had become home for me.

It was time to start again.

With the name ‘Caffe Torelli’, taken in traditional style from my dear Mothers maiden name, Bertorelli, It was in January 2000 that my intension to create a new trusted coffee partner to the coffee industry was launched.

Together with Gaetano Pelliccia and other internationally certified key coffee connoisseurs of the past we started roasting our first batches of the new ’Perla Bianca’ coffee in Battersea, London.