As we had seen in Milan before, it is a real struggle to find pour-over coffee in Italy. So, also in Florence / Firenze it wasn’t easy, but we tracked down a place (actually a ‘chain’s since they have 2 stores): Ditta Artigianale.

Google maps:

The place is in a great location, minutes away from Ponte Vecchio en route to Palazzo Pitti.

Of course, we are always happy to see a large selection of beans, and they have more than 10 on offer for hand-drip!

The preparation started with a lot of discussion between the baristas, and it seemed like they were a little put off by the request for hand-drip. They had all the timers and scales, but probably don’t use them very often.

At least for our coffee, the barista didn’t even pre-soak the grind (the classic 30 seconds to enable the carbon dioxide to leave and pores to open), but instead filled the dripper with water half way right away. After another quick pour of water, the process was wrapped up within 2 minutes.

The result was, not surprisingly, a fairly light cup. The Ethiopian beans still managed to push a very nice flowery taste, but more extraction would have surely helped.

Ditta Artiginale is still a good place to visit, and maybe our barista was just new to this. If you want pour-over coffee in Florence, this may be your best shot.